Teaching Resources

Date: 2013.01.26

Posted by Monika Pawluś (Poland)

Message: This rfesource is a 22 page long document addressed at teachers who want to prepare interesting and unforgettable lessons. The author desrcibes in a brief way a series of experiments and demonstrations to be carried out during the chemistry lesson. Some demonstrations are, unfortunately to be performed by the teacher only mainly due to safety and security reasons.
For each demonstration the author prepared a concise synopsis of the ecxperiment,and then detailed activity notes , together with description of basic equipment, tools and devices needed for the task. What is worth poiting out is that the author clearly stated all the safety precutions to be taken and recommends or bans some of the experiments from students\' use only. The document is clear and has an easy to follow structure - useful for busy teachers.

Date: 2012.09.28

Posted by HRISTO KOLEV (Bulgaria)

Message: THE GIVEN RESOURCE DESCRIBES SEVERAL POPULAR CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATIONS AS A METHOD FOR INCREASING THE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING CHEMISTRY AND RELATED SCIENCES. ALTHOUGH AT FIRST GLANCE THE MATERIAL CAN BE DESCRIBED AS “A MUST” FOR EVERY CLASSROOM AND EVERY SCHOOL IT LACKS THE USEFULNESS OF SUCH TEACHING MATERIALS DESCRIBING SIMILAR DEMO-SESSIONS . THE RESOURCE LISTS SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR AND TRIVIAL DEMONSTRATIONS KNOWN FOR MANY YEARS NOW. SUCH DEMONSTRATIONS ARE NORMALLY EFFECTIVE IN GETTING A STUDENT’S ATTENTION DURING A REGULAR EVERYDAY CLASS BUT THEY DON’T GENERALLY AID THE COMPREHENSION OF THE SCIENTIFIC MATTER BECAUSE THEY ARE PERCEIVED BY THE AUDIENCE AS A “VISUAL TRICK” NORMALLY A MOTIVATIONAL APPROACH WOULD REQUIRE ENGAGING THE STUDENTS IN TOPICS THAT CHANGE THEIR PERSPECTIVE IN WHAT THE WORLD IS MADE OF AND HOW DOES IT WORK. SHOWING THAT THERE IS MUCH MORE ABOUT THE WORLD AROUND THEM IS MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE BECAUSE IT PROVOKES THEM LONG AFTER THEY LEAVE THE CLASSROOM. THE MATERIAL IN QUESTION LACKS THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF EVERYDAY LIFE AND FOCUSES ON PROPERTIES AND EFFECTS THAT CAN BE USEFUL ONLY IN THE LABORATORY. FOR EACH AND EVERY DEMONSTRATION THERE IS A LIST OF SAFETY PRECAUTIONS MENTIONED. ALTHOUGH THE SAFETY REQUIREMENT IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST EACH AND EVERY TIME A TEACHER HAS A DEMO-SESSION IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT BEING OVERPROTECTIVE CAN RESULT IN STUDENTS DOING ONLY DEMONSTRATIONS FROM CHILDREN’S BOOKS OF EXPERIMENTS. AS THE TARGETED GROUP IS THE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS. DEMONSTRATIONS LIKE “ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE” IS A VERY POPULAR SCIENCE FAIR DEMONSTRATION AND VIDEOS OF LITTLE KIDS DOING IT CAN BE SEEN ALL OVER THE INTERNET. PUTTING AN INSTRUCTION “DO NOT LET STUDENTS DO THIS” WHEN TALKING ABOUT YOUNG ADULTS IS UNEXCITABLE. THE SAME GOES FOR THE REST OF THE LIST LIKE THE “I DREAM OF JENNIE” DEMONSTRATION, BURNING MAGNESIUM RIBBON AND STEEL WOOL JUST TO NAME A FEW.
IN GENERAL THE RESOURCE LACKS INNOVATION AND THE MOTIVATIONAL VALUE FOR THE AUDIENCE FOR WHICH IT WAS INTENDED FOR.

Date: 2012.09.27

Posted by Claire McDonnell (I)

Message: This teaching resource is a 22 page guide to chemistry demonstrations as well as some activities that second level students can perform themselves that can be used to promote engagement in the subject. It was produced in 2008 and describes 18 demonstrations which have been divided into 6 categories according to their effect or the principles associated with them (e.g. Eye Catchers, Properties of Elements etc.). It is made clear in the introduction that the guide is designed to accompany a workshop run by the author and that it is assumed that readers have attended this workshop.
The resource is useful because it presents a range of demonstrations and some hands on activities that have been shown to be effective in practice by the author and that are categorised so that selection of an appropriate demonstration to consider is easy. In particular, a great deal of thought has gone into appropriate discussions to accompany the activities to ensure that the associated learning is addressed and considerable detail is provided on safety considerations. As has been mentioned, the guide is designed to accompany a workshop. Readers who have not attended the workshop are likely to find that the presence of diagrams of apparatus in only a few cases makes the resource a little more difficult to follow. The author stresses that all activities described should be trialled initially to iron out any problems before performing them in a teaching environment which is a sensible recommendation. Anyone adopting an activity would also need to perform a chemical risk assessment according to their national guidelines but that should be relatively straightforward to complete in all cases as the author has been careful to select appropriate chemicals. In addition, all demonstrations are relatively easy to set up and perform.
The practical activities described have been selected to develop interest and engagement among students and there are several that I had not encountered before (for example, A Bag of Change, which deals with changes in matter in an innovative yet simple activity). In all cases, the relevant concepts that relate to the activity are pointed out.
The demonstrations should certainly help with understanding the related concepts more readily as a result of the interest they develop and the author provides clear guidelines on what chemical principles can be linked to each activity.