KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING

ECT 305
CHEMISTRY METHODS MODULE

TWOLI, N.W. & WAWERU, G.

Department of Educational Communication and

Technology
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION: -------------------------------------------------------------3

LECTURE 1: THE ORIGINS OF CHEMISTRY-----------------------5

LECTURE 2: FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY-------22

LECTURE 3: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES IN TEACHING

CHEMISTRY--------------------------------------------34

LECTURE 4: METHODS OF TEACHING CHEMISTRY-----------40

LECTURE 5: DESIGN OF A SCHOOL CHEMISTRY

LABORATORY------------------------------------------48

LECTURE 6: STORAGE, AND USE OF CHEMICALS IN A

CHEMISTRY LABORATORY--------------------------52

LECTURE 7: SAFETY AND RELATED ASPECTS IN A SCHOOL

CHEMISTRY LABORATORY--------------------------73

LECTURE 8: CONCEPT LEARNING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

IN CHEMISTRY-----------------------------------------88

LECTURE 9: PROJECTS IN CHEMISTRY--------------------------96

LECTURE 10: FURTHER RESOURCES IN TEACHING AND

LEARNING CHEMISTRY----------------------------101

LECTURE 11: ASSESSMENT IN CHEMISTRY---------------------108

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INTRODUCTION:

This module aims at giving you an insight into modern styles of

teaching and learning of high school chemistry. Since each topic is
unique in content, then, each has been broken down into its relevant
sub-topics. The extensive use of examples is aimed at simplifying the
contents of the topics. To add to this, are the various activities
associated with each topic. It is important that you attempt these
activities.

Broadly, high school chemistry is a sum of theory and practical. This

has formed the basic plan of this module. The two major parts of this
module are pedagogic and laboratory management. Lecture one and
two are historic in outlook. They review the origins of chemistry
through metallurgical ages, the formulation of chemical symbols, the
activities of the alchemists and the establishment of the atomic
theory and model. They relate some of these aspects to the teaching
of school chemistry.

Lectures three and four are very much pedagogical in nature. They
consider how and why we should have aims and objectives in our
chemistry lessons. This is discussed within the framework of the
three main domains of learning, that is, cognitive, psychomotor and
affective. Various practical approaches (class practicals
demonstrations, field trips) are discussed from the point of view of
what justifies their inclusion in school chemistry.

Lectures five, six and seven are an in-depth look at laboratory design
and management. Various designs of a school laboratory are
discussed from a functional utility point of view. Chemicals form an
important component of the laboratory. Their storage is paramount.

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Storage is discussed from a point of preservation, identification, and
portability. In an age of safe practices, safely in a school laboratory is
crucial. The subject of safety is discussed here. It is discussed by
focusing on how to avoid accidents; how to treat injuries; and how to
control and fight fires------ and more important, how to plan for safe
practicals.

Lectures eight, nine and ten are a further look at classroom practices.
Psychological principles of learning by first principles are reviewed.
The principle of proceeding from the known (concept) is given an
emphasis. The present school syllabus lays a lot of emphasis on the
role of projects in aiding the learning of chemistry. It is because of
this that the topic of projects has been dealt with in detail. At an age
when Information Technology is central to all of our lives, it is
important to assess the way it interfaces with learning in general and
chemistry in particular. This has been done here by considering the
computer and the calculator.

Assessment (by class teacher or examining bodies like the Kenya

National Examinations Council) is the tool by which classroom
performance is judged. Lecture eleven looks at assessment
techniques, and justifications that underlie these techniques. Many
examples are provided to further illustrate the numerous assessment
styles available to the teacher.
N.W.T and G.W.

Authors’ Contributions:

DR. N. W. TWOLI : Chapters 1,2,5,6,7 and 11.

DR. G. WAWERU : Chapters: 3,4,8,9 and 10.

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 LECTURE 1
THE ORIGINS OF CHEMISTRY

1.1 INTROUDUCTION
This lecture on the history of chemistry focuses on the nature of
early activities in chemistry and the regions where these
activities were first practised. It also tries to trace the evolution
of the word chemistry, the early introduction, and the concept of
symbols of elements, equations and atomic masses. As you
read through the lecture, it will be useful to attempt the
questions and activities in-built in the lecture. At the end of the
lecture, there are some more activities, which are very closely
related to the lecture content and I would encourage you to
attempt all these activities.

Objectives:
At the completion of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Describe the early activities in chemistry.
2. Trace the evolution of the word, chemistry;
3. Describe the first symbols of elements in chemistry, and
trace their evolution and application in chemistry.
4. Outline the development of chemical equations and recognize
their role in learning chemistry.
5. Outline the development and relative atomic mass of
elements.

1.2 The Metallurgy Age:

The early activities close to what we now know as chemistry were
concerned with the extraction and crafting of metals. The activities

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are believed to have centred around the Middle East countries. These
countries include Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and
later the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. As early as 3500 BC, the
people in the Middle East practised some form of craftsmanship
using metals.
In the early period of life, people were not acquainted with the
use of metals. Their implements were made of stone (Stone Age),
horn, bone or wood. Then came the age of metallurgy: the
extraction and metal crafting. From the early history, the first
metals known to man were; Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead
and Mercury. The next group of metals to be extracted were the
alkali metals. In particular, potassium and sodium were
extracted from seawater in the form of their salts.

The first metals in the life of the early people were extracted for
a purpose. Thus, they had specific uses in society. This is one
reason why the early form of chemistry is sometimes referred to
as applied chemistry. The application ranged from decoration to
medicinal uses. At this stage, examine Table 1.1 that gives an
outline of the uses of the early metals. They can generally be
considered under three major functions. Can you think of the
three functions? Using Table 1.1 as a guide, you should name
the uses as: 1.Decorative metals, 2. Service metals and
3. Medicinal metals

Table 1.1 Early metals and their uses:

Metal Use
Gold (Au) Decorative (jewellery)
Silver (Ag) Decorative (flower vases, jewellery)
Copper (Cu) Decorative and working tools

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 Iron (Fe) Mainly working tools
Tin (Sn) Service (joining metals)
Lead (Pb) Service (joining metals)
Mercury (Hg) Extraction (of Gold by forming an
Amalgam)
Potassium (K) Medicinal ( or food)
Sodium (Na) Medicinal (or food)

As the extraction and crafting of metals were going on in the

Middle East, it is believed that similar activities in metallurgy
were going on in other parts of the world e.g. China, India and
Africa.

