chemistry assignment help uk

chemistry assignment help uk

The Importance of Chemistry Education in the UK

1. Introduction to Chemistry Education

The dissociation of the decision-making process around transitioning from primary to secondary education for half of the students taking the test from the outcome of the test serves as a useful point of comparison with other contexts in order to better understand how increasing equitable access to the program can plausibly affect the behavior of secondary schools and students. While much is known about the importance of improving and broadening access to chemistry education, particularly to those in high-need schools, very little is known about the potential success and impact of these larger, system-level intervention initiatives, which is why Schoenman and Ramirez (2022) are able to make such a valuable contribution.

It is important to understand how chemistry education is approached within the UK, especially in relation to how the UK’s education system operates. Schoenmand and Ramirez (2022) outline the RSC’s objectives for chemistry education within the UK and how these align with the Royal Society’s Education Committee’s five strategic principles for encouraging science education and research in primary and secondary schools. Their commentary provides an overview of the landscape of chemistry education in the UK, which serves as a useful basis to understand how chemistry education initiatives can affect system-level change. When contrasted with other countries’ K-12 education systems, the UK’s separation of primary from secondary education at the age of 11 makes it unique and therefore allows them to quantify the third of sixteen educational goals, addressing middle school and high school students aged 11-18 separately from those aged 14-18.

2. Key Concepts and Principles in Chemistry

There are a few key concepts and principles in chemistry that are key to foundation chemistry education, and it is around these that the aims of this specification have been molded. The following are the most significant of these in chemistry and are studied more fully in this section: – Atoms are the building blocks of chemistry. – The constituents of the atom are protons, electrons, and neutrons. – Elements contain only one type of atom. – Isotopes are different atoms of an element containing a different number of neutrons. – Ions are charged species. – Atoms may lose or gain electrons to fulfill their outer energy shell. – Molecules are made up of atoms. – The proportion of atoms in a compound is expressed by a formula. – Empirical formulae give the simplest ratio of atoms in a compound. – Molecular formulae give the actual numbers of atoms in a compound. – Compounds have unique molecular structures determined by the numbers and arrangement of the atoms within. – Covalent and ionic bonds are the main ways in which atoms combine. – Intermolecular forces are responsible for the states and boiling points of substances.

The foundations of chemistry education are built upon several key subject-specific ideas. This section introduces theoretical and practical principles concerning the structure of the atom as the building block of chemistry. Additionally, the three main components of the atom – protons, electrons, and neutrons – are looked at in more detail. Chemical species are next explored, examining elements, isotopes, ions, atoms, and molecules, and installing an understanding of molecular and empirical formulae. Finally, the concept of bonding and intermolecular forces is introduced, which describes how atoms combine to form compounds.

3. Challenges and Opportunities in Chemistry Education

Clearly, many changes will be required to deal with all of the issues identified as important. This will be challenging. Nevertheless, some communities may already possess some of the attributes that could facilitate progress. Many chemical scientists are motivated to teach as well as to do research; this commitment may provide a platform for innovation likely to benefit both research and education in the chemical sciences. At the same time, it seems clear that despite the many challenges and barriers that are now widely recognised, there is also potential for driving change. In particular, since the impact of developments in the chemical sciences is so broad and so important in many key sectors, chemistry could be excellent leverage for supporting wider development goals. The issue then moves from ‘what is the problem?’ to ‘what can be done to make significant progress?’.

It is recognised widely in the UK, as well as internationally, that chemistry education faces challenges. In the UK, the Royal Society of Chemistry has made the improvement of chemistry education a priority objective, whilst in Australia, the American Chemical Society and the National Science Teaching Association have updated their guidelines for what constitutes good teaching practice for undergraduate educators. This paper looks at the drivers behind these changes by examining the context for chemistry education, focusing on the structure of the chemistry educational community, identifying some of the current barriers to improvement in the chemical sciences, and questioning whether and where opportunities may exist.

4. Innovative Teaching Methods and Technologies in Chemistry Education

The purpose of this article is to highlight innovative and effective technology and teaching methods in chemical education – and to argue that we should be wary of never-ending reliance upon established examples of good practice. We believe that research and good practice in chemistry education need to evolve to reflect technological advancements and changes in pedagogic thought. This is particularly true in a world in which national and global curricula are constantly under review. In this article about the importance of transmitting our digital environment to proteomics and computational biophysical education, Massimo Noro explains that “as teachers, we need to be aware of this and provide our students with real case studies and proper resources to provide an appropriate technical environment that reflects the reality of biophysical research today”. We believe that “a proper environment” should be extended to cover all aspects of chemistry and chemical education.

A variety of resources and technologies are available that can make the learning of chemistry more engaging and effective. However, it is well known that it is not the technology that makes the difference, but the way that technology is used. In some cases, we may utilize modern tools to implement something quite traditional, while in others, we may use them to create something innovative and classically unachievable. There are relatively few barriers to using modern technologies in chemical education; indeed, many instructional blog posts, pedagogic research articles, and good-practice guides already exist. Yet there appears to have been little rigorous or systematic discussion in the literature about innovative teaching methods and technologies that can be used in chemistry education. For the purposes of this article, “innovative” means “novel and capable of enhancing learning”. While we would not dispute the effectiveness of lecturing, we would anticipate that readers would be more interested in newer approaches.

5. The Future of Chemistry Education in the UK

A third, more upbeat scenario, is the suggestion that by 2020 chemistry will be positioned as a central, relevant and valued science which serves the needs of a nation by excelling in the production of chemists. Such a future requires that there should be, besides the maintenance of chemistry departments and growth in the quality of their research, a commitment to sustained extracurricular activities. As a society, we need to accept the need for a strong initiative to be instigated by the profession. The departure point would be to establish what is valued in learning and then to reclaim it. By 2020 we will have free standing honours, ordinary and professional degrees that of themselves produce innovative, market-oriented, entrepreneurial chemistry graduates. This will only happen when we change the outcomes or ends of the system (e.g. to capital, enterprise, social development) from the inputs or means. These future options, whilst they set an imaginative political and societal agenda, cannot be developed with any rigour without a clearer understanding of what has happened to chemistry enrolments and achievements in the past. Furthermore, the strong lobbying argues that there is already and will be in the future a need for additional high-quality chemistry graduates.

The future of chemistry education in the UK is arguably at a pivotal stage in determining its relationship with the rest of science and with the world beyond formal education. There are broadly four scenarios that can be envisaged for the future of chemistry education in the UK. First, chemistry education can continue with a business as usual approach. This would see the maintenance of students at post-16 level, stagnating or slowly declining numbers at post-18, and with little scope for contributing further to make chemistry relevant to all. A second scenario suggests a continued increase in post-16 participation, but with a broader spread encompassing more mature learners. A related proposal is that a new type of award using chemistry is developed, such as the CPVE award. However, it is felt that integrated approaches such as CPVE have already had their day and the students in the scenario are already catered for by other awards.