Teaching Strategies

Topic

Strategy Type

Topic	Strategy	Title	Description
Organic Chemistry Functional Groups	Representations Analogies and Metaphors	Hands Analogy	Get students to recognise the importance of functional groups: Start with hydrocarbons, and talk about skeletal structure and say we can ignore the hydrogens, they are kind of like your skin, but the functional groups are the things that do things, so they’re your hands. The functional groups... more
Organic Chemistry Mechanism	Representations Analogies and Metaphors	Electron Auction Analogy	When talking about curly arrows and electrons moving, talk about reactions as a trading port for electrons - electron auction - in terms of trying to understand who has got electrons and who wants them.
Physical Chemistry Equilibrium	Representations Analogies and Metaphors	Population Analogy	Use the analogy of populations migrating between adjacent cities.
Physical Chemistry Thermodynamics	Representations Analogies and Metaphors	Coffee/Iceberg Analogy	Which has a higher internal energy - a 'nearly boiling' hot cup of coffee or an iceberg? This is the ‘q vs T paradox’. The mass of the iceberg is greater so it has a higher internal energy despite being colder. Ask students to explain what happens when you place the cup of coffee onto the... more

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