Question 1.1

What process did the Africans use in the

Extraction of iron?

The extraction of metals using a traditional method was a

tedious exercise. The ores were melted in earthenware
containers (crucibuli’) for days before obtaining a small
quantity of the metal. But not all metals were extracted by
smelting ores. Gold for example, was obtained in almost pure
samples from river sands or as small nuggets by washing
alluvial deposits.

During the metallurgy period, the city of Alexandria in Egypt

was regarded as a centre for higher learning. The population of
the city was composed of the Egyptians and the Greeks. The
city of Alexandria is said to have had a huge library holding

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about 700,000 books (slabs) mainly about philosophy,
metallurgy and art. For a long period, the field of metallurgy
was regarded as an art (and not a science). Metallurgy was
regarded as an art because the knowledge involved was simply
a collection of recipes handed on from generation to generation.
It was based on practical experiences. There were no unifying
theories in such activities of art and crafting of metals.

In about the 10th century, a leading philosopher (in Alexandria)

by the name Suidas made history as the first person ever to
use a name related to the word chemistry. Suidas used the
word ‘chemeia’ which meant ‘Egyptian art’ in Greek. This
term ‘Chemeia” was sparingly used in Egypt and the immediate
lands. After the Arab conquest of N. Africa and Europe, the
influence of the ‘art’ spread to Europe. The term ‘chemeia’ was
also spread to Europe by the Arabs. The Arabs changed
‘chemeia’ to ‘alchemy.’ The Arabic name ‘alchemy’ is merely
the Alexandrian Greek ‘chemeia’ with the Arabic definite article
al-prefixed. This was about the 14th century.

As you will read later in this lecture the ‘alchemy period’

formed a very interesting group of chemists or alchemists as
they were known. It is the time chemical theories started
forming. As the language refined with time, the term ‘alchemy’
evolved to the present word we use, which is-chemistry. The
word chemistry can, therefore, be traced through three stages
of evolution.

‘chemeia’ ‘alchemy’
(Start of Chemistry
(art)
theories) (present)
(on metals)

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 The term chemistry as we know it, is a very recent term. Its
active use started in the late 19th century, which means that the
evolution of the word chemistry has taken about ten centuries.

1.3 Chemical Names, Symbols and Formulae

From as early as the metallurgy age, man recognized the use of
symbols as a short form of communication. Among the earliest
people to make attempts to use symbols to represent common
metals were the Greeks. As we noted earlier the common metals
known at the very early times were Gold, Lead, Silver, Mercury,
Tin, Iron and Copper. The Greeks derived symbols of common
metals from the ‘planets’: sun = gold; moon = silver; saturn =
lead; mars = iron; venus = copper. This is testified by an old
tenth century manuscript at St. Marks, Venice. An example of
such a manuscript is given in Fig. 1.1

The most precious metal (gold) was given or related to the most
precious planet (sun). You may note here that at the time the
sun was classified as a planet and so was the moon.

Figure 1.1 Chemical Symbols in Greek.

Metal Planetary Name Planetary Symbol

Gold Sun ☼

Silver Moon d

Lead Saturn ς

Iron Mars ♂

Copper Venus ♀

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 The metal silver was given the symbol representing the second
precious planet, the moon. And so the trend in the hierarchy was
used for the rest of the planetary units to represent the metals.
This nomenclature may serve as one of the clear indicators of the
strong relationships or association between the two sciences –
chemistry (metallurgy) and astronomy.

Question 1.2:
The present chemistry still uses the symbols of some
metals whose names were derived from the Greek and
Latin names e.g. K for Potassium. Give two reasons
why these symbols are still retained in modern
chemistry.

One early chemist who made great strides in the use of

symbols was John Dalton (1766 – 1844). The symbols
introduced by Dalton were in a way not much better than the
ones introduced by the Greeks as many symbols were still
represented in an empirical form. But let us for a moment
examine figure 1.2. You will notice the significant improvement
in the symbols. Several of Dalton’s symbols represent an atom
or an element. This was a major break-through in symbol
representation.

These symbols were quite useful to Dalton and other chemists in a

number of ways. Chemists could easily use these symbols to write a
formula of a compound. Secondly, they could even write chemical
equations for simple reactions.

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Figure 1.2. Dalton’s Symbols of Elements (1808 – 1810)

Hydrogen Strontian

Nitrogen Barytes

Carbon Iron

Oxygen Zinc

Phosphorus Copper

Sulphur Lead

Magnesia Silver

Lime Gold

Soda Platina

Potash Mercury

Activity 1.1
A few of Dalton’s ‘elements’ were not elements at all
a) Name four non-elements in Daltnon’s group of elements as
given in figure 1.2
b) Which element from Dalton’s list (fig 1.2) still retains the
same symbol at the present time?
c) Dalton used his symbols to write water as:
(I) Using Dalton’s format of writing compounds, write the
formulae of;
(i) ammonia
(ii) carbon dioxide
(iii) sulphuric acid

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1.4 New Chemical Symbols and Equations
After the period of Dalton (1766 – 1844), the use of atomic
symbols picked up quite fast. Chemists like Berzelius (1779 –
1848), Michael Farady (1791 – 1867), Guy Lussac (1778 – 1850),
Mendeleiff (1834 – 1907) and many others made enormous
contribution to the development, writing and using atomic
symbols, molecular formulae and chemical equations.

At first when the elements were few, it was easy to represent

them. The most direct way of representing the few elements
with symbols was the use of the first capital letters of the names
of the elements. For example the element Carbon, the symbol is
capital C.

