Developing key chemistry skills remotely

With students across the UK learning from home once more in 2021, many teachers are worried about the further impact on student progress. Even though exams will not happen in the normal way this year, pupils still need to continue developing skills such as interpreting graphs and writing about practicals. Below are some activities that have been successful in building certain key skills with my students, particularly when teaching remotely, and I hope you find some ideas among them that will help both you and your pupils.

Describing practical methods

Working on essential practicals remotely is complex. To combat this, I developed some resources based on ideas from Karen Knight (@KKNTeachLearn). To help students remember and understand the method of each practical, I provide a grid of hexagons for them to complete using CIDER (control, independent, dependent, equipment, risk assessment). Students then use their grids to write up a summary of the method for each practical including detail on what equipment is chosen and why. Apart from the planning tool aspect, using hexagons enables students to organise their thoughts and they can refer to their grids before attempting practice questions. This is also a suitable remote-teaching activity, done either in breakout rooms or individually before returning for feedback.

I am also planning on using David Paterson’s fantastic integrated instructions resources to further help students recall steps for the practicals. I will ask pupils to write up the methods and produce flash cards to help them remember the details of what equipment should be used and why. While this is most suitable for the classroom, you could adapt it as a collaborative task for remote teaching in the form of a live discussion activity.

Interpreting graphs

Recognising and using terminology

This is also an excellent way to then implement dual coding and Frayer models to improve students’ understanding of the terminology required to explain processes. I recently used Frayer models with my 14–15-year olds to develop their definitions for bonding. They found it challenging to think of non-examples, but using diagrams helped them to clarify ideas. They also thought that using diagrams would be useful to support written explanations. Use the resource in the downloads with your own classes, asking them to fill in the grids independently before coming back for a whole-class discussion.

Reading and understanding exam questions

Once students can recall and apply their skills, they can then focus on answering examination questions. Students often need reminding to ‘read the question’ and could use the ‘detect, recall, solve’ technique for this, which you can model in a similar way to the graph analysis mentioned above:

1. Detect and highlight the command words and information in the question.
2. Recall facts linked to the topic.
3. Solve by responding to the commands in the questions.

Students need to check they have responded to each part of the question, tick them off, and check spellings of keywords. You can also integrate structure strips here to help.

When providing homework, give students tasks that require them to identify command words and then make summary notes and/or flash cards on the topic. Focus on misconceptions that are identified in examiners’ reports.

Relating knowledge to new contexts

Exams often differentiate between the best candidates by throwing in a familiar concept in a new context. (Remember the osmosis question in a recent GCSE biology exam?) Once students are confident about a topic or the steps required for an equation, it becomes easier to relate and apply their knowledge to unfamiliar contexts. That’s why it’s key to consistently build their confidence with practice and modelling.

You can still build in opportunities to think of alternative equipment, methods and chemicals while remote teaching. For example, the GCSE ‘making salts’ required practical uses copper oxide to make copper sulfate; when discussing the practical ask students, ‘What would happen if we used copper, zinc or magnesium carbonate instead? What about using a different acid?’ Do this in online class discussions or include such questions in students’ independent tasks to encourage them to think about this.