Teacher CPD: course listings

Meeting the demands of chemistry in the new A level specifications

This one day course will show how specific activities can be used to get across key concepts; use maths skills and develop practical skills in chemistry. You will gain independent guidance covering the requirements of all the major exam board specifications.

You will be able to:

• Support students with key areas of challenge in A level chemistry
• Develop effective teaching strategies for engaging students with core chemistry concepts
• Discover wide ranges of resources for practical and theoretical chemistry
• Develop the practical and mathematical skills of your students

Meeting the demands of chemistry in the new GCSE specifications

This one day course will show how specific activities can be used to get across key concepts such as using maths skills and develop practical skills in Chemistry. You will gain independent guidance covering the requirements of all major exam board specifications.

You will be able to:

• Support students with key area of challenge in GCSE chemistry
• Develop effective teaching strategies for engaging students with core chemistry concepts
• Discover wide ranges of resources for practical and theoretical chemistry
• Develop the practical and mathematical skills of your students

Chemistry for non-specialists

If you teach secondary chemistry, but have a background in another subject, this course is for you. Chemistry for non-specialists is designed to provide teachers with the confidence, flair and enthusiasm to teach chemistry at pre-16 level. This is a four- or five-day course, with either one or two residential periods depending on location. You will have the opportunity to develop your understanding of key ideas in pre-16 chemistry. The course is specifically aimed at those who are not chemistry specialists and provides opportunities to develop confidence in teaching practical chemistry.

Energy and change

Energy changes are very important in chemistry as almost all reactions involve a change in energy. In this course you will learn the vocabulary needed to discuss energy changes, how to measure and calculate them, and why they occur. You will develop your understanding of different types of energy changes and find out how to use them in energy cycles as well as what drives chemical reactions leads to the concepts of entropy and free energy and effectively employ them in your teaching.

Equilibria chemistry

Equilibria chemistry explores aspects of chemical reactions looking at areas such as Le Chatelier’s Principle and Equilibrium Law. This course focuses on helping participants overcome the problems students face in understanding equilibria. Research shows that most students’ difficulties lie with the understanding of the core ideas associated with equilibria rather than the mechanics of doing the calculations. Hence the emphasis for this course is on understanding what happens during a chemical reaction on both the macroscopic and molecular scale and the basis for Le Chatelier’s Principle, rather than just being able to calculate the right answer. Throughout the course a range of different modelling activities are used to reinforce the understanding of the nature of dynamic systems.

Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is a branch of chemistry focused on the special nature of carbon and the underlying principles governing organic reaction mechanisms. Although functional groups and their specific reactions are often studied separately in many post-16 courses, this course seeks to emphasise that organic reactions will be better understood if an appreciation of the underlying chemical factors (eg, bond strength, electronegativity) can be developed and related to existing knowledge and understanding of the familiar trends and patterns in the periodic table. This course will help you address how reaction mechanisms work and what drives the electron movements rather than on thinking about the particular reactions in isolation. You will be able to show students that there are certain basic rules to follow and that, for example, nucleophiles always behave in a certain way they will then start to appreciate how an understanding of reaction mechanisms will help them predict how different chemicals might behave.

Quantitative chemistry

Quantitative chemistry is a very important branch of chemistry because it enables chemists to calculate known quantities of materials. By completing this course you will develop your understanding of the core ideas in quantitative chemistry and how to convey these ideas to students. This includes tackling areas such as:

• what the mole is and how it is used in chemistry
• how different chemical equations can be used to represent what is happening in a reaction
• how to carry out a titration and use the data obtained in calculations.

Redox

Reduction and oxidation or ‘redox’ reactions take us down an important conceptual pathway in chemistry as they allow us to understand that all chemical reactions can be perceived as the rearrangement of electrons. In this course you will gain a greater understanding of the key concepts in redox reactions and how to support your students in their learning. These concepts include what is meant by redox reactions; how an ‘order of reactivity’ for a reaction is determined by comparing the reactivity of the ions present in a reaction; what electrode potentials are and how they can be used to predict the feasibility of redox reactions.

Structure and bonding

Structure and bonding pre-16

Structure and bonding focuses on how we use models to describe and explain the phenomena we observe and on the key concepts essential to understanding bonding. You will be encouraged to take a critical look at some of the models we use when teaching bonding at the pre-16 level and to evaluate them in light of evidence from research into students’ common and persistent ‘misconceptions’. You will learn how to help students understand how and why we develop, adapt and use models in chemistry. You will explore how we can avoid students thinking that there is some ‘holy grail’ correct model, or that the more simplistic models they’ve used to date are ‘wrong’ and that they’re now about to learn the ‘correct’ model.

