This is a thorough set of lesson resources designed to promote engagement, pace and sustained student progress through a 60 minute GCSE lesson on the evolution of the atmosphere. The lesson has been designed for the updated 2016 specification for exam board AQA and topic 4.9 Chemistry of the atmosphere. This is the first of a series of lessons on the atmosphere. Please read the lesson plan and lesson PowerPoint. The hook is students considering what pieces of information are needed to work out if life exists on other planets. Students may then consider the Drake equation (in the PPT) and the key question "what is the link between the evolution of the atmosphere and the evolution of life?". There is an Ammonium Dichromate volcano demo (see RSC link in lesson plan). The main activity is where students create a storyboard using detailed lamented sheets and then peer assess using a marking grid that suits higher and lower ability groups. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is an AS Chemistry lesson on advanced titration calculations for a very able class. Though this has grades C to A the concepts in back titration and the grade A zeolite research task together make this a fast paced lesson designed to challenge very bright students. An easier more differentiated version of this lesson will be uploaded to TES later in the year that will be accessed by weaker students. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a Senior High School Chemistry lesson on advanced titration calculations for a very able class. It walks students through the steps in carrying out a back titration for weakly soluble bases.

This is a who wants to be a millionaire quiz designed for mixed ability year 8 students. Questions cover displacement reactions, reactivity series, salts, acid rain. Feedback to my TES inbox please. The template is based on a template designed by Terri Street.

These are a series of dingbats that I have created as engaging starter activities. They work really well as a short punchy starter that students answer on whiteboards before the 4 minute song finishes that students hear as they walk in (e.g. Bon Jovi, Olly Murs). The words are keywords that are referred back to in lesson. There are dingbats for KS3, KS4 and KS5 on these topics: photosynthesis, respiration, compounds, hydrocarbons and carbonyls (A level). Students could post it note their answers with their names and stick them on the whiteboard next to the image. Please leave feedback.

This is a lesson for A level chemistry on electrochemical cells. It starts with students constructing a fruit cell and combing four of these cells to make a battery that powers a light bulb . These are made from a whole lemon, piece of clean copper, piece of clean zinc, electrical wires, crocodile clips and light bulb. This could be shown as a demo if there is not much time. Students offer explanations as to how this works. They are introduced to the theory behind how batteries work, what a half cell is and notation for writing half cells and E-cell. The hydrogen / H+ / platinum reference electrode is then introduced as a standard that is used to compare the voltage different half cells. Reinforce the idea that platinum is used because it a very unreactive electrical conductor. Students then use the electrode potentials table (go through this) to write the voltage and reactions for different combinations of half cells. This could be set as homework instead. The lesson finishes with an exam question plenary. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This covers balancing equations skills for GCSE. This is lesson 2 in the atomic structure scheme of work for the AQA 2016 specification. The lesson starts with a recap of elements, compounds and formulae (lesson 1 in the AQA atomic structure scheme of work). The lesson then has a demo of the sodium and chlorine reaction. Students are then introduced to the rules for balancing equations. They can balance equations using the particle diagrams method that is included in the main lesson. Alternatively students could use the column method or use boiled sweets that are included separately. The challenge is to balance equations that use brackets and to balance half equations. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a fun yet challenging GCSE Chemistry tarsia for revision of the paper chromatography. There are 16 triangles with 18 pairs of questions and answers that make a parallelogram. I suggest that the A4 tarsia is printed on card and then the outline is cut out. Students can then quickly cut out the individual triangles. Included are the following topics: Rf value, adsorb, solvent, soluble and uses of chromatography. The 'fjsw' file can be opened and modified with tarsia software. The tarsia software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.

