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Outstanding GCSE and A level chemistry resources

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Having taught GCSE and A level chemistry for 6 years and being an examiner I have developed a solid understanding of what makes a lesson outstanding and seek to share this with other teachers.

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Having taught GCSE and A level chemistry for 6 years and being an examiner I have developed a solid understanding of what makes a lesson outstanding and seek to share this with other teachers.
Metals trump cards and data sheet - develop higher level thinking at KS3 and GCSE
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Metals trump cards and data sheet - develop higher level thinking at KS3 and GCSE

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This is a set of resources that are used in metals lessons at KS3 and GCSE. The metal trump cards cover 12 metals including 3 alloys. The superplastic alloy has been included to challenge students. Each card lists key information such as elemental symbols, properties and metal uses. They can be used in a variety of lessons such as when students need to design a car for the future (see my other resources). Please rate this resource and leave feedback.
Elements and compounds revision crossword
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Elements and compounds revision crossword

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This covers naming of compounds (e.g. iron chloride) and some challenge questions such as where the heavier elements are made (supernova). Please rate this resource and leave feedback.
REDOX lesson 2 - Disproportionation reactions - AS Chemistry
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REDOX lesson 2 - Disproportionation reactions - AS Chemistry

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This is a lesson on using oxidation numbers to determine if a reaction is a redox reaction, disproportionation reaction or symproportionation reaction (opposite of disproportionation). Symproportionation is included to develop understanding and is not required by AS Chemistry specifications. The starter is the engaging visual elephant toothpaste demo. Answers on slide 17 are colour coded and animated. I have another lesson on TES where students calculate oxidation numbers. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.
Atomic structure GCSE tarsia - for lower ability students - use as starter, plenary or revision
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Atomic structure GCSE tarsia - for lower ability students - use as starter, plenary or revision

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This is a fun GCSE chemistry tarsia for revision of atomic structure. 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: subatomic particles, using the periodic table to work out the number of subatomic particles. The software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.
Paper chromatography GCSE Chemistry tarsia - use as starter, plenary or revision
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Paper chromatography GCSE Chemistry tarsia - use as starter, plenary or revision

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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.
Enthalpy change graphical method and calculating excess - AS Chemistry
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Enthalpy change graphical method and calculating excess - AS Chemistry

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This is an AS Chemistry lesson on calculating which chemical is in excess in a reaction. Also students calculate an enthalpy change using a graphical method for reactions that happen slowly and therefore heat is lost to the surroundings when recording the temperature rise. The graphical method involves estimating the actual temperature increase. There is opportunity to use hand warmers for the starter activity and reacting magnesium with oxygen (i.e. in air) as a main activity. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.
Atomic structure GCSE complete scheme of work (9 hours, 9 lessons) with outstanding lessons, demonstrations, exam skills and peer assessment
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Atomic structure GCSE complete scheme of work (9 hours, 9 lessons) with outstanding lessons, demonstrations, exam skills and peer assessment

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This is a complete set of GCSE Atomic structure lessons and fully differentiated resources. The lessons are suggested to be taught in this order: elements and compounds, balancing equations, separating mixtures, isotopes and structure, models of the atom, history of periodic table and noble gases, alkali metals, halogens, transition metals. The suggested teaching time is 1 hour per lesson and so this scheme of work requires 9 hours of teaching time. There are a variety of fun demos included such as sodium reacting with chlorine. For each demo there is a link to Royal Society of Chemistry explanations for how to safely carry out the demo. Please note that a fume cupboard is required for some demonstrations. The lesson starters recap prior learning and the lessons conclude with plenaries that develop exam technique. There are challenge tasks included in every lesson to stretch more able students. The aim is that each of these lessons is an outstanding lesson that provides the opportunity for all pupils to make excellent progress. Please rate these resources and leave feedback.
Acids and alkalis GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision
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Acids and alkalis GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision

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This is a GCSE chemistry tarsia for revision of acids and alkalis. 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: H+, OH-, ionic and symbol equations for neutralisation, state symbols of acids alkalis and water, ammonia. The 'fjsw' file can be opened and modified with tarsia software. The software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.
Cracking GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision
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Cracking GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision

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This is a fun GCSE chemistry tarsia for revision of cracking hydrocarbons. 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: state of ethene, octane and polyethene at room temperature, supply vs demand, formulae of ethene, decane and pentane, bromine water test. The software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.
Polymerisation GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision
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Polymerisation GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision

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This is a fun GCSE chemistry tarsia for revision of polymerisation. 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: catalyst, thermal decomposition, formula of ethene and methane, elements in ethene, natural polymer, synthetic polymer, cross links, addition polymerisation. The tarsia software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.
Distillation GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision
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Distillation GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision

