A bonafide Science Teacher (of 13 years), and Head of Year, from Gloucestershire offering tried and tested resources to save you the time and energy when planning. There's no point reinventing the wheel!
Watch out for new resources to help you meet the demands of teaching the Science GCSE and Chemistry A-Level.
A bonafide Science Teacher (of 13 years), and Head of Year, from Gloucestershire offering tried and tested resources to save you the time and energy when planning. There's no point reinventing the wheel!
Watch out for new resources to help you meet the demands of teaching the Science GCSE and Chemistry A-Level.
Who? For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. This could be delivered as a stand alone lesson or coupled with my other forensic project lessons to create an extended investigation.
The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week?
This bundle of resources contains a powerpoint to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, a detailed lesson plan, plus some suspect profiles to work out ‘whodunnit’. I have included a student sheet to allow them to gather and record observations and draw conclusions. Students will need to set up a microscope to observe some pre-prepared slides showing hair and fibre samples and draw their observations.
This resource is fully editable but can be used straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some hair and fibre slides using the suspect profiles for guidance…).
Enjoy!
For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. At a push this could be done in a lesson and then perhaps for homework but it would work a lot better if a few of hours of time was given to make a good job of it!
The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week?
This bundle of resources contains powerpoints to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, lesson plans, plus some suspect profiles to work out ‘whodunnit’. I have included a student worksheets to allow them to gather and record data and draw conclusions. Students will need to carry out practical activities as part of this project so only download if you have the capacity to set these up! Students will have to consider how to control various elements of the project/investigation and how to improve accuracy, repeatability, precision etc. They will then need to plot graphs of their results, draw observations from microscopes and carry out chemical food tests before drawing a final conclusion.
I love using this resource! It is fully editable but gives you a resource you can use straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some fake blood, urine and hair and fibre samples…).
How many times do we find ourselves trying to show our students how different chemistry equations link together?! Too many. Well here is an excellent, condensed summary of all the Chemistry calculations which involve moles. My students love this sheet (if that’s possible?!) as it brings it all together. This can be used with both Standard tier or Higher Tier students (it does include the Avogadro Constant, which is found in HT).
Equations included are…
Avogadro’s constant/moles/No. of particles
concentration/moles/volume
concentration/mass/volume
moles/mass/relative mass
Molar gas volume/moles/volume
I have also included conversion of dm3 into cm3 plus a couple of extra rules/definitions taken from th specification.
This worksheet has been made using the Edexcel Specification but could absolutely be used against other specifications (including A-Level).
This resource is a must have for Electrolysis revision, classwork or homework.
This resource is made up of two worksheets plus answers for both. Students must predict the ions which will be present during an electrolysis of various electrolytes and then decide which ions will be attracted to either electrode. It is supported by a great knowledge organiser which guides students through HOW to predict what will be formed.
Knowledge Organiser (written against the Edexcel Specification but easily applicable to others)r.
I’ve even included worked answers for the worksheets to save you the bother!
(Students may need access to a periodic table and/or a reactivity series which includes hydrogen).
Who? For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. At a push this could be done in a lesson and then perhaps for homework but it would work a lot better if a couple of hours of time was given to make a good job of it!
The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week?
This bundle of resources contains a powerpoint to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, a detailed lesson plan, plus some suspect profiles to work out ‘whodunnit’. I have included a student sheet to allow them to gather and record data and draw conclusions. Students will need to drop ‘blood’ onto the floor/ a surface and gather a set of control diameters of blood splats which are created upon the blood hitting the floor. Students will have to consider how to control various elements of the project/investigation and how to improve accuracy, repeatability, precision etc. They will then need to plot a graph of their results before drawing a final conclusion.
I love using this resource! It is fully editable but gives you a resource you can use straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some fake blood…).
Enjoy!
Who? For those teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a clear and simple worksheet for your students to complete on the first 20 elements of the periodic table.
What? This worksheet requires students to look up each element (from the top 20) in the periodic table to deduce how many electrons. They will then need to apply the 2, 8, 8 rule and away they go!
A couple of bonus questions at the end… (Answers are on included on the second sheet - all electronic configurations given to save you looking them up!)
This 20 slide (plus one slide of teacher notes at the beginning) editable assembly covers the topic perseverance and failure. It offers opportunity to think about the importance of failure, perseverance, hard work and patience which contribute to reaching success. This powerpoint includes text, photos and videos with advice on delivery of the assembly in the notes section of each slide. The notes can easily be printed and so this assembly really is ready to go!
This assembly has been made with secondary school audiences in mind. For example, potentially perfect to give this assembly just before a round of mock exams for Key Stage 4 or 5.
A great knowledge organiser all boiled down to one sheet.
If students know EXACTLY WHAT they need to revise (using the specification checklist) it makes for smarter revision. If they can TEST THEMSELVES to measure their understanding - even better!
