Consider these questions and watch the video for ideas on how to use a redox titration to develop your students’ understanding of half-equations. Improving their theoretical and practical knowledge of a redox titration.

Q1. How can you ensure they really think through the experiment they are about to do, rather than jump straight in? 

Q2. How can you best help students to improve their titration technique?

Q3. What are the common mistakes students make when doing titrations?

Q4. In an iodine titration how do you identify the end point?

Practical instructions are available for the experiment shown in the video.

 

How might I support weak students in a redox titration?

  • Weaker students might need to be given the half equations. They could be put into mixed ability groups to plan the calculation before the experiment is carried out. They may need to go through several worked examples of similar calculations.

How might I stretch academically strong students?

  • More able students might discuss what effect errors in technique might have on the answer – a bubble in the burette below the tap, for example. You might ask more able students to calculate the maximum uncertainty in their final answer, showing careful workings. They could then be asked to redesign the experiment to reduce uncertainties.
  • You might ask them to plan the experiment rather than giving instructions to follow.

How might I motivate the practically more able students?

  • Practically competent students might make a video guide of good titration technique. You might run a competition with a prize for the student with the result closest to your teacher value or a true value. You might put them in coaching pairs to help each other improve their technique.

Additional information

Sign up for our Redox online CPD course for similar content including over 116 different pages of teaching activities and videos.

The course includes nine Redox chemistry topics from Oxidation and Reduction to Electrolysis and Electrode potentials and it will take approximately nine hours to complete.

You can find further details about the structure of the course in the additional information below:

Redox reactions take us down an important conceptual pathway in chemistry. In our Redox chemistry course, we develop your understanding of redox, beginning with the gain and loss of oxygen and hydrogen to pave the way to understanding all chemical reactions as a rearrangement of electrons.

After working through the full course you will be able to:

  • understand the core ideas about redox;
  • explain how the conventions we use like oxidation number and electrode potentials work;
  • anticipate common misconceptions that arise and adapt your teaching to minimise these;
  • confidently deliver key experiments, demonstrations and activities that develop student understanding; and
  • access a wider range of activities and resources to support students’ learning about redox reactions.

Visit our teacher CPD pages to view our other courses.

Thank you to Tim Jolliff and Derek Denby for authoring this course.