Question 1.3.

There are many elements whose atomic symbols are

given by capital letters of their names -like carbon. What are some
of the elements that would be represented by a single capital
letter?

As you are aware, there are only 26 alphabets or letters. But

as more substances were synthesized into pure elements, the
number of elements went well over 26. A different approach of
representing atomic symbols other than that of using a capital
letter had to be sought. One idea was to use two letters as an
atomic symbol. This format uses the first two letters from the
name of the element. A good example is Calcium. The atomic
symbol of Calcium is Ca. What do you notice about the two

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letters? The first letter is Capital while the second letter is a
small letter.

Question 1.4

Several atomic symbols are represented by the first two

letters of their names – for example, calcium (Ca). Give about ten
atomic symbols that have the same pattern as calcium?

The rapid increase of new elements necessitated the

consideration of a third pattern of representing elements with
symbols. Two letters are used in this pattern, just like in the
second pattern considered earlier, but with a slight difference.
Let us use an example of Zinc. The symbol for Zinc is Zn.
What do you notice about the two letters? The first letter is a
capital (Z) and the second letter is small (n). You should also
notice that the first letter (Z) of the name of the element is the
capital letter in the symbol and the third letter (n) in the name
is the small letter in the symbol. Therefore, the element Zinc
has the symbol Zn.

Activity 1.2

Many symbols of elements are represented by two letters –

the first letter of the name forms the capital letter in the
symbol while the third letter forms the small letter. A good
example is Zinc – Zn). Write down eight atomic symbols of
elements that use this pattern.

Like in many processes, there are often special cases for

consideration. The final consideration of writing symbols is a
special case. The symbols are derived from non-English

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 names. A good example is Sodium, which has the symbol, Na.
How does it fit the symbol, Na.? It comes from its Latin name,
Natrium.

In the study of chemistry, we come across a number of atomic

symbols derived from Latin language, which was once very
powerful especially in the days of early civilization. As an
honour to the contribution of the Latin language and the early
chemists, a number of ‘Latin’ symbols are used to the present
day in chemistry.

Question 1.5

(a) Several atomic symbols have been derived

from Latin names of elements. What are the
latin names and symbols of the following
elements?

(Potassium, Copper, Iron, Mercury, Silver, Gold,

Lead, and Tin).

(b) What are the three patterns of writing atomic

symbols of elements (excluding the special
case?)

(c) Does the rule of writing symbols (according

to the three patterns in (b) hold for Latin
symbols?

As was noted before, knowledge or mastery of symbols form a

firm base in the study of chemistry. It is after mastery of
symbols that one can write formulae and the equations. It
becomes important, therefore, for a teacher of chemistry to
emphasize the rules when teaching symbols of elements.

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 Teaching symbols should not be a drilling exercise as has tended
to be in the past. Make use of the three patterns and the
special cases noted in this lecture.

1.5 Evolution of the Chemical Equations

Today, a chemical equation is such an obvious feature that we
can hardly do without when teaching chemistry. The chemical
equations we use today have gone through a lot of evolution.
The first chemical equation with the equal sign is traced as far
back as 1787, written by a French chemist called Antoine
Laurent Lavoisier. Lavoisier’s equation was a word equation
about one of the oldest chemical processes known to mankind,
that is, the production of alcohol form grape juice. The
chemical reaction was represented in the form:

Grape juice = alcohol + carbonic acid

This was the period when elements had no universal atomic

symbols and the valency theory had not been developed yet to
facilitate writing formulae of compounds. With such
limitations, the word equation was the most appropriate
representation. But with more time, the idea of using symbols
in chemical equations was introduced. Among the first
chemists to use symbols in writing chemical equations
included Berzelius (1811): Gay-Lussac (1820) Dalton (1841)
and Kekule (1859). As would be expected, the first formulae of
compounds were written with incorrect valences of elements
and different convention. For example, Kekule (1859) wrote the
formula of water in four different ways:

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H2 0, H0, OH and H2O2. During the days of Berzelius, (1826),
the convention used in representing the number of atoms in a
molecule was different from what we know it today. Working
on a number of nitrogen and sulphur oxides, Berzelius wrote
the following:
Nitrogen Series: N20, N0, N203, N205

Sulphur Series: S0, S02, S03,

(Note the difference in convention regarding position

of numbers)

The contributions of some chemists, especially Cannizzaro

(1858) and Kolbe (1865) to the theory of Valency did a lot in
guiding chemists to write correct simple formulae and hence
chemical equations. By about 1880, equations could be
correctly written. For example the first simple chemical
equations to be written using formulae of compounds are:
1. NH4Cl NH3 + HCl
2. CaC03 Ca0 + C02

Since then, chemical equations have become part of every

chemistry lesson nearly at every level of learning. The early
chemists dealing with electrochemistry and atomic structure
later added a new feature to the writing of chemical equations,
that is; the introduction of ionic equations.

The evolution of chemical equations gives a meaningful trend

when teaching chemistry in schools. To be able to write
chemical equations correctly, one has first to learn the symbols
of elements. This is followed by the formulae (which involve

16
application of valency theory), and lastly, the ionization
theories that aid in writing ionic equations. This evolution
seems to provide the chemistry curriculum designers and
teachers with natural and hierarchical pattern of developing
and teaching this part of chemistry in schools. The pattern
does recognize the levels of difficulty and concept development.

We also learn another important lesson from the stages of

evolution of symbols, formulae and equations – that the
simplest chemical equation to write is the word equation.

Fig 1.3: Evolution of a chemical equation

Formulae
of Chemical Ionic
Atomic
Compound Equations Equations
Symbols
s (using
(using Formulae)
Valency)

As noted earlier, this trend in the evolution of a chemical

equation has some significance in the teaching of chemistry.
As a general rule, we start with the simpler concepts and build
up to complex concepts with time. When teaching the lower
levels at secondary school, for example the Form One’s and to
some extent to Form Two’s, your teaching is likely to be more
effective if you use word equations when describing or writing
chemical equations. As students move up to higher levels and
get exposure to the theory of valency, teachers can then start
using symbols and formulae of compounds to write chemical
equations in their lessons. The understanding of the use of
formulae in chemical equations easily leads to the writing of
ionic equations.

