Responsive teaching

Many chemistry students hold certain deep-rooted misconceptions which present an obstacle to developing a concrete understanding of key concepts that form the foundations of chemistry. Simply identifying and addressing these misconceptions directly does not always work: teachers need to find innovative ways of challenging and rectifying them.

 As most learners now have access to a smartphone, there is a drive to make use of this technology to improve learners’ engagement, participation, performance, understanding and emotional experiences. Student response systems (SRS) are familiar tools in higher education, and studies suggest they generally result in an improvement in engagement. For the teacher, too, such tools can provide real-time feedback to help them adapt teaching appropriately, both in the immediate and long term.