Use ideas from this issue

If you’re short on time and want to use articles from the September 2018 issue of Education in Chemistry, try these suggestions:

• Take care with the ‘octet rule’: use as an explanatory principle rather than a rule of thumb when teaching bonding
• Build with marshmallows: a simple, cheap and effective way to model elements and compounds
• Try triominoes mass spectrometry: mass spectrometry has lots of confusing stages, so help students sort it with cards
• Remove reliance on rules: nurture students’ abstract reasoning skills for proportional reasoning problems
• Model waste plastic separation: an easy activity contained in a bottle, with strong links to plastic waste stories in the news right now
• Stay up-to-date on technical changes: plans for new science T-level programmes for 2021 are taking shape
• Weigh chocolate bars: use results to discuss ideas of true value, variability, outlier and measurement error
• Compare the microscale method: try microscale and traditional chemical cells, and get students thinking about how their mobile phones are designed
• Take time to chat with students: evidence suggests getting to know individuals has a big impact on learning and well-being