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 Let us suppose we are discussing preparation of insoluble salts at
Form I level in particular preparation of calcium carbonate. The
word equation you are likely to use is:
Calcium Sodium Calcium Sodium
+ +
Nitrate (aq) Carbonate (aq) Carbonate(s) Nitrate (aq)

Ca(N03)2 (aq) + Na2C03 (aq) CaC03 (s) + 2NaN03 (aq)

At Form III and Form IV one can use formula equation or ionic
equation:

Ca2+ (aq) + C032- (aq) CaC03 (s)

Question 1.6

Apart from writing correct formulae of compounds

in a chemical equation, what are the other two
important pieces of information you would
emphasize when teaching “how to write correct chemical
equations”?

1.6 Atomic Mass

For a long time in the history of chemistry, the idea of atomic
mass remained elusive. It was not until about 1803 that Dalton
started using what is close to what we at present know as relative
atomic masses of elements. In Dalton’s time, he referred to these
masses not as relative weights of the atomic particles but as of
ultimate particles. What Dalton called ultimate particles included
atoms and simple molecules (Table 2.1). Dalton used the term
‘relative’ because he compared the ‘weights’ with hydrogen as a unit.
Since then, hydrogen has been used as a key reference until recently
(1961).

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 Question 1.7

What element is used these days as a reference for

mass of elements?

Table 1.2: The relative weights of the ultimate particles

of gaseous and other bodies (Dalton Sept. 6
1803)

Ultimate Particle Weight

1. Hydrogen…………………...... 1.0
2. Oxygen……………………...... 5.66
3. Water………………………..... 6.66
4. Carbon (Charcoal)………….. 4.5
5. Ammonia…………………...... 5.0
6. Nitrous gas…………………… 9.66
7. Nitric acid…………………..... 15.32
8. Sulphur acid……………....... 17.32
9. Sulphuric acid…………….... 25.4
10. Carbonic acid……………...... 15.3

As can be observed from Dalton’s Weights, there was very little

accuracy compared to to-day’s masses. But it was Dalton’s
pioneering contributions that later motivated other chemists to
research in this area. Cannizzaro (1836 – 1910), Mendeleiff
(1834 – 1907) and many others later refined the relative atomic
weights scale. The invention of the mass spectrometer by Aston in
1919 and the work by J.J. Thompson (1856 – 1940) gave the
chemists a reliable and accurate way of comparing the relative
masses of atoms. Modifications and improvements on the original
mass spectrometer have greatly increased the accuracy of
determining the relative atomic Mass Scale.

Determination of the relative masses opened up the development of

many concepts in chemistry. Relative atomic masses formed the

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base and an important starting point when teaching several concepts
at secondary school level. For example, it leads to the calculations or
determination of molecular formulae and also introduces the mole
concept. We can, therefore, consider the determination of atomic
masses to have opened a wider avenue in the study of chemistry.

1.7 SUMMARY
In this lecture, we have outlined that the earliest documented
activities related to chemistry started in the Middle East
around the Mediterranean Sea and the early chemical activities
involved extraction and crafting of metals. This era is referred
to as metallurgy.

The name chemistry stems from the word ‘chemeia’ which

Suidas used to describe the Egyptian art. It was later modified
to ‘alchemy’ by the Arabs and later to chemistry by the
Europeans.

The first symbols and formulae were empirical in nature. The

first symbols of metals were related to the planets. It was John
Dalton who introduced symbols related to what is used today
in chemistry.

As more elements were established, there was need to change

from the limiting Greek and Daltonian symbols to the ‘letter
type’ of symbols which were capable of accommodating more
combinations of letters to be used as symbols of elements. It
was noted also that symbols form a useful basic knowledge in
the learning of chemistry and are taught (or learnt) more
effectively if the pattern of symbols are emphasized. A number

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of symbols derived from the Latin names of metals are still in
use, as an honour to the role Latin played in civilization.

Chemical equations evolved from a simple reaction of brewing

wine – the first equation to be written being the word equation.
Chemical equations have gone through the stages of formula
equation to the ionic equations. This development has
implications to the teaching of chemistry in schools and was
recommended that word equations should be used in lower
forms particularly form ones, and formula and ionic equation
be used at higher levels in schools and colleges.

The last idea to be considered was the development of relative

atomic masses. Dalton realized that the atoms were too small
to be weighed and so introduced the term “relative atomic
weights” and made hydrogen (the smallest atom) the reference.
These days we use the term “relative atomic masses” and use
carbon – 12(12C) as the reference. The introduction of mass
spectrometer, around 1919, has been responsible for more
accurate relative atomic masses of elements.

References:
1. Porter, R. and Teich, M(Eds)(1992): The
Scientific Revolution in National
context. Cambridge University Press.
2. Scot R. and Bernstein, R. (1989). Discovering.
Harvard University Press.
3. Hamilton, J. (1990): They made our world:
BBC – World Service, London.

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 LECTURE 2
FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY

2.1 INTRODUCTION
This second lecture on the history of chemistry outlines the birth of modern
Chemistry. In doing so, we look at the role played by the alchemists and the
‘Theorists’. Although the alchemists had a soft period, they managed to arouse a lot
of interest in the upcoming chemists and spread the subject to greater distances, as
far as Europe. The real start of modern Chemistry began with the ‘theories’. This
lecture gives a brief consideration of the phlogiston theory and a bit more time to the
atomic theory. Special reference is made to John Dalton for his greater contribution
to atomic theory. Using this example I would recommend that you read about other
theories such as the Valency theory etc, which have made tremendous contribution to
Chemistry to-day.

As in other previous lecturers, there will be a number of activities and

questions within the lecture for your self-assessment. Answering
these questions and working on activities will give you a wider
understanding and a useful extension to the topic.

