Analytical chemistry in Ireland: a teaching and learning resource

Ireland is continuing to invest in its rapidly expanding pharmaceutical and related manufacturing sector. This includes the biological and chemical industries and third-level research initiatives across the country. As this area of the economy develops even further, new researchers and talented individuals with the right skills and knowledge are required.¹

We developed this resource to support secondary school teachers to develop analytical chemistry skills. Find curriculum-linked activities, inspiring real-life career stories and application-based assessment to develop the necessary scientific inquiry skills through four suggested student projects.

How to use this resource

In this resource you will find a variety of content including worksheets, project-based learning tasks and contextualisation stories. We have segmented all the material so that it can be used in a mix-and-match style that works best with your particular teaching approach, student cohort and learning objectives. To support you in easily sourcing the content you need, the booklet is divided into colour-coded subsections.

There are distinct subsections designed to help plan and run a series of lessons and set your class a group project designed to build student skills and contextual awareness in an area relating to analytical chemistry.

The Introducing scientific skills sections contain suggested lesson ideas for teachers and student information sheets to provide the theoretical background to key analytical topics. In the Quantitative chemistry ideas section, you will find further teaching ideas and student examples to cement learning.

The Applying scientific skills sections contain guidance for the four student projects. Each project embeds a suggested portfolio assessment and applies a different scientific enquiry skill as follows:

1. Observation and inference – Emission competition
2. Accuracy and precision – Phone-y science
3. Evaluating a scientific model – Building a mass spectrometer
4. Research and analysis – The sunshine factor

To expand on that learning, students can read stories about the work of Royal Society of Chemistry members in the Careers and industry stories section.

Contents 

Introduction to spectroscopy

• What is analytical chemistry and what use is it?
• The role of instrumentation
• What is spectroscopy?
• Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
• Infrared spectroscopy
• Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
• Mass spectrometry
• Modern mass spectrometry techniques

Student projects

Each project contains four  sections:

• Themed lesson guide for teachers
• Teacher’s project guide
• Class project instructions
• Student project portfolio

Project 1 Emission competition

Project 2 Phone-y science

Project 3 Building a mass spectrometer 

Project 4 The sunshine factor

Careers and industry stories

• Introduction and project links
• Careers and industry stories

Quantitative chemistry ideas

• Moles calculations
• Teaching moles from first principles
• Student support sheets
• Titration calculations
• Titrations vs instrumentation
• Applied questions