Www.earthscienceeducation.com Teaching the ‘big ideas’ of chemistry through an Earth context

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Teaching the ‘big ideas’ of

chemistry through an Earth

context


The ‘big ideas’ of chemistryPlan for the day

• Coffee/tea• Welcome• Chemistry through the window• Sampling the KS3 and KS4 ‘Chemistry in an Earth context’

workshop activities and feeding back on them• What are the ‘big ideas’ of chemistry that all children should

know/understand?• Lunch• ‘Big ideas’ plenary - recording all suggestions• Planning, testing, writing materials for a KS3 or KS4 activity for

teaching the ‘big idea’ in an Earth/environment context• Feedback on the activities• Feedback on the day and ‘What next’ - sorting out the follow up• Departure

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Copyright material contained herein from other publishers rests with them.


The ‘big ideas’ of chemistry

Times Educational Supplement front page,

10th June 2005 Bill Bryson said "My only memory of science at school was of staring out of the window and waiting for it to be all over. I was completely bored by the teachers writing formulae on the board. Physics and chemistry are germane to everyone’s lives but the teachers always made them seem terribly remote"



An Evaluative Study of Creative Science By Manchester Metropolitan University, Institute of Education

Science in an Earth context: teaching the big ideas of science through an Earth

perspectiveThe impact on the participants was overwhelmingly positive. There are many reasons why this session buzzed, but it appears that the key reason was that they had to think and work things out for themselves, and in the process of thinking and talking to others and then seeing if their ideas worked in practice, they became more creative than they had imagined was possible. They were automatically being critical of their own ideas and the ideas of others. There was very little didactic input, yet expert information was transferred in indirect but more effective ways: 'I could never have believed it possible that we could have generated so many "new" ideas in so short a space of time.'



• Chemistry out of the window - KS3

• Spot the periodic table – through the window - KS4



Sampling the KS3 and KS4 ‘Chemistry in an Earth Context’ workshop activities

The chemistry of me at 16: teaching KS4

chemistry through an Earth context

• What am I made of?• The metal in me -

calcium• The carbon in me• The iron in me• The hot air in me• The value of me – what

am I worth?• The ‘Putting it all

together’ plenary

Science under the limelight: teaching KS3 chemistry through an Earth

context• What’s the use? – calcium a key

chemical compound• Elementary science – key crustal

elements• Don’t be a drip! – how drips can form

stalagmites• The heat is on! – can heat cause

chemical breakdown?• What goes up must come down – the

carbon dioxide story• Liam’s lime trail• The ‘chemical cross words’ plenary



What are the big ideas of Chemistry that all children should know/understand?



• ‘Big ideas’ plenary – recording all suggestions

• Planning, testing, writing materials for a KS3 or KS4 activity – for teaching the ‘big idea’ in an Earth/environment context

• Feedback on the activities• Feedback on the day and ‘What next’ –

sorting out the follow up.


The ‘big ideas’ of chemistrySuggested ‘quintessential’ stories that merit a place in the curriculum from Beyond 2000: science education for the future – a report with ten recommendations. Osborne, J and Millar, M (1998). London: King’s College. Available on: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/education/be2000/be2000.pdf

the human body as a set of inter-related organ systems;

cells as basic building blocks;

adaptation of organisms; life processes in plants; mechanisms for passing

characteristics from one generation to the next;

evolution by natural selection;

all matter being made of tiny particles;

chemical reactions as particle rearrangements;

different kinds of bonding; the Earth’s movement relative to the

Sun; the structure of the Solar System; the formation and evolution of the

Earth; the structure and evolution of the

universe; forces acting over long distances; the causes of motion and its control; the causes and direction of change,

and radiation, light and their interaction

with matter.



‘Big ideas’ of chemistry that all children should know/understand include (from Jane Essex - PGCE Chemistry tutor, Keele):

• How are chemicals the same/different?

• States of matter and kinetic theory

• Acids and alkalis, reaction, neutralisation

• Elements and compounds

• Evaluating scientific claims about chemical behaviour

• Mixing, solvents, chemical change

• Detergents

• Levels of reactivity – study of risk

• Chemistry of water/solubility

• Conservation of mass/energy – order and disorder

• ‘Pollution is a resource in the wrong place’ – order and chaos

• Methods of concentration

• Quantifying things



• Planning, testing, writing materials for a KS3 or KS4 activity – for teaching the ‘big idea’ in an Earth/environment context


The ‘big ideas’ of chemistryScience in an Earth/environmental context activity

Participant CardTitle:Introduction:Activity:

Teachers’ Support Key Stage: National Curriculum Refs: Time: Pupil learning outcomes: Context: Common misconceptions: Resource list:Follow-up:

Name…………………School…………………Contact details ……………………………………….

Use extra paper for diagrams, tables of results, risk assessments etc. as necessary and attachPlease tick:□ We would be happy for ESEU to pilot this activity in schools□ We would be happy for ESEU to use this activity as part of its future ‘Science in an Earth context’ work



• Feedback on the activities• Feedback on the day and ‘What next’ –

sorting out the follow up

Documents

Www.earthscienceeducation.com Teaching the ‘big ideas’ of chemistry through an Earth context