An exercise book with three gold stars and a "great work well done" written in red pen

Does rewarding good behaviour deserve a gold star?

2024-11-22T05:24:00+00:00By

Using commendations to encourage positive behaviour can have an impact beyond the chemistry classroom

Education in Chemistry

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Ideas

A before and after photo showing that the mass (85.5g) of a beaker of water and a watchglass of salt does not change when the salt has been dissolved in the water

4 ways to teach the law of conservation of mass

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Improve 11–14 year-old learners’ understanding of this fundamental chemistry topic

People discuss the connections between different parts of Chemistry

3 ways to consolidate understanding and build exam confidence at 14–16

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How connecting chemistry topics will cement prior learning and provide a solid foundation for new content

Children passing through four entrance barriers

Use multiple representations to make abstract scientific concepts accessible

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Try these four different ways to offer learners more entry points to understanding

Exciting demos

A glass dish with sweets around the edge whose colours have bled into the middle

Dissolve coloured sweets to create a rainbow

A conical flask of yellow liquid bubbles with a heavy white smoke

Demonstrations with dry ice

A hand using scissor-handle tweezers to hold a piece of paper that is on fire but not burning

Non-burning paper: investigate the fire triangle and conditions for combustion

A glass beaker pouring liquid uphill into another

Illustrate polymer properties with a self-siphoning solution

A photo of a test tube of a clear liquid containing with brown-edged blue liquid blobs. The test tube is also submerged in a clear liquid.

Demonstrate concentration and density with a transition metal colloid cell

  • Dissolve coloured sweets to create a rainbow

  • Demonstrations with dry ice

  • Non-burning paper: investigate the fire triangle and conditions for combustion

  • Illustrate polymer properties with a self-siphoning solution

  • Demonstrate concentration and density with a transition metal colloid cell

Evidence-based teaching

Students discussing global issues

Improve assessment accessibility for multilingual learners

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Teaching tips to help you tackle four key language challenges EAL learners face in chemistry

The lapel of a white lab coat with a sunflower badge and a rainbow badges

Foster more diverse involvement in all science lessons

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Understand the challenges faced by students with concealable or hidden characteristics to engage all your learners in classroom research

A diagram showing the difference between electron shells and electron clouds

Help learners understand and compare the Bohr and electron cloud models

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Make the abstract nature of atomic theory more concrete with these evidence-informed teaching tips

Opinion

An exercise book with three gold stars and a "great work well done" written in red pen

Does rewarding good behaviour deserve a gold star?

By

Using commendations to encourage positive behaviour can have an impact beyond the chemistry classroom

A name badge showing people of different ages and genders

What should learners call their teachers?

By

Step into a classroom and you’ll often hear Miss, Madam and Sir. But is it time for change?

People using a giant compass

4 ideas to empower your learners

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Use key education frameworks, such as PISA, in your chemistry lessons to equip students for life

How to teach ...

A coloured X-ray of a fridge showing the food and drinks inside and the cooling mechanism at the back

How to teach Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution curves at post-16

The molecular structures of diamond, graphite, graphene, fullerene and a nanotube

How to teach structure and bonding of carbon at 14–16

A woman wearing a warm coat outside and holding a chemical hand warmer

Teaching enthalpy cycles at post-16

A 2d diagram showing a lattice of positively charged particles in a sea of free electrons

Teaching structure and bonding in metals at 14–16

Students in a school lab using a burette filler to measure liquid for a titration

How to teach titration post-16

  • How to teach Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution curves at post-16

  • How to teach structure and bonding of carbon at 14–16

  • Teaching enthalpy cycles at post-16

  • Teaching structure and bonding in metals at 14–16

  • How to teach titration post-16

News & analysis

Signs for a hydrogen-powered bus refuelling station in Iceland

New material could help power the hydrogen economy

Cryogenic cooling enables record hydrogen storage in new material

Dinosaurs watch a meteor hit the Earth

Research reveals the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs

Isotopes help to identify the type of asteroid responsible for the catastrophic event that made dinosaurs extinct

Models on runway

Runaway success for recycling textiles

Fast fashion context for teaching recycling and polymers to use with your 14–16 learners 

The whole surface of a moon showing red and white patches

Could Titan’s hydrocarbon seas support life?

Probing the seas of Saturn’s largest moon

Latest issue

November 2024
Discover precious elements, allotropes of carbon and sweet rainbow science

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