Overwhelmed by the available chemistry resources? Looking for new chemistry teaching ideas? Elementary Articles is the place for chemistry, education, and everything else.

Elementary Articles is the official blog for the RSC's Learn Chemistry – your home for chemistry education resources and activities.

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Archive for November, 2013
We are making improvements to our online experimentation microsite which I hope many of you will have seen and used (see http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/collections/online-experimentation/) we want the site to promote and support the best practical chemistry in new ways.



Having just completed the successful Global Experiment 2013 (a great example of Collaborative Chemistry) we are looking to do much more to develop practical experiment resources for you.

We are working on many ideas but please help us steer the development by contributing to our research now! If you could spare ten minutes please complete our online questionniare at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZX3P92Z

Lee Page and Simon Rees
Posted by Lee Page on Nov 25, 2013 2:29 PM GMT
It’s Chemistry Week! Hooray! Thanks to all who have taken part in the Global Experiment so far your participation has been amazing. It is great to follow all your experiments and contributions via twitter.

 

The fruit comparison data from all your experiments is ranking well compared to 'official' data which is nice to see. The effects of location, aging and cooking are a little less predictable at the moment but let’s see if this averages out with more data?
 
We plan to keep the experiment open so if you are unable to take part this week but like the idea of contributing please do so later.
Please also come back to the site as we plan more Collaborative Chemistry activities soon.
 
There is a lot more happening during Chemistry Week as we look to increase the public understanding of the importance of the chemical sciences in our everyday lives. This year the theme is health and our Local Sections, Interest Groups, Regional Coordinators and schools are putting on hundreds of events. Click here to find out more about what is going on.
Posted by Lee Page on Nov 19, 2013 12:51 PM GMT
As part of the Learn Chemistry team investigating uses of online experimentation. I wanted to share a really nice example of what can be done with an online experiment.
https://sites.google.com/site/viscosityexperiment/




This is a great opportunity to help research into experimental language and memory. Please try out this new resource with your class. The experiment looks at a series of viscous liquids and allows measurement of the viscosity by remotely timing a ball as it falls through the liquids.

The research is hosted by the University of Southampton and is engaging for KS4-5 students of Chemistry or Physics. Please share this free site in your school and between departments, it would be great to have as much participation as possible.

When the experiment has been completed the experimenter is asked to create a write-up using one of three randomly selected questionnaires. The results can be printed and shared in class but are also used to aid research at Southampton to see what is remembered about the experiment and what is recorded under different circumstances.

Cerys has agreed to be the contact from the University of Southampton if there are any question on either the research or technical problems on the website itself. Cerys.Willoughby@soton.ac.uk

Posted by Lee Page on Nov 18, 2013 2:47 PM GMT
What support can I find to support me to support practical work? 
Read on for information and advice in a guest post from SCORE Assistant Manager Jessica Douthwaite.

Despite much recent debate on the place of practical science in school curricula – one important point remains – practical work is integral to the teaching and learning of science at school.

The Council for Science and Technology recently emphasised this in a letter to Michael Gove:

“Practical laboratory work is the essence of science and should be at the heart of science learning.”

SCORE understands that teachers and technicians are as sure of the value of practical work as we are, but research conducted in 2012 and launched in May 2013, has shown us that though teachers and technicians would like to provide engaging and equitable practical science lessons for their students, many school staff are struggling to ensure that their classrooms and labs are resourced with the right equipment to do so.

This is not for lack of trying – anonymous comments highlighted problems in keeping up to date with variable equipment lists, the inability to provide sufficient quantities of equipment for deeper investigative activity amongst smaller groups of students, a lack of confidence in using some equipment in lessons, difficulties planning for long-term high cost purchases, and science taking a ‘back seat’ amongst senior leadership.

So what support is there on offer to support your practical work?!  How can you embed long-term planning into resource-buying? And how can you better inform your senior leadership team and governors about your science department spending?

 Through the Resourcing Practical Science research project, SCORE designed, tested and improved a set of primary and secondary school benchmarks working with (and building on previously published resources from) CLEAPPS, the Association for Science Education, the Gatsby Foundation and the Primary Science Teaching Trust.

We directly responded to comments like “It would be really helpful to have a guide outlining resources for practical science” and “a list of suggested essential equipment [would help] so that we could check we had got all we need”.
The SCORE benchmarks do just this by listing adequate supplies, including quantities, in several categories depending on their use in primary or secondary school. The categories are:  equipment and consumables; access to outside space; laboratory facilities; and technician staffing. These lists are a starting point for working towards an optimum level of appropriate resourcing.

We want teachers and technicians to use these in ensuring that their classrooms are stocked and prepared for practical lessons. We think that they provide an excellent basis to leverage science with senior leadership teams and budget holders. Finally we feel that once your school is appropriately resourced, you can provide the practical science experience that could really move your students’ learning and engagement forward!
Try out the benchmarks yourself by visiting SCORE benchmarks.
 
(For more information on the Resourcing Practical Science in schools research report visit the SCORE policy pages.)

Posted by Duncan McMillan on Nov 12, 2013 10:12 AM GMT
For the second year running, Learn Chemistry has been named finalist for a BETT Award!

BETT Award 2014 finalist!

This time around we have been shortlisted in the category 'Free digital content/Open educational resources'. We're in illustrious company, with Microsoft, Edmodo, CUP/OCR/RaspberryPi amongst others also listed. 

The awards take place during next year's BETT show, at which the Royal Society of Chemistry will be exhibiting, and talking about Learn Chemistry and all sorts of other activities and resources.

Whether or not we win, being named a finalist is recognition from one of the major education industry events. It's testament to the effort that so many who work on Learn Chemistry have made since its launch last January, from developers, project managers, and ICT support, to teachers, advisors, and educational partners.

Wish us luck for the 22nd January awards day!
Posted by Duncan McMillan on Nov 7, 2013 6:00 PM GMT
Another missive on our ongoing work, this time to report on two landmarks in Learn Chemistry's development in the last week:
  • Learn Chemistry saw its millionth user! We don't know the person's name, nor can we reward their numerical fortune, but we're proud nonetheless. We're ahead of our own targets for getting Learn Chemistry to more people in more places around the globe.​
  • Learn Chemistry got an RSC new-brand polish. On Wednesday we released an update which you can see all over the site. The changes included:
    • A lovely new purple RSC-brand masthead, with updated Learn Chemistry image (we have lost our beloved 'splat'
    • An update to our Periodic Table. We've simplified the title to 'Periodic Table'.
    • A clean and consistent menu system
    • A fix to our online experimentation page to make the list of experimental resources really 'pop' with their cover images.
Let us know what you think, and how we might continue to improve the site. There are more changes coming this autumn and winter, including some fairly substantial updates to look forward to...

Posted by Duncan McMillan on Nov 4, 2013 10:37 AM GMT