A head made up of triangles that contain chemistry formula triangles

Why I hate formula triangles

2024-09-20T05:21:00+01:00By

Read why one teacher asks if it’s time to change the formula when teaching calculation questions

Education in Chemistry

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Ideas

Four test tubes in a row with metals reacting in a clear liquid increasing in bubbles from left to right

5 ways to teach reactivity of metals at 14–16

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Use the importance of metal extraction to help contextualise this topic

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Start now with these effective revision techniques

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Try these four low-stakes approaches to ensure your learners are equipped for learning – and exams

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3 ways to help students master metacognition

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Improve learners’ thinking about their thinking to help them successfully answer multistep questions

Exciting demos

A conical flask of yellow liquid bubbles with a heavy white smoke

Demonstrations with dry ice

A hand using scissor-handle tweezers to hold a piece of paper that is on fire but not burning

Non-burning paper: investigate the fire triangle and conditions for combustion

A glass beaker pouring liquid uphill into another

Illustrate polymer properties with a self-siphoning solution

A photo of a test tube of a clear liquid containing with brown-edged blue liquid blobs. The test tube is also submerged in a clear liquid.

Demonstrate concentration and density with a transition metal colloid cell

A round glass flask glowing blue

Highlight transition metal chemistry with an oscillating luminol reaction

  • Demonstrations with dry ice

  • Non-burning paper: investigate the fire triangle and conditions for combustion

  • Illustrate polymer properties with a self-siphoning solution

  • Demonstrate concentration and density with a transition metal colloid cell

  • Highlight transition metal chemistry with an oscillating luminol reaction

Evidence-based teaching

A diagram showing the difference between electron shells and electron clouds

Help learners understand and compare the Bohr and electron cloud models

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Make the abstract nature of atomic theory more concrete with these evidence-informed teaching tips

A cartoon of student unpacking different types of chemical representations from boxes

Unpacking representations

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Teach learners how to interpret and compare different chemical representations

Two characters contemplating an NMR on a screen and the bonds it might represent

Improve your learners’ NMR interpretation skills

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Encourage students to determine and draw the structures of simple organic molecules with this free, online resource

Opinion

A head made up of triangles that contain chemistry formula triangles

Why I hate formula triangles

By

Read why one teacher asks if it’s time to change the formula when teaching calculation questions

A woman working at home thinks about returning to teaching

How one teacher learned to love teaching (again)

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Back to school after a year with the Royal Society of Chemistry

Tiny people replacing a broken light bulb in an electrolytic cell

Spiral your curriculum for electrochemistry success

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Discover why electrochemistry doesn’t have to be a challenging topic

How to teach ...

A woman wearing a warm coat outside and holding a chemical hand warmer

Teaching enthalpy cycles at post-16

A 2d diagram showing a lattice of positively charged particles in a sea of free electrons

Teaching structure and bonding in metals at 14–16

Students in a school lab using a burette filler to measure liquid for a titration

How to teach titration post-16

A bottle of bromine water next to two test tubes - one contains only clear liquid and the other contains clear liquid sitting on an orange liquid

Everything you need to introduce alkenes

A magnified image showing large cords, some smooth and some scaley

How to teach polymers at post-16

  • Teaching enthalpy cycles at post-16

  • Teaching structure and bonding in metals at 14–16

  • How to teach titration post-16

  • Everything you need to introduce alkenes

  • How to teach polymers at post-16

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