SKPT residential is back by popular demand! Fully funded CPD for teachers teaching KS3/4 physics out of specialism covering content and required practical's for💡electricity 🔋energy ➡️ forces! Check out the link for more information: loom.ly/X5NLmHo

@ocrexams.bsky.social are looking for UK teachers with lab access for an exciting assessment opportunity for the new Biomedical Techniques unit. If you’re interested please get in touch or share with colleagues.

Hi @chatchemistry.bsky.social Have a year 12 student who wants to study chemistry at Uni. They want some extra enrichment activities to do as there is no real relevant work experience. Does anyone have any ideas? MOOCs? @adamboxereducation.bsky.social please repost

Hey @chatchemistry.bsky.social and any other #edusky At Alevel what apparatus can students be asked to draw in the exam. I have SHE Reflux Distillation Reduced pressure filtration Any others?

We're excited to join the @bsky.app community! Looking forward to connecting with fellow science educators. Give us a follow and let us know if you're here too! #chemistryeducation #scienceteachers #chatchemistry

Teaching chemistry for the first time in a long while so had a flick through this excellent book - the diagrams from @adamboxereducation.bsky.social were on my board the next day! Would definitely recommend Cracking Key Concepts in Secondary Science @chatchemistry.bsky.social

No more #ChatChemistry chats for this year, but we’ll be rebooting in January. We’re looking for additional admins to help run chats and manage the account, so let us know if you’re interested!

What are your thoughts #ChatChemistry?

Find our festive Isaac calendar, featuring themed Isaac questions released every other day on our site: isaacphysics.org/pages/2024_1... 🧪How do Christmas crackers work? Test your chemistry knowledge and skills while learning some history of chemistry: isaacphysics.org/questions/ch... #ChemSky

Sorry for no #ChatChemistry this week… we had @janeteachesscience.bsky.social lined up to run a chat but then I forgot it was Wednesday 🤦🏻‍♂️ As previously mentioned, we’re short of active admins here, so if anyone is interested in helping out, drop us a DM

Recordings from a recent symposium on language in chemistry education now available here #ChatChemistry

Please help us spread the word 🙂 “SKPT accommodates the workload of teachers...content is delivered in a practical manner making it easy to pick concepts you can directly apply to teaching” @associationscied.bsky.social @chatbiology.bsky.social @chatchemistry.bsky.social @teachingofsci.bsky.social

For what it’s worth, more wizards are needed since our move over to Bluesky – if anyone is interested in being more regularly involved, drop us a DM! #ChatChemistry

Thanks to @drdavidboyce.bsky.social for a brilliant #ChatChemistry discussion tonight 👏 We’re still looking for hosts for the remaining three chats for this year… drop us a DM if you’ve got a topic you’d like to host on!

That draws us to an end of our hosted #ChatChemistry discussion tonight - however the questions will remain here and you can interact with them as and when you please. Let’s keep the discussions going and see you all next time for @chatchemistry.bsky.social

Interesting. Does it do colour change? I would like something that times a certain colour change. The PAG 10.3 is really hard to tell when it goes the final shade of yellow at lower temperatures. #ChatChemistry

Also breaking up vitamin tablets to varying degrees and timing how long it takes for them to dissolve. Similarly different size alkaline agar cubes with phenolphthalein added. React and time the colour change. #ChatChemistry

My favourite, although the data are subjective, is to investigate the rate of a glow stick reaction based. Submerge them in different temperatures of water. You can make a nice scale from dimmest to brightest. #ChatChemistry

Third question - looking not at graphs but the experiments that might produce the data for one. Hit me with every cool and interesting rate of reaction practical and demo that you know. #ChatChemistry

#ChatChemistry I think line of best fit always a challenge. We are fighting against Maths! But it’s also a timing and language issue My Y9 recently really struggled—plotting points and understanding x y axis. Let alone scales. It’s a big cog load.

