Six tips for teaching chemical formulas

Chemical formulas are part of chemistry’s everyday language but they may be like a foreign language to novice learners. Expert chemists easily switch between the many types of formulas, systematic names and common names for chemicals, but students have difficulties with chemical formulas at school and university. Although some students gain fluency with relative ease, others struggle, which may hinder their achievement and engagement with chemistry. Chemical formulas are part of our language, so it makes sense to explore teaching techniques for modern foreign languages.