OBJECTIVES:

By the end of this lecture you should be able to:

1. Outline the chemical ideas and the
contributions of the alchemists;
2. Recognize the ‘age of the theorists’
3. Outline and recognize the contribution of John
Dalton to modern Chemistry;
4. Trace the spread of Chemistry to
interdisciplinary phases of Science;
5. Get some insight into using the history of
Chemistry in secondary schools.

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2.2 THE ALCHEMISTS
Human beings have always been inquisitive. In the very old days, primitive man
found he could make fire by rubbing sticks together. He knew how to make alcohol
(or beer) from grains, honey or fruits. All these are chemical processes and have
been with us for quite sometime. But the origin of the study of several chemical
processes is said to be in the Middle Eastern countries, especially in Egypt. Apart
from the traditional chemical processes of alcohol or wine making, the Egyptians
extracted and crafted metals into jewellery or household items such as flower vases,
cups, water jars etc. The Egyptians and later the Greeks and Arabs learned how to
make glass and some medicines.

We can consider this first-phase of Chemistry as an ‘art’ since there

were no underlying principles in their processes. In most cases, they
used trial and error mode of learning. As you may recall from the
first lecture, this group of ‘chemists’ that mostly crafted metal are
referred to as the metallurgists.

As time passed by, more attention was turned to medicine and the
study of transformation of substances. This period was about the
12th – 25th century. The Chemistry of transformation of matter of
those days was called ‘Alchemy’, and the people involved were
referred to as ‘alchemists’. Most of the activities of the alchemists
involved experimentation on substances with one major aim. Much
of their experimentation was with the hope of finding the
‘philosopher’s stone’, which would turn lead, iron, copper or tin into
gold. Of course this delightful idea never succeeded. But up to the
15th century, most alchemists seemed to be still obsessed with this
search for the philosopher’s stone. By the start of 16th century, most
chemists had given up the idea of searching for the philosopher’s
stone.

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After the Arab conquest of the Southern part of Europe, the Arabs
transmitted the information on alchemy to Europe. The early
alchemists in Europe include Roger Bacon (1192 – 1280), Arnald
Villanova (1240 – 1311) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). This
group was so powerful and organised that they even had a newsletter
known as “The Alchemist”.

The alchemists may be considered not to have achieved their aim of

finding the philosopher’s stone, but their frustration made the up-
coming chemists turn to something different. Most of them turned to
the making of medicines for healing the sick. The section of early
chemistry that emphasized medicine was referred to as
‘Iatrochemstry’ or ‘chemistry in the service of medicine’.

Some of the leading Iatrochemists were; Paracelsus (1493 – 1541);

Van Helmont (1579 – 1644) and Glauber (1604 – 1670). As could be
expected, these chemists worked mostly with salts and acids.
Because of their major concern to health, this period in the
development of chemistry is often considered as the pioneering phase
in medicine.

Question 2.1

What salt is often referred to as Glauber’s

Salt?

2.3 THE THEORISTS

The metallurgists and the alchemists made very little attempt
to make meaningful observations that could lead to a form of interpretation. They
did not either design or carry out experiments based on some principles. But the
period roughly between 1600 – 1850 AD had a new brand of chemists. These were

24
chemists who were prepared to observe and attempt to explain their observations.
They were prepared to formulate hypotheses and set up experiments to test them and
make conclusions. The conclusions were given in a form of theory or a law. They
worked in a systematic manner and as we can put it, in a different way, they were
working in a scientific manner. This is the group of chemists that we refer to as “the
theorists”.

One of the most fascinating and earliest theories relates to

what happens when substances burn in air (combustion in air).
It was considered that substances are flammable (burn) because they
contain mysterious materials called phlogiston. For a long time,
(about a century) the phlogiston theory was discussed over and over.
This theory was first explained by G.E. Stahl (1660 – 1734). Stahl
explained phlogiston as:

“The matter and principle of fire, but not fire itself, which escapes
from burning bodies with a rapid whirling motion and is contained
in all combustible bodies and also metals”.

He gave an example of when Zinc metal is heated. The metal burns

with a brilliant flame, hence phlogiston (given the symbol ) escapes.
The white residue left after burning Zinc was referred to as calx of
Zinc. It was also said that phlogiston could be transferred from one
body to another and restored to the metallic calces by heating
substances rich in phlogiston (e.g. charcoal, oil etc). Combustion of
Zinc was represented in an equation form as:

Zinc Calx + 

The phlogiston theory was dismissed by Lavoisier (1772). Lavoisier

burnt phosphorus in a glass tube to find that part of the air was used

25
for burning. He came to a conclusion that bodies burn in pure air
and that there is a destruction or a decomposition of pure air. This
experiment, as simple as it may sound, did end the phlogiston
theory. These days we know that combustion is aided by part of the
air, which is oxygen.

Question 2.2.

When teaching Form One pupils, what

experiment would you use to demonstrate
that about 1/5 of the air is used in burning?

2.4 THE ATOMIC THEORY

The theory of atoms goes back to the early Greek philosophers. As
early as 428 BC a Greek philosopher called Anaxagorus taught that
bodies are divisible without limit while retaining their characteristics.
Another philosopher, Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) described gold as made
up of little ‘seeds’ of gold. Another Greek philosopher, Democritus in
about 400 BC supposed that substances were made up of
exceedingly small parts. The reason for his belief in particles was
illustrated by salt in water. “Salt dissolves in water and disappears”.
Therefore, there must be spaces in water into which the salt goes –
and these spaces must be very small.

In the later years, chemists like Boyle and Higgins referred to matter
as made of ‘particles’ that attract one another. But the atomic theory
did not prove fruitful in chemistry until John Dalton (1766 – 1844)
clarified the existence of atoms. He, however, had no experimental

26
proof that what he was suggesting was correct. That is why it was
called a theory.

As an honour to his contribution, this theory came to be known as

“Dalton’s Atomic theory”. It was Dalton who made first attempts to
introduce ‘relative atomic weights’ and used these weights to
calculate the formulae of some simple molecules such as N20, NO
and N02.

