Symbols and formulas | Developing understanding | 11–14 years

Developing understanding is a series of resources that encourages learners to connect their thinking at the macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic levels. This resource aims to develop learners’ understanding of symbols and chemical formulas. The questions encourage learners to think about what is represented by the chemical formula of a substance made of individual molecules. This leads to the idea of a chemical formula as showing the ratio of different types of atom in the bulk substance. As a result, learners should develop more secure mental models to support their thinking about this topic.