Teaching curly arrows at post-16

Students aged 11–14 see chemical processes as the rearrangement of elements. At 14–16, they start to see chemical processes as the rearrangement of atoms. However, post-16 students need to see these processes as the rearrangement of electrons. In this article Tim Jolliff, an independent science education consultant and teacher of 11–18 chemistry students, looks at what your students need to know about curly arrows and where they can go wrong. He also addresses common misconceptions and gives ideas for teaching organic reaction mechanisms.