What are these Dalton’s ideas that were considered with a lot of importance? The
summary of his theory is as follows:
1. All matter is made up of small particles called atoms.
2. Atoms cannot be split up, created or destroyed.
3. All atoms of any element are exactly alike, but different from
those of any other element.
4. Chemical combinations take place between atoms in small
whole numbers to form compounds.
5. The ‘compound atoms’ or as we now call them, molecules of
any compound are exactly alike.

Question 2.3

What statements in Dalton’s Atomic Theory are

still considered true at present and which ones
are untrue?

27
Activity 2.1

I. Outline two experiments (at Form I or II level) you would

use to introduce the concept (idea) of “the existence of
atoms or molecules” in substances.

Although a number of ideas in Dalton’s statement do not hold true at

present, nevertheless, this was a major break through. The theory
became a source of inspiration to the up-coming chemists. It paved
way for further studies inside the atom itself by Moseley (1913-14),
Bohr (1913) and Sommerfeld (1915).

But what is a theory? Most chemists consider a theory as “a

carefully constructed system of logical reasoning derived from
well founded assumptions regarding the basic nature of the
physical world”. A theory, therefore, can be regarded as an
explanation of a phenomenon that “we cannot see” but its effects can
be felt. It is like you feel the presence of air but you cannot see it.

2.5 CHEMISTRY GROWS BRANCHES

The chemistry that was emphasized for most of the time up to
Dalton’s period was chemistry related to metals and some non-
metals. This type of chemistry has grown to what we at present refer
to as inorganic chemistry. It deals with atomic structure, bonding,
acids and bases, mineral salts, extraction of metals and their
properties etc. Such topics can easily be identified in the chemistry
secondary school syllabus.

The work by Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) and his successors

marked a different approach to the study of chemistry. It took a
practical approach to test the theories and verify laws. This type of

28
chemistry intensified to form a branch of chemistry called physical
chemistry. In the school chemistry syllabus, this branch of
chemistry is associated with topics such as rates of reaction, heat
exchanges etc.

During the first half of the 19th century, the growth of another branch
of chemistry intensified. This branch of chemistry centred around
carbon and its compounds. This branch of chemistry had an
interesting beginning. It started with the conversion of compounds
considered to be inorganic into compounds identical to those derived
from living organisms. Such experiments led to the abandonment of
the “vitalistic theory” which maintained that some organic
compounds contained a mysterious “vital force” derived from living
things. This theory disappeared slowly under the weight of
accumulated evidence.

The first organic compound to be synthesized is traced as far back as

1828 by Wohler when he made urea. From that time, more organic
compounds were synthesized and their structures determined.
Greater contributions in structure determination came from Kekule
(1859) and Vant Hoff (1874) who showed that a carbon atom has four
bonds and in most compounds are directed towards the corners of a
tetrahedron.

The finding that organic compounds contained carbon as the central

atom and were similar to those found in animals and plants, made
their classification simple. That is why they were referred to as
organic compounds. This branch of chemistry dealing with the
organic compounds is referred to as organic chemistry.

29
As time moved on towards 20th century, chemistry started entering
interdisciplinary areas in science. For example we now have
biochemistry, chemical engineering etc. The knowledge of chemistry
has extended to many other science related sectors which include
medicine, agriculture etc.

Figure 2.1: Flow chart showing the evolution of chemistry

INORGANIC PHYSICAL ORGANIC INTER-DISCIPLINARY

MODERN CHEMISTRY
(EXPERIMENTALISTS)

THEORISTS

ALCHEMISTS

METALLUGISTS

2.6 SCHOOL CHEMISTRY

Chemistry is one of the science subjects studied in schools and other institutions. It
is a very exciting subject considering its reactions in the form of precipitates, gas
evolutions and colour schemes of various solutions and reactions. No wonder
chemistry is often used as a representative of science in news paper reports and other
references. Learning chemistry can be fun and teachers of chemistry are expected to
translate learning chemistry into some ‘fun’ or interesting form.

What do chemists do? Chemists are involved in learning, solving

problems and in the production of the ‘stuff’ of what the world is
made of. The ‘stuff’ is called matter. So, chemistry is about learning
what matter is made of, its composition and transformation.
Chemists find out the composition of matter (what matter is made of).

30
This is done by the process of analysis. They also make some matter
using the process of synthesis. In schools, most chemistry is learnt
in a chemistry laboratory. Here students analyse and synthesize
matter or compounds under the guidance of a chemistry teacher.
When students are finding out what a compound is made of e.g.
determining whether a compound or salt is carbonate, then they are
analysing the compound. But if they are preparing a gas such as
ammonia, then they are synthesizing the gas or compound.

Qualified chemists are very useful. The are found in factories and
institutional laboratories. Those in the factories have the main job of
determining the quality of products by ensuring that the reactions
are taking place using proper reactions and conditions.
Why should chemistry be learnt in a laboratory? A laboratory has a
special design to allow for certain reactions. For example there is a
fume cupboard for toxic gases. A laboratory has chemicals and
apparatus for analysis and synthesis. As you handle the chemicals
and materials you are acquiring knowledge and skills. In particular,
skills are important for a chemist and a scientist in general. There
are two groups of skills, manipulative, (or handling) skills and
process skills. These skills are important for learning chemistry (and
science) and can also be transferred to everyday activities. So let us
remember that practicals have a role to play and when you learn
something in a practical way “you remember for a long time.”

Theory in a Learning School Practicals in a

Chemistry Chemistry Lab.
Classroom

Some chemistry is also learnt in a classroom. Most of what we

teach in a classroom is theoretical chemistry. We emphasize

31
concepts, laws, principles and theories. We therefore see that
learning chemistry and any other science subject involves blending
theory and practicals.

2.7 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

In the scientific revolution of the past two hundred years, chemistry
has evolved quite fast and played an increasingly prominent role in
our society. It seems likely that it is heading for an even greater
contribution in future. It is expected to contribute to the
development of new and improved materials for medicine, clothes and
foodstuffs. But it is more likely that the social benefits will be greater
than a simple extension of present applications.