Structure and bonding post-16

At this level Structure and bonding goes on to explore the more sophisticated post-16 ‘orbital model’ of the atom. Once this new model has been established, you will consider the implications of this model and how it can be used to explain:

• interactions between different types of particles;
• periodic trends and properties, such as shapes of molecules and intermolecular bonding (with a focus on hydrogen bonding);
• coloured transition metal ions; and more complex spectra.

This course differs from many of the other courses in the Developing expertise in teaching chemistry
series in that it is more discussion-based and trainer-led.

You will benefit from an open and informed discussion of the main ideas and difficulties that students encounter with this topic, and be encouraged to think about the best teaching sequence to aid students’ understanding of chemical bonding.

Developing and using models

This course looks at some of the processes involved in developing, using and assessing a model using examples from various areas of chemistry. By completing the course, you will develop your understanding of the difficulties students face when trying to link macroscopic observations to microscopic explanations, and how to address this issue using appropriate models and analogies. What’s more you will gain a greater understanding of how these models are analysed and developed to meet the needs of secondary students as they progress on to more complex concepts.

Acids and bases

Acids and bases chemistry focuses on the interpretation of reactions of acids in terms of what is happening to H+ ions and the balance between H+ and OH- ions in aqueous solutions. This is used to develop an understanding of neutralisation beyond the simple ‘acid + base → salt + water’ model and an explanation of the differences between strong and weak acids. You will look at the identification of patterns in the formulae of acids and bases and attempts to link them to types of bonding and patterns in the periodic table. You will develop your confidence in using experiments, demonstrations and discussion to tackle misconceptions in this area of teaching chemistry. The course does not provide practice with standard acid–base titrations and associated calculations as this is covered fully in the Quantitative chemistry course.

Analytical chemistry

Analytical chemistry is an important area of chemistry as it provides us with techniques and methods for identifying what something is. These techniques include distillation, chromatography, various chemical tests, and various forms of spectroscopy. This course will help you develop your understanding of the key concepts of analytical chemistry, and ability to identify and address common misconceptions students have.

Carbon chemistry

Organic chemistry is one of the three main branches of chemistry but is often overlooked and hardly mentioned to students aged 11–15. The focus throughout this course is on developing an understanding of simple carbon chemistry. In this course molecular models are used to help participants make the link between teaching and learning activities, and the underlying chemistry (ie, to reinforce understanding). At each stage, participants are encouraged to assess the strengths and limitations of the models used so as to avoid further misconceptions arising at a later stage. You will be provided with the opportunity to explore underlying chemical concepts and using models to reinforce ideas; explore the chemical industry in a little more depth as an alternative approach, looking at green chemistry, as well as emphasise the versatile nature of carbon such as graphene and its future applications.

Materials chemistry

Materials chemistry is the study of all the materials we see in the world around us. From the clothes we wear and the dinner plates we eat off to the new technologies used in sports, medicines and computing. This course will develop your understanding of the key concepts of materials chemistry, such as how natural materials can be improved; how synthetic and smart materials can be created to suit our modern-day needs; or how we can manage resources is a sustainable way. The course will also help you in identifying common misconceptions and concepts in materials chemistry students struggle with, and how to address them.

Maths skills

In this course you will learn about the core mathematical ideas that are required for a deep understanding of chemistry. By completing the course you will develop your understanding of maths used by chemists and how to convey these concepts to students, whether this is logarithmic scales such as the pH scale; how geometry is fundamental to understanding the shape and properties of compounds; or how algebra is used in calculations for example determining the concentration of a solution of the number of moles in a sample of a compound.

Rates of reaction

This is an area of chemistry focussing on kinetic theory and rates. In this course you will explore teaching approaches for Rates of reaction chemistry through the medium of experimental work. The practical investigations are an essential core of the course. You will examine rate theory with an Assessment for Learning (AfL) opportunity to identify the limits of current understanding.
The course places considerable emphasis on the importance of careful and detailed observation and
record keeping to provide a basis for understanding the underlying theory of rates. Students can share a range of misconceptions concerning rate theory and the course provides opportunities both to identify the common ones and to develop strategies to overcome these basic misunderstandings.

Pedagogical approaches to chemistry teaching

This one day course looks at a variety of different teaching and learning tools that you can draw on in the classroom. By completing the course you will have a greater understanding of different models of teaching and how they can be effectively deployed; how to ensure the maximum amount of learning takes place during practical work; and how to use effective questioning, assessment and feedback to ensure all students are able to access the chemistry curriculum whilst being stretched.

Developing expertise in teaching practical chemistry

Practical work is a vitally important aspect in teaching any area of chemistry as it brings the subject to life, engages and helps understanding of the core principles. During this one-day course for newly qualified teachers you will try out and evaluate a wide range of practical activities and demonstrations in depth. You will develop ideas about how to use practical work effectively, and gain confidence with health and safety aspects of teaching practical chemistry.