Gas Tests. Pupils will need to have learnt the tests for carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen in a previous lessons. They need to plan a simple practical using this knowledge to identify mystery substance A and B as calcium and calcium carbonate. You will require 1M HCl, limewater, splints and marble chips and calcium labelled as A and B. I usually dish out the calcium and marble chips to the students once they have finished their plan to avoid them taking too much!

Light loop card game. Light and sound RAFT activity, (students have to choose which activity/row they would like to complete) and lights and sound venn diagram.

Simple worksheet for pupils just starting to use a Bunsen burner. It should be folded in half and pupils work in pairs to either complete the practical on the one side or assess their peer using the prompts on the other side. You will need to demo how to use a Bunsen before pupils begin the activity.

A lesson aimed at Year 7 -8 pupils with a split focus on learning the colour of Universal Indicator at different pHs and the role of an environmental chemist. Pupils imagine they are environmental chemists working for Scottish Water, responding to reports of dead fish being discovered in a loch. Scottish water has some nice little animations that help demonstrate the role of environmental chemists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLYN1MmnQE . In the first part of the lesson you will need to provide pupils with clearly labeled solutions of strong and weak acids and alkalis, plus a neutral solution (I usually use bench or 1M hydrochloric, ethanoic, water, ammonia and sodium hydroxide). Pupils combine these in spotting tiles with universal indicator solution to determine the different colours at different pH. You can then share and self mark their findings. In the second part of the lesson provide pupils with water samples taken from sites A to D. A and B should contain no lead and be only slightly acidic, C should be more acidic and contain lead nitrate solution (lead and acid are common contaminants from copper extraction). I usually make D contain slightly less lead and slightly less acidic (it is nice to discuss with pupils why this might be the case/dilution). Pupils test with potassium iodide (for lead) and Universal Indicator. In a 1hr/50min lesson there should just be time to summarise the lesson’s learning and share conclusions. Extension challenge for early finishers also included.

Worksheets that are useful for pupils to stick into their books when they start the AQA GCSE Chemistry course. They list and give examples of all the different command words, plus contain a break down of what the papers will be like and the types of questions they will contain. Helpful to refer to when carrying out past paper walk and talks etc. In Word for ease of editing and PDF for printing.

To help ease Year 11 pupils into revision, a chart of short activities they can engage in. Best printed on A3.

Print onto thin card. Pupils to cut them out and write the answers on the back. They then use them to test themselves as per the instructions on the top.