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 February, 2016

Chemistry teacherFrom September 2016 there are new practical requirements for GCSE science in Wales and England.

Are you concerned about introducing one of the new experimental techniques? Do you need resources to help students use apparatus? Looking for an interesting way to approach a particular topic? We can help!

To support the teaching of chemistry practical work, we have published a document that maps the requirements of the English GCSE specifications to Learn Chemistry resources. You can find all the specifications from the four main awarding bodies in England, both for combined and separate sciences. Download it here: English GCSE chemistry practical requirements

There's also an equivalent resource for Wales. We hope to add a similar resource for Northern Ireland in the following weeks.

The Learn Chemistry resources we've identified are intended to support your teaching. They suggest some exciting ways to demonstrate the techniques that students should become familiar with. They are not intended to be a scheme of work.

If you're new to Learn Chemistry, visit our dedicated experimentation hub for more ideas to increase engagement in scientific investigation, develop new skills and enhance students' knowledge.

Still not sure which GCSE science specification to choose? Read our earlier blogpost to help you make your decision.

Due to Ofqual rejecting the English GCSE science specifications for a second time, on 05/02/16, the content in the English resource is subject to any changes that occur in the re-drafting of the specifications. We will update the resources as the new specifications are accredited.

Joanna Furtado and Chrissie Maitland

Posted by Joanna Furtado on Feb 4, 2016 9:57 AM GMT

Confused about which GCSE science specification you should choose for your new Year 10’s in September 2016? Not sure how all the awarding bodies are differentiating themselves? Searching for some sort of coherent summary of the differences between them?

To help provide a brief, unbiased summary, we have put together a Learn Chemistry article which you can find here http://goo.gl/qktdSK. Looking at the third article on the Learn Chemistry resource page you will find a table containing the four main awarding bodies, their different science specifications for GCSE, and the extra offers they have to support teachers of GCSE science.  The hyperlinks in each box take you through to the relevant page for the specification, or the specification itself if it is accredited. The coloured key indicates whether a particular qualification will count towards Progress and Attainment 8, and towards the English Baccalaureate.


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The main difference that you might notice from previous years are the schemes of work and syllabuses for KS3, with particular focus on the transition in Year 9 to KS4; other differences include Entry Level Certificates for lower ability students, which can run alongside GCSEs, and new STEM technical awards, which replace BTECs and Cambridge National Certificates at Level 1/2.


We hope this will help to equip you to choose your specification, when they are accredited, ready for teaching in September 2016!

Due to Ofqual rejecting the English GCSE science specifications for a second time, on 05/02/16, the content in this resource is subject to any changes that occur in the re-drafting of the specifications. We will update the resources as the new specifications are accredited.
 
Posted by Joanna Furtado on Feb 1, 2016 11:10 AM GMT