This resource is a comprehensive but concise knowledge organiser covering…
Electrolysis key definitions
Predicting the products of an electrolysis experiment (a great flow diagram to make this easier for students!)
Half equations
Purifying Copper
oxidation and reduction
This differentiated worksheet builds in demand as you work through it and so there really is something for everyone. It begins simply with the primary and secondary colours, what they are and how they are formed (secondary). The activity then moves on to how we see coloured light and how/why objects appear certain colours under white light and then finally under different coloured light.
This activity is essentially a good assessment tool of a really tricky topic. I’ve included answers to the questions to save you having to do the thinking! They are essentially a set of model answers which you could even give students.
A great knowledge organiser all boiled down to one sheet.
My revision methods are quite simple in my lessons - SPEC IT, REVISE IT, TEST IT. If students know EXACTLY WHAT they need to revise (using the specification checklist) it makes for smarter revision. If they can TEST THEMSELVES to measure their understanding - even better!
This resource is a comprehensive but concise knowledge organiser covering the tough put essential Chemistry Calculations plus some great examples of model calculation answers. This knowledge organiser has been made against the Edexcel specification but would easily be applicable to others. Each revision point has been written in accordance with the specification section to help students translate the specification points. The Knowledge Organiser is applicable to students sitting standard or higher tier papers.
Calculations included are…
calculating concentrations (in g/dm3 and mol/dm3)
calculating unknown concentrations using titration data
gas volume calculations starting with mass of a reactant
gas molar volume ratios
Who? For you lucky people teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a straightforward and simple lesson on atomic number, mass number plus how to use them to calculate numbers of the sub-atomic particles in an atom. This lesson has been made with reference to the new Edexcel Spec.
What? This is a whole lesson on one powerpoint. A starter/ diagnostic to see what your group know about the atom already. Learning objectives, worked examples with answers, class tasks with answers (all written in the ‘notes’ section of the powerpoint). This lesson is ready to go but still offers you flexibility to offer group work or peer teaching style tasks if you wish. Everything you need is here as powerpoint slides can be printed as ‘worksheets’ if needed.
Who? Those teaching the new (and old!) GCSE Physics. This worksheet would fit nicely into the P3 Edexcel specification. This is for students who are getting to grips with identifying the useful and wasted energies made by electrical devices.
What? The worksheet is a grid to be filled out after considering/discussing the different types of energy output delivered by the different electrical devices. There is also an opportunity to consider aspects of their design which have been developed to reduce wasted energy. This will extend some and deepen the thinking involved.
Answers are included on the second sheet of the resource.
This is a very simple KS3 Chemistry lesson to introduce the concept of reactivity and the reactivity series of metals.
Resource includes a very self explanatory powerpoint (including a technician list for ordering practical equipment), an introduction to the reactivity series plus a straight forward practical for students to deduce the order of reactivity of 4 metals to help fill in the gaps of the reactivity series they have been given. I have produced a practical hand out with a simple equipment list and method plus a pre-drawn table to help students get started straight away or feel free to get them designing their own if you wish. Finally students will need to write brief conclusions regarding their results and then move on to some higher order prediction making for other metals based on their results.
Download it, open it and it’s ready to go! (The only prep you’ll need to do is ordering your practical kit!)
A set of cards which just need printing and snipping to provide a nice card sort activity.
Once the pros and cons have been sorted, this task could then be extended by asking students to rank effectiveness of the resource or perhaps rank how useful they might be if installed in the UK.
A great resource with lots of scope to be creative! (I’ve just saved you the time of creating all the cards!!)
A cut and stick or match 'em up type activity to assess recall of simple chemical reactions content.
common gas tests
reactant and products
the fire triangle
word equations
An excellent activity to allow your A-Level Chemists to apply their knowledge of Mass Spectrometry and Infrared Spectroscopy to identify some Organic unknowns. This activity will need to be taught after students have had an introduction to the main homologous series’ in their first year of A-Level Chemistry.
The task involves students studying mass and infrared spectra to identify the unknown chemicals. Some qualitative clues have also been given to encourage students to realise that analysis often involves multiple sets of data.
All answers are included. I gave this as a paired task but would work well in groups, individually, as a homework or an assessment.
A great knowledge organiser all boiled down to one sheet.
If students know EXACTLY WHAT they need to revise (using the specification checklist) it makes for smarter revision. If they can TEST THEMSELVES to measure their understanding - even better!
This resource is a comprehensive but concise knowledge organiser covering…
common formula
ionic formula to learn (simple and compound)
word equations
balanced equation writing
ionic equation writing
hazard symbols and precautions to reduce risk.
This blank table will allow students to organise/present information they have gathered during online research on a variety of diseases. This resource could easily be used with my ‘Doctor, Doctor!’ game/activity (also free for download).
A handful of terms relating to weathering which students can match up with their definitions. This activity is not too long and would make a good starter.