I have tried Desmos - positives - it is great for drawing tangents on rate graphs, giving you coefficients of power laws and fantastic at plotting mathematical functions - like the first derivative of a function fitted to data. Downside - the learning curve is second order. #ChatChemistry

Draw by hand and make sure students know that the line of best fit might be curved. The maths department drums into them that it’s a straight line. So that’s what they do for every graph. #ChatChemistry

How do you discuss the subjectivity of a line of best fit? With software it finds the best fit by linear regression - are humans as good? 🤔 #ChatChemistry

Here comes question 2. It’s all about graph drawing. Do you use software? How important is the lost art of using a pencil and ruler? What is your best advice? #ChatChemistry

Great advice - sometimes it is best to get them proficient in use of logs and then double back after with the deeper meaning after they are more familiar with how they are used #ChatChemistry

With logs I have to take a bit of a leap with it - that it is just an operation that allows us to work out the power something is raised to. Tell them basically what it is and then move quickly to how to use it. Like which buttons on the calculator to press. Try not to get bogged down #ChatChemistry

With the wider issue I try to help them see that questions are this type or that type. To help them identify which procedure to use - by looking at what the question is asking for. It is like a first step, learning some routes through before they can find their own way. #ChatChemistry

Hold on tight because we are going straight in at the deep end. How do you teach logs to non mathematicians? Wider question - what do you do to help those weaker in maths with the complexity of A level Chemistry? #ChatChemistry

Kicking off imminently! #ChatChemistry

Slightly early post before my choir rehearsal starts. I don't think Amanda Clegg and Karen Collins are on here yet but their @associationscied.bsky.social book Grappling Graphs is well worth checking out www.millgatehouse.co.uk/product/grap... #chatchemistry

This is tonight - see you at 8pm! #SciTeachUK #chemsky #chatchenistry

Who is going to Pixl Science next week? #chatchemistry

The rationale for using the sequence metallic, ionic then covalent in @bestevsciteach.bsky.social was based on chapter 10 in Taber and Coll (2002) Chemical Education Towards Research Based Practice. Rationale below. #chatchemistry

Reminder that it’s #ChatChemistry night! Join us later to talk all things chemistry graphs 💬

Join us for #ChatChemistry tomorrow at 8pm GMT for a discussion of graphs in chemistry with @drdavidboyce.bsky.social Come and share your favourite graph-teaching techniques, software and demonstrations/practicals with us!

I would love to green up the chemistry practicals we do, especially at A level for PAGs. We teach OCR A for what it’s worth. Anyone working on this? Beyond Benign has great ideas www.beyondbenign.org but is a US focus. #ChatChemistry

For shapes: Playdo and cocktail sticks for bonding, balloons and PowerPoint stock 3d images images #ChatChemistry

BEST suggested metallic, ionic, covalent. assets.ctfassets.net/pc40tpn1u6ef...

This is so important. You cannot isolate a singular metallic or ionic bond. The electrostatic attraction is in all directions. #chatchemistry

Consistent and clear language is so important. There are covalent bonds and the ionic and metallic bonding. For me, using the word bond with the latter is problematic and encourages misconceptions. #chatchemistry

An excellent thread from @smortime.bsky.social from last night’s #chatchemistry - please do join the conversation and give him feedback.

Following yesterday's #Chatchemistry you may be interested in these brand new resources from @roysocchem.bsky.social edu.rsc.org/resources/co...

To be honest, #ChatChemistry, the more time I spend thinking about bonding models at different levels, the more I am convinced I don't understand bonding (in the sense of having a mental model that approximates reality) at all...!

My gut agrees with STEM Centre order. Pupils always seem to get metallic quickly as it overlaps with physics and circuits. Metallic builds nicely onto ionic as you have introduced cations and the finish with covalent? We have tried all sequences...

Metallic first along with the formation of metallic ions. Then ionic which has a lower cog load as students already get the electrons being lost. Finish with covalent.

I have surprisingly little on bonding and structure – only graphic that comes to mind is this one: www.compoundchem.com/2014/11/13/v... An area for improvement!

That’s it for tonight. Thank you to everyone who has gotten involved. There might be a bit of lag in the system - I can’t see all of the questions appearing yet on my laptop - so please keep chatting and sharing your ideas.