This lesson could fit whilst teaching equilibrium, redox, chemical/physical reactions or just learning about the scientific process. I try to blend scientific thinking in wherever possible, and this is a great one with minimal focus on the "right answer" but instead focusing on thinking like a scientist. HOW TO SET IT UP I use the … Continue reading Thought Experiment: Creating and Testing Hypotheses
This activity is a great one for interleaving ideas about atomic structure, how ions are formed and the new idea of paramagnetism in transition metals. My kids also found it surprising that these ionic compounds respond to a magnetic field at all! HOW TO SET IT UP Cut the ends of plastic pipettes. Add small … Continue reading Thought Experiment: Magnetic Properties in Transition Metals
My favourite types of activities are those that can turn the "hmmm" into an "ah ha!" without too much involvement from me. This type of activity really encourages mild confusion (The Gift of Mild Confusion) and was really rewarding for my students when they eventually worked it out! How to set it up 2 separating … Continue reading Thought-Experiment: Intermolecular Forces
I've always dreamed of being able to create my own Chemistry curriculum, not bound my specifications or national standards. And next year my dream is coming true for the first time in my eight years of teaching - WOOP! Some bonuses that I am genuinely super excited about... a) getting kids to understand concepts rather … Continue reading Creating a concept based curriculum
Welcome to the second of three blog posts #triblogathon reflecting on the impact of reflection and learning logs in my classroom (first post here). I should probably define what I mean when I use the term 'learning log' as it is definitely a phrase that conjures up different meanings for different people. For me, a … Continue reading Reflection Inception (2/3)
After setting myself a blog challenge I've now been writing for 10 weeks (almost without a break...) and I'm not going to lie - it is a rollercoaster of emotions every Thursday. Every Thursday I sit down and have a massive tantrum (one step away from lying down, fists hammering the ground) that I don't … Continue reading The emotional rollercoaster of blogging
The most regularly asked question about my reflection stuff (and probably the vast majority of new ideas in education!) is .... "How do you have time?" One answer is that you probably do a ton of reflection already. Assessment for learning in all it's different forms encourages students to think about where they are in … Continue reading Time for Reflection
The growth mindset being a "fad" is a message that's been overwhelming my twitter feed lately ("Schools are desperate to teach growth mindset but it's based on a lie" or "Is mindset theory really in trouble?"). Based on the publication dates, I'm pretty sure that the research has been questioned for a while but I've clearly … Continue reading Is the growth mindset just a fad?
This week is a celebratory blog post as this week is the 2 year anniversary of my first ever ChemJungle video! 73 videos, 60,000 views and 700 subscribers so far (300 to go until I can celebrate true YouTube stardom according to my G12s!) The channel was born from frustration (as so many creative endeavours … Continue reading Why I make YouTube videos
At UWCSEA we are having a mega tri-blog-athon over the next three months to focus on a variety of questions that we feel have been on the back-burner for a while but we want to give some attention to. The classic important, but not urgent questions that you rarely get time to think about. For … Continue reading Reflection Inception 1/3
Kirstie Parker 