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TEACHING RESOURCES INFORMATION

TITLE OF TEACHING RESOURCE

RSC – Advancing the Chemical Sciences

NAME OF PRODUCER

Royal Society of Chemistry, UK

WEBSITE OF THE PRODUCT

http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry

TYPE OF PRODUCT

Web Site/Portal, Downloadable material

LEVEL OF CHEMISTRY KNOWLEDGE

Basic, Medium, Advanced

PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

Cooperative learning, Problem solving, Modelling, Experiential learning

SUBJECT AREA

Fundamental Chemistry, Life Chemistry, Materials Science, Food Science, History of Chemistry, Health Science, Industrial Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry

TARGET GROUP LEVEL

Primary School, Lower Secondary School, Upper Secondary School

LANGUAGE/S OF TEACHING RESOURCES

English

TUTORIAL SUPPORT

DESCRIPTION

The websites “Advancing the Chemical Sciences” produced by Royal Society of Chemistry offer a wide range of teaching and learning materials related to chemistry. They are tailored mainly for secondary school students of ages 11 to 18. For each age group, some particular preliminary knowledge is presumed. However some materials for young children are also available. University students have their own websites which are linked. The resources are sorted to groups according to several criteria, e.g. audience – there are more than 2,700 teaching materials for teachers to prepare their lessons and more than 2,900 learning ones for students to learn, practise or better understand the problem. Suitable material can be searched according to student`s age or to subject which comprises various branches of chemistry, e.g. organic, inorganic, thermodynamics, geological chemistry, chemistry of life, chemistry patterns, matter and materials etc. Context of chemistry involved is another criterion that can be used to find the desired tool. Namely water and air, energy, human health, food, raw materials, lifestyle, future cities or underpinning science. The websites contain various types of resources, e.g. presentations, videos, worksheets, quizzes, games, experiments, tutorials, articles and substance descriptions. Properties of particular substance can be found using detailed substance index, which is very useful. Some of the materials can be used at chemistry lessons while others are suitable for students’ homework, either compulsory tasks or voluntary study. It is sure many of the presented materials will engage the students` interest. Some top resources are highlighted. Gridlocks for 14-16 years old students based on Sudoku game seem to be popular just as the worksheet on chemistry of human body and other items. Some of the materials can be used in other subjects, namely biology and physics. It is desirable not to separate the individual subjects but to join the facts together to demonstrate the interdisciplinary sense of science.

COMMENTS

Various teaching and learning materials are available online which is advantageous. I assume many of them can meet the requirements governed by the curriculum hence they can be used at chemistry lessons, for students` homework or for teachers` preparation. Various chemical topics are presented. Several different forms of presentations of facts have been chosen which is necessary to maintain students` attention and motivation. However, I mean the materials cannot replace the teacher and traditional learning tools but they can serve as desired subsidiary materials increasing students’ motivation. The facts have been simplified to the level suitable for particular age group, nevertheless, the scientific reliability remains good to excellent.

NAME OF THE REVIEWING ORGANISATION

Institute of Chemical Technology Prague

Comments about this Publication

Your comments are welcome

Date: 2014.12.07

Posted by Mariusz Jarocki (Poland)

Message: 1. Is the teaching resource described useful for you? Why?
The site contains interactive and non-interactive materials, both at the very high level of quality. As a supporting material the resource can be graded as excellent. I can also imagine lessons which are provided by a plan strictly related to scenarios from presentations from the resource.

2. Do you think it can increase the students’ interest toward chemistry? Why?
Yes, I am sure that everybody will find the resource as strongly motivating. Unlike other similar resource the material is coherent and well-designed. Aesthetic is very strong point and its affect must not be underestimated.

3. Do you think it can help the students to understand better and faster? Why?
Because of the previously mentioned reasons it is rather obvious that the site can be a great tool to increase students\' abilities to understand chemistry. Additional feature is very high level of reliability of the information.

4. Do you think it propose an innovative didactic approach? Why?
I think it is possible to adapt the portal to act as one of the main tools in innovative didactic process. However, the didactic methods used in the resource are rather conservative, so something more is needed to exploit the potential of the site.

Date: 2014.03.25

Posted by David Sutton (Ireland)

Message: This is a very good resource. There are several levels which can be selected and the demonstrations video clips are of very good quality. It would/should encourage a students interest in science and chemistry. It has high but subtle delivered educational qualities. There are interactive programs which come with clear instructions. There are papers and work packages for teaching different aspects of chemistry and all supported by real world applications. Of all the resources I have come across I keep coming back to this one.

Date: 2013.02.05

Posted by yyyyyy (Czech Republic)

Message: RSC-Advancing the Chemical Sciences
This source is the main example of great source. This source deals with important terms for teaching chemistry at a high school. It provides theoretical attitudes with the help of updated data and it also integrates various aspects of teaching chemistry. Using of this source provides you with a wide range of opportunities. The RSC is the largest non-government supporter of chemistry education in the UK. Its activities encompass formal and informal education from the cradle to the grave and are grouped into three key areas as schools and colleges, Higher Education and Continuing Professional Development. It is clear from the concept of the web page that it was created with an intention 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 motivating for young teachers.
Education in Chemistry provides support for all teachers of chemistry across the secondary, further and higher education sectors. It aims to strengthen the community by providing high quality, peer-reviewed content, tools and resources which promote the sharing of best practice and innovative teaching. This can be a solution
Authors explain the main obstacles in motivation in chemistry, they realize 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.

Date: 2012.11.30

Posted by Elif Tuğçe Karaca (Turkey)

Message: Learning is a difficult process between students and teachers.There are lots of definitions about this.But the idea which so important is teachers have more duty than students.In my opinion this website is more useful than others.Because there are lots of sources which we teachers can use during the teaching life process.Also determining the age part is going to be beneficial for students and teachers.Including the two community talk chemistry and ChemNet are good opportunity on behalf of teachers and students for understanding each other. An other good side of this website is when the students or learners enter into this webpage they can waste maybe 2-3 hours per day.Because they can find lots of funny time to waste about here.Lets think about this situation.There are so funny videos on internet,television etc. And this kind of websites. Which one that you could choose.For sure the funny one.For that reason we need to make funny-educative websites.From now i want to say thank you for the this website responsibles,designers,teachers etc.

Date: 2012.11.29

Posted by Maria João Seixas Melo (Portugal)

Message: A site full of information and where you can always find something interesting to bring to the classroom, or share with students. I especially liked the periodic table and the videos about the elements, produced by the University of Nottingham, although it is necessary to note that hosts presented themselves with a somehow old-fashioned archetype for a young student or a curious person, http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/video/33/Arsenic?videoid=a2AbKwAvyos
Observation: when the Portuguese mode is selected for http://www.chemistryisnetwork.eu/), the original website www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry moves to www.rsc.org/learn-quimica, which does not exist.

National Reports on successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry The national reports on chemistry successful experiences to promote lifelong learning for chemistry are now available on the related section of the project portal. The reports presents examples of successful experiences in the partner countries and the results of testing of ICT resources with science teachers.