This is a thoroughly differentiated GCSE chemistry lesson on differentiation that forms part of the AQA 2016 specification 4.7 organic chemistry scheme of work. The internet research homework should be set in advance so that students bring it to the lesson. A website is provided for them on the sheet. The match up starter checks their understanding from the fraction uses homework. This could be printed. For a very able class the fractional distillation mat could be used as the starter. The lesson then goes over what distillation is and then introduces fractional distillation. It is absolutely essential that students understand that distillation separates two substances based on their boiling points and that fractional distillation applies to two or miscible liquids (liquids that do not separate into layers and dissolve instead). They need to know that vaporisation and condensation are the two main steps of distillation. There are plenty of exam questions to demonstrate progress. A RSC practical is included. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is an engaging AS Chemistry lesson on the group 1 and 2 nitrate and carbonate decompositions and has grades C to A. The starter is fire writing using sodium nitrate solution. Please read CLEAPPS safety and Royal Society of Chemistry advice on this compound and the practical. For grade C students describe the reactions. For grade B students explain the decompositions and for grade A they evaluate their answers. An extra activity such a diamond 4 could be included for students to rank their answers. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a lesson on combustion that covers combustion products, writing word equations and writing symbol equations. There is a fun methane bubbles demo that illustrates what combustion is. Details for how to carry this out are available online. I suggest using an oven glove for extra safety. There are two worked examples using particle diagrams that help students balance equations. There is an alternative method to balancing equations (the column method) that is included at the end of the lesson. There are exam questions included in the lesson. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a lesson for the new 2015 A level chemistry specification that covers the ideal gas law. There are clear AFL tasks for the middle of the lesson (grade C) and end of the lesson (grade B and grade A). It is suggested that the lesson before this lesson a homework is set to research conversions and the Kelvin temperature scale. Slides 23 and 24 may be printed per student for students to peer assess each others work. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a lesson on entropy for A level chemistry that has been thoroughly planned and resourced. The lesson starts by getting students to classify reactions as endothermic or exothermic. This is required knowledge so please read through these before the lesson and make sure that students have covered this content. This starter activity could be printed and laminated to be used as a card sort. The concept of entropy is introduced along with the first and second laws of thermodynamics. A stack of Jenga bricks or a stack of cards could be used to illustrate that disorder is a more likely arrangement (gases) than order (solid). The custard powder combustion demo is used to illustrate that entropy changes in the system help predict whether a reaction is spontaneous (whether it happens). Details of how to carry this out can be found online at the RSC wiki and other websites. Students then are introduced to the three formulae needed and complete a worksheet that I have created where they calculate entropy of a system, entropy of the surroundings and total entropy. This is used to predict whether the reactions happen (i.e. whether there is a positive value). Note that balanced equations have not been provided and students at this level should be capable of writing these and sharing them with the class. Markschemes are provided for the entropy calculations. The lesson ends with a comparison of the importance of entropy and enthalpy. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a worksheet on atom economy and percentage yield for GCSE chemistry (grade B+) that is printed as A4 handouts on atom economy and percentage yield. There are three reactions that all make Magnesium sulphate (Epsom salt) as the useful product and so atom economy can be compared along with issues such as toxicity of waste products or reactants. The YouTube video shows how Epsom salts are used in the garden. The formula for atom economy is included. The answers are not yet included and will be uploaded shortly. Please leave feedback if this is useful or if it can be improved.

This is a comprehensive lesson that provides an introduction to enthalpy changes and serves as the first lesson in a scheme of work on energetics at A level. The lesson starts with a recap of GCSE chemistry then moves on to defining enthalpy changes. Students learn the definitions of each type of enthalpy change for homework due in the following lesson. Students then consider energy level diagrams for the grade C task. For the grade B task students predict enthalpy changes using bond dissociation data. There is a worked example of this using the Haber process. The grade A task involves converting enthalpy change values into Joules per gram values that might be used in calorimetry. Scaffolded resources and a markscheme are provided. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is an independent learning lesson on alloys for GCSE chemistry. It is designed to promote independent learning and higher level thinking through role play, designing an aeroplane and justifying the choice of metals used by using data from a data table. The lesson starts by getting students to think about what three properties metals used to make the worlds fastest jet engined plane (SR-71 Blackbird) would need. Students could be shown a short video from YouTube to prompt their thinking and write their answers on post-it notes. They they then discuss what alloys are and could be asked identify the alloys in the metal trump cards pack (this would need to be printed in advance). They are then introduced to the 4 person role play task where they design an aeroplane. Limit their on this task to around 20 minutes. At the end they could either present their work or answer the 6 mark exam question at the end of the lesson. There is a student-friendly marking grid provided. The lesson menu is available for weaker students. Please look carefully at each of the resources provided before the lesson and decide which ones would best suit your group and length of lesson. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a thoroughly planned lesson on the production of ethanol by fermentation of glucose and hydration of ethene. It has differentiated resources and a variety of activities and exam question plenaries to check student understanding. There is an optional production of ethanol practical that could be included in this lesson or as a separate lesson. Students start by recalling the formulae for different substances then learn the symbol equations for the two methods of ethanol production. They then carry out a literacy activity where they sort the advantages and disadvantages of each method of ethanol production. The lesson concludes with an exam question plenary. The practical could be included before comparing the advantages and disadvantages of hydration versus fermentation. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a comprehensive set of differentiated lesson resources that cover polar covalent bonding. Within the lesson are Pauling electronegativity values that can be used to determine the extent of covalent bonding between two atoms. The lesson begins with a recap of ionic and covalent bonding definitions from GCSE. There is then a discussion on electronegativity differences between atoms. Students then carry out the kinesthetic task where put different comments about bonding on a scale from pure covalent to pure ionic. This scale can be printed on A3 paper. The comments can be printed on A4 paper. There is then a peer editing question task and plenary exam questions with markschemes. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.

This is a comprehensive lesson on atomic theory designed for the AQA GCSE specification. The starter is a recap crossword on atomic structure (assumed knowledge). The lesson then takes a chronological journey from the ancient Greeks to alchemy to the Enlightenment and then the 1800s/ early 1900s where Rutherford et al developed the modern model of the atom. The theory activity works really well with all ability and shows that there is little or no evidence to support the early cubic model but there lots of evidence to support the GCSE Bohr model. The lesson finishes with a 6 mark question that is peer marked using a marking grid. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.