A chance to reflect

September is here and the summer break has given some time for thought and planning the new academic year. I find that summer conferences can be useful for getting ideas on how I might tweak, modify (or completely rethink!) some aspect of my teaching. This summer there were several major chemistry education conferences. 

There is much to learn when bringing together school teachers, university lecturers and chemistry education researchers. Educational researchers have an important role in testing the positive or negative impact of any proposed teaching innovation. In return, they can learn from educators about issues and difficulties arising out of classroom practice. This meeting of different partners in chemistry education is unfortunately not as common as it could be.