A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
A quick, concise lesson presentation (15 slides) which together with a question worksheet focuses on ensuring that students can define an isotope and pick these substances out from a selection of substances. The lesson begins by looking at the number of sub-atomic particles in an aluminium atom so that students can recall what is shown by the atomic and mass numbers. This will enable students to calculate the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in three given isotopes and as a result, complete a definition of these substances. The remainder of this short lesson involves 4 application questions where students either have to recognise isotopes from a table or from a diagram and also are asked to write out the formula of an isotope. Ideally this lesson will be taught in conjunction with a lesson on atomic structure.
A concise lesson presentation (27 slides) that looks at the key details of the sub-atomic particles and briefly explores how the atomic and mass numbers of the Periodic Table can be used to calculate the numbers of these particles in different atoms. The lesson begins with a Mathematical link as students are challenged to convert the size of an atom from standard form into a real number. Moving forwards, students will meet the three sub-atomic particles and be asked to predict which one is positive, neutral and negative in charge. The relative mass of a proton is shown and then students are asked to work out the mass of a neutron and an electron by observing some experimental results with a scales. Finally, the students are shown how to use the atomic number to work out the number of protons (and electrons) in an atom and how to work out the number of neutrons. This lesson has been designed to act as a knowledge recall and top-up as this should have already been learnt at KS3.
An engaging and practical based lesson presentation (24 slides) which challenges the students to carry out a range of practical tasks to learn the identification tests and positive results for the anions.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to use their prior knowledge of chemical formulae to name two sets of ions. Students will be reminded of the definition of a cation so they can use this to write an accurate one for the anions. The rest of the lesson looks at the different tests and time is taken to explain the details behind each of them. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals to allow the students to check their understanding. A set homework has also been included.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students.
This lesson presentation looks at the carboxylic acids and focuses on the names, displayed formula, chemical formulae and reactions of this homologous series. The lesson begins with a bit of fun which gets enables the students to recognise that the functional group is COOH. A step by step guide is used to show the students how to draw the displayed formula for ethanoic acid, using the functional group before they apply their knowledge to draw the remaining acids in the first four. This series are connected by a general formula and students are shown how it is worked out for the alkanes and the alkenes so that students can work it out for the acids. Moving forwards, the reactions of these acids is shown and related to the reactions of acids that was previously learnt. Students will recall how to write the name of the salt and the balanced symbol equation.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students
An informative lesson presentation (24 slides) that looks at the relative size of the nanoparticles and explains why they are so effective for a range of purposes.
The lesson begins by looking at exactly how small nanoparticles are and ensures that students can recognise this size in a range of ways, including standard form. Moving forwards, in order to help students to understand why these nanoparticles are being used in a lot of different ways, students are introduced to bulk materials. Included in the remainder of the lesson is calculating the surface area to volume ratio so this can be used as a comparison point. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson so that students can assess their understanding.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students.
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 7 (Chemical reactions) of the CIE IGCSE Chemistry (0620) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
CORE
Describe and explain the effect of concentration, particle size, catalysts (including enzymes) and temperature on the rate of reactions
Interpret data obtained from experiments concerned with rate of reaction
Understand that some chemical reactions can be reversed by changing the reaction conditions
Define oxidation and reduction in terms of oxygen loss/gain.
SUPPLEMENT
Devise and evaluate a suitable method for investigating the effect of a given variable on the rate of a reaction
Describe and explain the effects of temperature and concentration in terms of collisions between reacting particles. (An increase in temperature causes an increase in collision rate and more of the colliding molecules have sufficient energy (activation energy) to react whereas an increase in concentration only causes an increase in collision rate.)
Predict the effect of changing the conditions (concentration, temperature and pressure) on other reversible reactions
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concept of equilibrium
Define redox in terms of electron transfer
Define oxidising agent as a substance which oxidises another substance during a redox reaction. Define reducing agent as a substance which reduces another substance during a redox reaction.
Identify oxidising agents and reducing agents from simple equations
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “FROM NUMBERS 2 LETTERS” where they have to compete to be the 1st to get an important abbreviation whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams
A quick and fun lesson which goes through the accurate addition of state symbols to balanced symbol equations. The aim of this lesson is to give students quick and easy ways to recognise the state of matter of a reactant or product whilst being engaged trough the format of the lesson.