Let us not, however, in thinking of the material benefits and ills that
science (and chemistry in particular) brings, neglect to remember its
power to free us from ignorance.

2.8 SUMMARY
This last lecture on the history of chemistry outlines the last
important stages in the evolution of chemical knowledge. The
alchemists took over from the metallurgists and made frantic
attempts to transform materials with a hope of finding the
‘philosopher’s stone’. Their failure in this attempt made the
contribution of alchemists to almost nil. But it was the next group of
chemists who initiated what we now consider as modern chemistry.
This group is collectively referred to as the ‘Theorists’. In this group,
John Dalton stands out as the founder of the atomic theory, which
turned out to be the key theory towards modern chemistry.

As more chemistry knowledge accumulated, there was need to go into

more refined sections, which had the same characteristics. This

32
consideration led to three major branches of chemistry –Inorganic,
physical and organic chemistry. At present, chemistry has entered
an inter-disciplinary phase, sharing knowledge with the biologists
(biochemistry), engineers (chemical engineering), medical people etc.

2.9 REFERENCES
1. Partington J.R. (1965): A short History of Chemistry.
MacMillan and Co. Ltd. London.

2. Hartley, H. (Sir) 1971: Studies in the History of Chemistry.

Clarendon Press, Oxford.

33
 LECTURE 3
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES IN CHEMISTRY

3.1 Introduction
Someone once said that if you are not sure where you are
going you are likely to end up in some place…and you may not even
know what place it is! That is what is likely to happen to a teacher
who teaches without clearly define objectives. Aims and objectives act
as milestones that assist us in identifying the progress of our “trip” in
the classroom. They assist us in batch-testing the progress of a
curriculum, a scheme of work, or even a single lesson. They give us a
clear directional framework. Since aims and objectives are meant for
all in the learning environment, they are as much for the teacher as
they are for the students

3.2 Objectives
By the end of this lecture you should be able to; -
1) Define the main characteristics of aims in education in
chemistry.
2) Define the main characteristics of objectives in education in
chemistry.
3) Write correct objectives for a chemistry lesson.
3.3 Aims
Aims and objectives are related just like you and your family.
You are part of your family as your family is part of the human race.
By this extension you are part of the human race. The human race is
global compared to you. Aims are global as compared to objectives.
Aims are expressions of general intents of an educational set-up.
They are the more general targets that an educational system hopes
to achieve. All school subjects should be supportive of the set aims
because aims form the basis of the school curriculum.

34
 Examples of aims of education.

1. Education shall foster a sense of national unity.

2. Education shall interest people in science.
3. Education shall prepare people for careers.
4. Education shall develop enquiring minds.

If you inspect these aims you will see that they take a long time to
achieve. How long, for example, does it take to foster a sense of
national unity? To interest people in science? Or to prepare people for
careers? But in the context of setting aims they are correct
intentions. It remains for the classroom teacher to interpret them
within the context of science and chemistry in particular.

II. Activity 3.1 An aim of education

“Education shall foster a sense of national unity”

How do you see chemistry contributing to this?

3.4 Objectives

Objectives are borne out of aims. Objectives are subsumed under

aims. Let us look at the relationship with an example. Consider the
following aim;-
“The student shall demonstrate an understanding of
combustion”
Several objectives can be derived of this aim.

35
 1) The student should be able to write five equations each of
exothermic and endothermic reactions.
2) The student should be able to calculate heats of combustion
given various volumes of ethanol.
3) The student should be able to assemble equipment necessary
to dehydrate copper sulphate.
And so on.
The idea of using education objectives was pioneered by an American
educationist, Ralph Tyler in the 1930’s.Let us look at the main
characteristics of educational objectives.
1) Educational objectives focus on the learner. It is the learner
who is at the center of attention. To be able to tell whether or
not learning has occurred we look for a change in the
behaviour of the learner.
2) To establish a change in behaviour we must identify learner
characteristics as they enter the learning environment and as
they leave the learning environment. The difference between
the two is attributed to the learning experiences.
3) To identify the change in behaviour we need to describe an
action accurately. The key descriptor is known as the action
verb. Looking at the aims above the descriptor is “should be
able to…”

The rationale behind this thinking goes along this way. We cannot
see into people’s minds. We imply peoples’ minds by their overt
actions. If we see someone shouting aimlessly along a high street we
imply that their state of mind is unsettled. If our student can solve
simultaneous equation we imply that they are knowledgeable in
algebra. We can teach our students. That is one thing. But the only
way we can be sure that learning has occurred is if we can identify

36
some external behaviour that is consonant with the teaching. This
change in behaviour will be verbal or non-verbal.

Question 3.1
What would you imply of a learner who demonstrates the
following;-
1. Says that element Y has a ground state configuration with
one electron in the outermost shell.
2. Says that neon belongs to the family of elements with an
outer configuration of octet.

An objective should identify the minimum kind of performance which

will be accepted as evidence of change of behaviour. It is in this
context that the active verb becomes crucial. In all, objectives
should;-
1) Be stated in clear, unambiguous terms which the teacher
and the student can understand.
2) Be stated in terms of the behaviour of the learner.
3) Have a statement of minimum satisfactory performance.
4) Be stated for the right level of the education of the leaner.

Objectives can be stated from any of the three domains of

learning. These are cognitive, psychomotor or affective. Keeping in
mind that cognitive deals with knowledge, psychomotor with physical
training and affective with values and emotions, let us consider a few
examples of objectives from each of these.

3.5 Cognitive
1.The student should be able to write five examples of Lewis acids.

37
2. The student should be able to define three characteristics of
halogens.
3. The student should be able to derive the general formula of
alkanes.

3.6 Psychomotor
1. The student should be able to identify a burette from a pipette.
2. The student should be able to set up an experiment to determine
the water of crystallization in copper sulphate.
3. The student should be able to perform a capillary tube analysis.

