In a classroom, teacher helping a high school student with Down's syndrome to use a light microscope

A reduction in the science curriculum is welcome

2026-03-31T06:00:00+01:00By

Head of science Jo McMullen explains how the curriculum and assessment review findings could impact teachers and students in SEND settings

Education in Chemistry

Ideas

A cartoon of construction workers on some scaffolding building a graph

How to scaffold science for SEND learners

By

Use these tips to build useful scaffolding techniques for sequencing questions, graph drawing skills, recall and reasoning that make science more accessible

A hand with some flash cards

How to get the most out of flashcards

By

Revamp this traditional revision technique to prompt deeper scientific thinking and understanding for your learners

People on different levels connected by stairs with giant jigsaw pieces and maps of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

How to manage the transition from pre- to post-16 chemistry

By , , , and

Six strategies for bridging the transition for learners to post-16 chemistry

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Exciting demos

A sparks and bright flash of hot material in a terracotta flowerpot held in a laboratory clamp and stand. The set up is outside with some snow behind a protective clear screen

Thermite in a flowerpot

Two syringes with nitrogen oxides

Explore the nitrogen oxides: unexpected equilibrium

Two syringes connected via a valve. One is empty and the other has 40 millilitres of an orange gas

Explore the nitrogen oxides: Avogadro’s law revisited

A hand squeezing a plastic bottle with vapour emerging from the neck

Forming a cloud in a bottle

A test tube of boiling water at room temperature, with blue food dye for clarity

Boiling without heating

  • Thermite in a flowerpot

  • Explore the nitrogen oxides: unexpected equilibrium

  • Explore the nitrogen oxides: Avogadro’s law revisited

  • Forming a cloud in a bottle

  • Boiling without heating

Evidence-based teaching

A cartoon of a person giving a presentation represented by colourful shapes.

Enhance learning with teacher-led explanations

By

Plan high-quality explanations ahead of time to develop your learners’ understanding of chemistry

A collage of a hand holding a curly arrow with other shapes around

Master organic mechanisms with an arrows-first approach

By

Use an arrows-first approach to mechanistic organic chemistry to deepen your post-16 learners’ understanding and improve their assessment outcomes

A row of chemistry glassware containing blue liquid, flipped and reflected

Integrating scaffolding and metacognition into titrations

By

Can a flipped-practical approach encourage thinking and self-reflection?

Opinion

In a classroom, teacher helping a high school student with Down's syndrome to use a light microscope

A reduction in the science curriculum is welcome

By

Head of science Jo McMullen explains how the curriculum and assessment review findings could impact teachers and students in SEND settings

High school students in a lab discussing chemistry. They are wearing safety goggle and there is lab equipment set up around them.

Oracy is at the heart of chemistry teaching

By

The Curriculum and assessment review in England focuses on oracy, bringing its policy in line with what’s already happening in science classrooms, say teachers

A science teacher discusses a environmental project with his high school students

Tough choices ahead for science education after the curriculum review

By

Education policy programme manager Laura Daly says more is needed to make science pathways accessible and future‑proof

How to teach ...

A pencil traces a path through a maze puzzle shaped like a calculator

How to break through the numeracy barrier

The chemical structures and 3d models of methanol, ethanol and the two forms of both propanol and butanol

Teaching alcohols at 14–16

A diagram of a beaker of liquid with a battery hooked up via electrodes which are attracting charged particles from the liquid

Teach electrolysis at 14–16

A diagram showing how when two molecules collide they have to have enough energy to react together

Teaching rates of reaction and collision theory at 14–16

Bolts of colourful cloth on sale at local fabric market store.

How to teach aromatic chemistry at post-16

  • How to break through the numeracy barrier

  • Teaching alcohols at 14–16

  • Teach electrolysis at 14–16

  • Teaching rates of reaction and collision theory at 14–16

  • How to teach aromatic chemistry at post-16

News & analysis

Four black and white micrograph images of crystals in the shape of hexagons

Researchers crack two century challenge to form calcium bicarbonate crystals

Give students a real example of how solubility, ionic bonding and reaction conditions affect salt formation

Close up on a class register with one student showing as persistently absent

How do we keep pupils coming to school?

Discover why absenteeism is rising in the UK and Ireland, what is being done about it and how you can best support your learners

Showing the position of the element Nobelium in the periodic table. It has an atomic number of 102 and sits on on the bottom line of the f-block between mendelevium and lawrencium

Discover the heaviest element detected in a molecule

Scientists probe the outer limits of the periodic table and uncover properties of mysterious element nobelium

Sharks swimming in an aquarium

Ocean acidification could cause shark tooth corrosion

Scientists investigate the impact of carbon dioxide levels on blacktip reef shark teeth

Latest issue

January 2026
Set up for success with articles on retrieval practice, literacy and revision tactics

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