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This is a fun GCSE chemistry tarsia for revision of rates of distillation. 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: apparatus, bonds between particles, order of evaporation, pure vs impure substances, naming fractional distillation, naming steam distillation, change of state. The tarsia software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.
Atomic structure GCSE lesson 1 - Elements, compounds and formulae
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Atomic structure GCSE lesson 1 - Elements, compounds and formulae

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This is is a lesson for GCSE chemistry that matches the AQA new 2016 specification section 4.1 - atomic structure and the periodic table. The lesson begins with a fun film characters starter. There is then a discussion on how elements are made in supernovae. Students then consider rules for naming compounds and how to write formulae. They then then write the formulae for 12 substances. The challenge is to write empirical formulae. The lesson concludes with a consideration of how some of the chemicals are harmful to fish such as Nemo. Titanium dioxide in suntan cream causes water and oxygen in seawater to react to form hydrogen peroxide that is toixc to fish. Answers are included. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.
An introduction to electrochemical cells - A level - includes writing half cells
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An introduction to electrochemical cells - A level - includes writing half cells

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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.
Separating mixtures GCSE - includes paper chromatography
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Separating mixtures GCSE - includes paper chromatography

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This lesson is the third in the atomic structure scheme of work for the 2016 AQA specification. The two previous lessons are on elements, compounds and mixtures and balancing equations. The theme of the lesson is separating cannabis chemicals in order to extract TetraHydroCannabinol (THC). This is part of a group of chemicals called 'cannabinoids' and is used as an oral spray called Sativex that treats multiple sclerosis. The lesson starts with students listing 3 reasons for and 3 reasons against legalising cannabis. There is a YouTube video showing a 3 minute BBC News report that is embedded. The link is included in the PowerPoint. Students then use the separating mixtures trump cards to state what method they would use for each stage of extracting THC. They carry out a RSC practical to extract 'THC' (it is in fact a combination of chemicals) using a pestle and mortar and the solvent propanone. Though not included in the RSC practical they could filter the solvent to remove any solids. They then use paper chromatography to see whether their sample has a pure chemical. If the chemical is pure there will be a single spot visible on the chromatogram. Students could then dry their chromatograms and calculate the Rf value of their spot. Finally a higher level question is included at the end where students consider the effect of using different solvents. Please rate these resources and leave feedback.
Balancing equations GCSE
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Balancing equations GCSE

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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.
History of the periodic table GCSE - includes Mendeleev, Newlands and noble gases
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History of the periodic table GCSE - includes Mendeleev, Newlands and noble gases

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This lesson forms part of the chemistry GCSE atomic structure scheme of work for the new 2016 AQA specification. The starter is a fun kinsthetic activity where students put element cards into groups. These cards are available to buy from Royal Society for Chemistry. A link is included on the slide. Alternatively students could make a pack of element fact cards for homework and bring them to lesson for the starter activity. Students are then introduced to Dobereiner and Newlands. They watch a 3 minute YouTube video about Mendeleev and answer the questions provided. Students then consider that Mendeleev missed group 8/0 elements and swapped iodine / tellurium so that the group 7 elements are all non-metals (i.e. why de not always put elements in order of increasing atomic weight). There is an activity where students consider the good and bad things about each scientists methodology and write an explanation for why we now use Mendeleevs table. Finally there is an exam question plenary. Please rate this resource and leave feedback.
GCSE Chemistry assessment, markscheme and detailed feedback sheet - atoms, ions, flame tests
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GCSE Chemistry assessment, markscheme and detailed feedback sheet - atoms, ions, flame tests

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This is an end of topic test that I have put together for GCSE Chemistry. I have created my own exam questions and resources as well as using freely available exam questions from past papers available online. I have created a detailed feedback sheet that students use to peer assess their work or the teacher can do this. It covers atomic structure and flame tests. A revision homework with questions and two model answers is provided.
Halogens GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision
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Halogens GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision

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This is a fun GCSE chemistry tarsia for revision of the halogens. 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: state of the halogens at room temperature (astatine is unstable), uses of the halogens, trend for melting point and reactivity with group 1 metals, charge of group 1 metal and halogen ions. The tarsia software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.
Transition metals GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision
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Transition metals GCSE tarsia - use as lesson starter, plenary or revision

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This is a fun GCSE Chemistry tarsia for revision of transition metals and is suitable for more able students. 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: transition metal uses, transition metal properties, magnetic metals, catalysts, aqueous copper ion colour, pH of iron hydroxide vs iron nitrate. The tarsia software is free to download but there is not currently a version for Mac computers.