Wendy Pitt reviews this interactive resource source

Boardworks AS chemistry
2009 | AS and A2 Chemistry £799 each. Full A-Level Chemistry £1499

Cover of Boardworks AS chemistry

Boardworks is very well known for producing teaching materials for use with interactive whiteboards and this creation for AS Chemistry is a delight to use. Its straightforward, simple instructions are almost superfluous as using the product is intuitive to anyone with minimal experience of PowerPoint.

On first sight the price may seem prohibitive but, as it includes a site license with no annual fee, all teachers and students at your institution can have access to it. The software can be loaded onto any number of machines on site or be installed in a virtual learning environment.

Resources for an AS topic can be found quickly as the materials are mapped to the requirements of the present courses’ specifications (AQA, Edexcel and OCR) and navigation is easy.

My personal preference, in the interest of avoiding the danger of ‘death by PowerPoint’, would be for sensible but limited use of the software by the teacher in the classroom. Being fully customisable, it is relatively quick and simple to extract sections to illustrate a concept. It can also be used by the students as a learning and revision tool.

The virtual experiments might be used prior to practical work since the visual, animated steps could be very helpful to students who find difficulty in following written instructions.

Purchase Boardworks AS chemistry from the publisher