A number of quick quiz competitions are used in the lesson, either to introduce a new term of to act as a fun understanding check. First of all, students will use their Chemistry knowledge to come up with the fourth symbol, aq, which is commonly forgotten. Moving forwards, a worked example is used to guide the students through adding the state symbols. A visual of the experiment is shown in a video but could be done as a demonstration to help the students further. Finally, the students are challenged to apply their new-found knowledge and write a fully balanced symbol equation with state symbols. An assistance sheet is available for those who need a little push.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students
This is a fully-resourced lesson which looks at the properties of group 0 of the Periodic Table, the Noble Gases, and includes a lesson presentation (29 slides) and an associated worksheet. The lesson uses a range of engaging quiz competitions to enable the students to understand why these elements do not react. Other properties such as their boiling points are explored and there is continual reference to the other groups of elements so that students can make clear comparisons.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds in the UK), but it is also suitable for younger students who might be carrying out a project on the Periodic Table
A fast-paced, engaging lesson that looks at the separation method of distillation and focuses on the use of key terminology in the correct context. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students but teachers could use it with KS3 students who are looking at the mixtures topic.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to state which mixture from a choice of three could be separated by distillation. A lot of the key terms involved in this lesson and the separation topic as a whole begin with S and are often incorrectly used. Therefore some time is taken to ensure that the students know the difference between a solution, solute and solvent and can pick out the substances which would apply to each of these terms in different examples. Students will learn how distillation involves evaporation followed by condensation and the next task gets students to compare boiling points to understand how the difference in these points allows the separation to occur and will also recognise that distillation results in two substances at the end as opposed to the one in crystallisation. The remainder of the lesson challenges students to apply their knowledge to two understanding checks - a summary passage on distillation and then a description of how ethanol and water are separated.
This is a concise, fast-paced lesson which guides students through the critical skills needed to calculate the atom economy of a chemical reaction. It has been designed for GCSE students and focuses on the calculation as well as interpreting the final value. In order to calculate the mass of the desired product and other products, students have to be able to calculate the relative formula mass - therefore time is taken to revisit these skills and worked examples are used with this and the actual calculations to enable the students to visualise how they should set their work out. The lesson finishes with some progress check questions where students are challenged to state which of four chemical reactions has the highest atom economy. This lesson could be taught in combination with the percentage yield topic and an accompanying lesson on that calculation is available on this site.
This revision resource includes exam questions, understanding checks and quiz competitions, all of which have been designed to motivate and engage the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content found in topic 2 (Experimental techniques) of the CIE IGCSE Chemistry specification for examination in June and November 2020 and 2021. This revision resource contains an engaging PowerPoint (50 slides) and associated worksheets, some of which have been differentiated to help and challenge differing abilities.
The range of activities have been designed to cover as much of the Core and Supplement content as possible but the following sub-topics have been given particular attention:
Identify substances and assess purity from melting and boiling point data
Describe and explain the method of distillation
Understand how fractional distillation separates mixtures according to their boiling points
Describe and explain the method of crystallisation
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of paper chromatography
Interpret simple chromatograms, including the calculation of the Rf values
In addition, topics from other modules such as states of matter at different temperatures are covered so that students can see the importance of being able to make connections and links between Chemistry topics.
This is a concise, fast-paced lesson that introduces students to addition polymers and guides them through drawing displayed formulae to represent both the monomers and polymers involved in these reactions. Students will learn the conditions needed for these reactions and that the polymers produced by addition reactions are the only products. The main part of the lesson involves a step by step guide to show students how to draw displayed formulae. Hints are given throughout the process so that students can remember the key ideas and are able to represent these substances accurately. A number of progress checks have been written into the lesson so that students can assess their understanding any misconceptions can be addressed.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students
This lesson has been designed to enable students to recognise the key stages in the formation of the early atmosphere and to also show how today’s atmosphere was formed. The lesson has been primarily designed for GCSE students but is suitable for higher ability younger students who perhaps are studying the Earth and its formation.
The lesson begins by checking that the students know the percentages of the different gases found in the modern day atmosphere. Some time is taken to check on their mathematical skills by challenging them to produce a pie chart to represent these different percentages. Students are then asked to predict how they think the percentage of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour would have differed from now to the early atmosphere. The key steps in the formation are then introduced and critical points discussed. Students will learn about the volcanic activity, formation of the oceans and photosynthesis as crucial points in the change to the percentages of those three gases. A number of progress checks are written into the lesson, which check knowledge from this lesson and related topics such as the reaction of acids and gases.
