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To develop resources for the effective teaching
of AS and A Level Chemistry
with interactive whiteboards that are freely
available to all teachers |
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School: Brighton Hove
and Sussex Sixth Form College, East
Sussex |
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Fellow: Sandra Clinton |
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Email: s.clinton@bhasvic.ac.uk |
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Aims of the Project: |
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The aim of my fellowship is to develop resources
for the effective teaching of AS and A Level
Chemistry with interactive whiteboards and
to make these resources freely available to
all teachers. |
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I became interested in the use of Information
and Communications Technology in the teaching
of Chemistry early on in my career and through
teaching ICT at AS level developed a strong
skills base in this area. After purchasing
an interactive whiteboard for our department
it soon became clear that very few resources
had been written for use with this technology
for post sixteen teaching. My outline plan
for the year is to learn how to write efficient
web resources, to evaluate what interactive
software is currently available, to develop
and evaluate resources for use with Microsoft
Office and to disseminate them through a web
site. |
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My project year began in August with an
excellent two days training in writing web
resources. The other attendees on the course
were graphic designers and I quickly realised
the importance of the graphical user interface
in computer design. I have been able to develop
a clean, easy to navigate website on which
to publish my resources. This site has been
published and resources can be readily added
to it. |
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The notion of interactivity is currently
discussed a great deal in reference to AS
and A Level Teaching. Much of the content
of Chemistry is conceptually very demanding
and hard for many students to grasp. To enable
these students to fully understand abstract
ideas resources must be interactive rather
than passive. In order to develop resources
effectively I need to determine what is meant
by interactivity. This has proved to be a
complex task. Through an online questionnaire
I have asked colleagues about the nature of
interactivity. I found that no-one could formulate
a definition that they were entirely comfortable
with. There is a general perception of what
interactivity ‘feels like’; a
consensus that computer resources are not
very good at it and a desire by teachers to
develop it! Traditional academic research
uses the standard ICT model of a feedback
loop in an input > process > output
model, but does note that the nature
of interactivity is changing constantly with
the development of new media technologies.
Therefore resources developed during the project
will need to have a high quality user interface
and a meaningful feedback loop. This initial
research and training motivated me to get
started immediately on the development of
resources. It has been very beneficial to
discuss my ideas with colleagues; many of
them have shown a great interest in the project.
I thoroughly enjoyed carrying out library
based research and refreshing skills that
had not been used since University. |
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I have been able to look at inspection copies
of commercially available software in order
to evaluate their interactivity. Several of
these are little more than textbooks on a
computer screen some of which are of poor
quality. The best software is that which uses
a game style format suitable for revising
a topic at the end of a course although there
is little of this available for AS and A Level.
I evaluated a new set of software from Plato
Learning which contains a vast number of animations
and movie clips that can be linked into resources.
I purchased this for the department so that
we all started to use the interactive whiteboard
more confidently. We have also started using
a website which enables teachers to write
games online that students can play either
on an interactive board or independently.
However, I did not find a resource that offered
true interactivity that can be used to aid
conceptual understanding whilst learning a
topic. |
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The main focus for the rest of my project
year will be the development, evaluation and
dissemination of resources. The topics I identified
in my original plan were: |
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AS Chemistry |
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A2 Chemistry |
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Bonding and Structure |
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Acid-Base Equilibria |
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Bonding and Structure |
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Energetics |
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Energetics |
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Kinetics |
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Kinetics and Equilibria |
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Organic Chemistry |
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Moles, Formulae and Equations |
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Redox |
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Organic Chemistry |
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Revision |
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Redox |
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Revision |
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It has become apparent that this is an ambitious
list! In order to trial the resources effectively
with students they need to be ready for use
at the appropriate time. Some slight adjustments
have been made to the topics that will be
focused on so that high quality, properly
tested resources can be developed. For AS
Chemistry resources have been written for
Electronic Structure, Moles, Formulae and
Equations, Organic Chemistry and Revision.
For A2 Chemistry a resource for Heterogeneous
Equilibria rather than Acid-Base Equilibria
has been written since this is more suitable
for students needs. Other adjustments to the
resources written will be made during the
coming term. |
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In common with most teachers I tend to prepare
resources ‘on demand’ with a specific
focus year on year on the less well resourced
parts of the course. The development of computer
resources has tended to be driven by moments
of inspiration. This has been an area of my
work which I enjoy immensely. One of my main
areas of responsibility at the college is
development of online work schemes for use
by both teachers and students. Working on
the fellowship has given added impetus to
this area although I have at times found it
difficult to be creative. Each resource that
I have developed has been trialled with at
least one group of students who also complete
an evaluation form about the resource. The
activities are then available for use through
the workscheme. The student response to the
project has been very encouraging, they are
interested in what I am trying to achieve
and have made many sensible suggestions for
improvements to the resources in particular
the use of colour and layout. I would like
to develop a more formative approach to evaluation
as I proceed with resource development rather
than the summative questionnaire used initially.
I have identified students across my teaching
groups and their response to the resources
will be monitored. This can be assessed through
observation of the students while the resources
are being used with a whole class alongside
the opinions of the students themselves. |
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The next phase of the year will be intensive
development and trialling of resources alongside
their dissemination. I have made contact with
local schools with the aim of finding out
about the use of interactive ICT resources
at other key stages and also with a view to
sharing resources from the project. This has
proved very problematic leading to an adjustment
in approach. At the start of next term I will
contact the University of Sussex to try and
carry out initial dissemination of resources
through the Science PGCE students. Talking
with trainee teachers will also provide an
overview of the use of interactive whiteboards
observed in their placement schools. I will
visit the BETT show in January to update my
knowledge of the latest technology and write
an article about my research into the nature
of interactivity. Dissemination of resources
is definitely going to be the most challenging
aspect of the fellowship and I anticipate
the need to invest a great deal in this area
in the coming months. |
