Teaching Resources

Date: 2014.12.07

Posted by Mariusz Jarocki (Poland)

Message: 1. Is the teaching resource described useful for you? Why?
The site contains some considerations about selected issues, related to chemistry at secondary school level. I suppose that this material is useful with some reservations: the knowledge can be easy to find in the other internet resources and the resources selected in that way have a similar level of cohesion.

2. Do you think it can increase the students’ interest toward chemistry? Why?
I suppose it can, as other sources of knowledge. In my opinion we should require more attractive form of that sources to increase students\' interest. Nowadays strength of audiovisual stimuli affected us from internet is crucial for motivation. It is hard to classify this source as spectacular. It is reliable but also not rich of interesting facts and excitant relations between them.

3. Do you think it can help the students to understand better and faster? Why?
I can imagine using the material for self-teaching, especially for easy access to useful tools as tables, formulas, diagrams and charts. I think the self-teaching is the main application of the resource.

4. Do you think it propose an innovative didactic approach? Why?
It is hard to treat the portal as the main one in didactic process, it\\\'s rather some kind of support. To consider its innovative character is baseless - the approach can come from other sources. The material is given in a very traditional form.

Date: 2013.02.02

Posted by Eva Lisá (Slovakia)

Message: This source deals with important terms for teaching chemistry at a high school. By a playful way it provides theoretical attitudes with the help of updated datas and it also integrates various aspects of teaching chemistry. Using of this source provides you with a wide range of opportunities. The web page is divided into 16 topics by easy usable menu. Each of the topics deals with various relevant scientific information which can be used when teaching in a classroom (research of the period table, information about chemical elements, safety rules, laboratory works) or as a research tool for an individual work.It is clear from the concept of the web page that it was created with an intetntion to attract an interest of students about chemistry.
It provides simple and exact answers for many current questions and tries to provide a support for high school students and to help teachers when searching for a source to simplify their work. It is mainly kinds of didactic application and demo versions which help also when creating a new curriculum and are motivationg for young teachers. Authors realise unsufficient motivation of students for systematic scientific work and also that students do not consider chemistry as attractive for them but that it is boring for them. This web page uses new technologies to motivate students and simplyfies an access of teachers to many topics in chemistry and helps them to integrate students into school educational programs.
These new technologies increase an interest of a young generation for chemistry and science but it is important to know how to alignate experimental part of teaching with a traditional one. Teaching should not be only about using new technologies but they should be in harmony with traditional ones.

Date: 2012.10.14

Posted by Maria de Fátima Raposo (Portugal)

Message: This a resource that addresses important concepts for teaching chemistry in secondary school education. It provides, in a playful way, the theoretical concepts using an updated nomenclature. It features questions and problems in preparation tests and laboratory experiments from everyday life. It provides a simple and accurate answer to many current issues, trying to give support to high school students and help teachers in a series of resources that can guide them in their educational work.
This resource has been built to motivate students' interest in chemistry. It provides students with the opportunity to train problems. It presents small experiments where students can work some of the skills of the scientific method, making them conscious of environmental issues.
The author of this resource is aware of the lack of students motivation to study science and, accordingly, has presented this work to motivate and stimulate their curiosity for science. The author thinks that students see chemistry as something boring and outside their current context and that it is only of interest to scientists. This resource uses new technologies to motivate students and facilitates the approach of teachers to many chemistry topics from the secondary school curricular programs.
New technologies increase the interest of the new generation, however we cannot exaggerate, and we should not put aside the experimental part as well as the traditional exposure. As mentioned above, one can not use only new technologies! So, I think that, used with moderation, it is a useful tool in the classroom. I do not believe it proposes an innovative approach as we have already access to this kind of resources in some sites related to science.

Date: 2012.09.29

Posted by Olga Nunes (Portugal)

Message:
This a multivariate resource, consisting of a set of options that integrate aspects related to chemistry teaching. The exploitation of this resource provides a wide range of possibilities. Through an easy to use menu, it is organized into sixteen themes that address diversified contents with relevant scientific information that can be used either in the context of the classroom (exploration of the periodic table, information about chemical elements, safety rules, laboratory activities, among others), either as a research tool for individual work.

This resource can be used by teachers because it presents some issues with didactic and pedagogical interest and it can also be very interesting for students because it allows access to applications, demos and exploration of contents with curricular relevancy.

It presents as main point of strength, its possible constitution as an instrument for enhancing scientific curiosity.