A concise and engaging lesson, which looks at chemical and physical changes with the key objective that students can recognise the differences between the two. Key terminology is used throughout, such as irreversible and practical examples are discussed. A number of short sharp quiz competitions are used to maintain motivation as well as checking on the understanding.
This lesson is suitable for KS3 and GCSE students (11 - 16 year olds in the UK)
This lesson describes an ion as an atom with a positive or negative charge, and explains how cations and anions are formed in ionic compounds. The lesson PowerPoint and accompanying worksheet have been designed to cover points 1.22 - 1.24 of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification and also covers the same points on the Combined Science course.
The first part of the lesson focuses on atoms and specifically on getting students to recall that they contain the same number of protons and electrons and this is why they have no overall charge. By ensuring that they are confident with this fact, they will be able to understand why ions have a charge. Students will learn that ions have full outer shells of electrons and this change in the number of this sub-atomic particle leads to the charge. They are shown examples with aluminium and oxide ions and then are challenged to apply this new-found knowledge to a task where they have to explain how group 1, 2, 5 and 7 atoms become ions. The final part of the lesson looks at how ion knowledge can be assessed in a question as they have to recognise the electron configuration of one and describe how many sub-atomic particles are found in different examples. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson to allow the students to check on their understanding.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with higher ability KS3 students who are looking to extend their knowledge past basic atomic structure
An engaging lesson presentation (44 slides) and associated worksheets that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within module C1 (Particles) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Chemistry specification.
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Introducing particles
Chemical and physical changes
Atomic structure
Isotopes
Developing the atomic model
Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “Order, Order” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention
This is a concise lesson that looks at Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table, the changes and tweaks that he made and compares it against the modern day version of the table. The aim of the lesson is to show students how accurate Mendeleev was with his table, even with those elements that had not yet been discovered. They will work through some examples with eka-silicon and eka-manganese and also compare eka-aluminium’s predictions against those of gallium. Links are made to the development of the atom so students can understand how the atomic number was used by Mendeleev and how it is used now.
Students are set homework to look at the developments that were made by other scientists as homework and this is not covered in this lesson.
This lesson describes how the limiting reactant controls the mass of the product formed and explains how to deduce the stoichiometry. The PowerPoint and accompanying worksheet, which is differentiated, have been designed to cover points 1.52 & 1.53 of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification and also covers those points in the Chemistry section of the Combined Science course. Step by step guides are used to go through worked examples so students are able to visualise how to set out their work.
The lesson begins with a fun analogy involving sausages and potatoes so that students can identify that the potatoes limited the sale of food. Alongside this, students will learn the key term excess. Some time is then taken to ensure that students can spot the limiting reactant and the one in excess in actual chemical reactions and method descriptions. Moving forwards, students will be guided through two calculations that involve limiting reactants - those to calculate the theoretical yield and the other to calculate a balanced symbol equation. Other skills involved in these calculations such as calculating the relative formula mass are recalled and a few examples given to ensure they are confident. The question worksheet has been differentiated two ways so that any students who need extra assistance can still access the learning.
This fully-resourced lesson describes how to calculate the concentration of solution in grams per decimetres cubed and mol per decimetre cubed. The lesson PowerPoint and accompanying questions which are differentiated have been designed to cover points 1.49 & 5.8 of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification.
The lesson begins by introducing students to volumes in decimetres cubed and time is taken to ensure that students are able to convert to this measurement from volumes in centimetres cubed. Moving forwards, students are shown how to calculate the concentration in both units through the use of worked examples and then they are challenged to apply this to a series of exam-style questions which have been differentiated so students of differing abilities can access the work
This is a fully-resourced revision lesson that uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the sub-topics found within Topic C6 (Groups in the Periodic table) of the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification.
The sub-topics and specification points that are tested within the lesson include:
Describe the reactions of lithium, sodium and potassium with water
Describe the pattern of reactivity in the alkali metals and explain this pattern in terms of electronic configurations
Describe the reactions of the halogens to form metal halides
Explain the reactivity of the halogens in terms of electronic configurations
Explain why the noble gases are chemically inert
Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which require their further attention during general revision or during the lead up to the actual GCSE terminal exams