3.7 Affective
1.The student should recognize the variety of colours in diazonium
compounds.
2. The student should appreciate the effects of radiation from a
bomb.
3. The student should have a feel of chemical pollution in air.

If we consider the objectives from the cognitive and psychomotor

domains we see that they can be measured. We can judge when a
student writes five examples of Lewis acids. We can tell when a
student differentiates a burette from a pipette. But we cannot
measure accurately how a student would have a feel of chemical
pollution in the environment. Nor could we tell how this feel differed
between individuals. So we should avoid objectives from the affective
domain in our teaching. What we can acknowledge is that they arise
as a result of teaching.

38
Activity 3.2 From Aim to Objective
This is an aim of chemistry.
“The student should: Demonstrate an understanding of carbon.”
“Write: Three objectives that could be formed out of this aim.”

3.8 Summary

Objectives are a learning and teaching aid. They are derived out of
stated aims of education.They are stated in terms of a change in
behaviour on the part of the learner. For the teacher they provide a
picture of the change in this behaviour . For the student they provide
a learning frame of
reference. Therefore each will use objectives as a milestone of
performance. Objectives also act to guide assessment.

3.9 References
1. Jenkins, E. and Whitfield, R. (1974): Readings in Science
Education, London, McGraw-Hill
2. Daniel, D.J. (Ed.) (1975): New Movements in the Study and
Teaching of Chemistry, Temple- Smith, London

39
 LECTURE 4

METHODS OF TEACHING CHEMISTRY

4.1 INTRODUCTION

There are those general teaching methods which are common across
all subjects for example the lecture, the discussion, the question and
answer and so on. These will be discussed in detail in courses and
texts on education. However, there are those that are unique to the
sciences of which chemistry is a part. This lecture discusses three
teaching methods that are unique to the sciences. These are the
practical, the demonstration and the field work. These approaches
are practical as opposed to being theoretical.

4.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to;-

1) Define the characteristics of practicals, demonstrations, and

field work.
2) Discuss under what conditions it is best to teach using class
practicals, demonstrations, and field work.
3) Discuss the role of the teacher and the student in practical
work, demonstration, and field work.

4.3 Practical laboratory work

If one inspects a typical Kenyan high school time table with
particular attention to the sciences a pattern will be observed. With
regard to chemistry there is provided a single lesson and a block of
two periods. This latter block is provided for practical work. In simple
proportions it can be seen that practicals are meant to take 66% of

40
the learning time. Why then is such a high percentage given to this
commitment?

Psychology tells us that we remember more of what we do than what

we are told. You only have to look at your own background to
appreciate this. There are incidents and events about your life that
stand out vividly because you did them or they were done to you. As
children growing up we manipulate our environment by tactile
senses. We taste, smell, hear objects that are within reach, and so
on. Practicals are a learning condition that is created to facilitate
recall along this line of thought, that is, to learn through doing. There
is a lot of pleasure when students pursue experimental work.
Practical work helps the students to act open-mindedly. Like a
detective who is investigating a crime, the student learns to accept
information as it unfolds. He/she then searches for trends and
patterns in the information. Out of these patterns then emerges a
discovery. Discovery is the highest point of learning by practical
work.

As history has shown us every discoverer has had moments of

frustration. Similarly there will be moments of frustration for the
student during practical work. Professionally this is regarded
positively as part of the learning process. A desired approach would
be one by which the teacher allows the practical to proceed as did the
original discoverer of the principle under investigation. However time
is always a constraint and this means that the teacher acts as a
guide in the learning process so as to economise on the time
allocation.

41
Question 4.1

In what way do you see learning through practical work related to

problem solving?

Practical work promotes curiosity, interest and experimentation. The

student observes a problem. Then they set a hypotheses; design the
relevant experiment; test the hypotheses and make a conclution. To
do this they must employ one or more of the five senses i.e. sight,
smell, sound, taste and feel. These senses are vital to observation. It
is only when we have made observation that we can form reasoning
and generalization. Only then can we say that we have proceeded by
the scientific method.

Question 4.2
The scientific method advocates learning, which proceeds from
concrete to abstract. How would you see practical work
contributing this?

Practical work trains the learner in skills of handling apparatus and

reagents. It is what at times is described as manual dexterity.
Properly nurtured these may translate to the student’s future either
directly (as technicians) or indirectly( as in house-keeping). The
sometimes-unseen side of practicals is that they are expensive
because they involve consumables. As discussed above they are also
expensive in terms of time. So at all times economy must be
exercised. This is done by having guided discovery. The teacher acts
just like a guide in a safari. The safari guide ensures that time is
saved by locating animals and features early. Similarly the teacher
guides the student through precise steps so as to reach the objective
of the experiment in the shortest route possible. Herein we see a

42
crucial role of the teacher. The teacher must think out very carefully
the ways and means of doing a practical work economically whilst not
sacrificing content.

4.4 Aims of Practical Work

Authors classify the aims of practical work variously.
Essentially the following are the aims of practical work.
1) To develop skills in handling apparatus.
2) To develop the ability to plan and carry out experiments.
3) To develop the ability to observe accurately and make
conclusions.
4) To promote the scientific way of thought.
One or more of these should be used as guideline(s) for assessing
practical work. In assessing practical work the teacher has to
continuously ask, “On what basis did my students make conclusion
A,B,or C?

Activity 4.1
In a practical on the topic “Titration” a student has three
different readings. You want the student to have only one
reading. How would you guide such a student along the lines of
scientific way of thought.

4.5 Demonstrations
It is not possible to have class practicals all the time. When this
happens the teacher may elect to have a demonstration.
Demonstrations are performed when several conditions manifest
themselves. These are;-
1) When there is shortage of apparatus and materials.
2) Time is a constraint.
3) Safety is a major factor.

43
 4) An experiment is complicated.

Shortage of Apparatus and Materials

As noted above chemistry reagents and apparatus is expensive. Centrifuges,
magnetic stirrers, silver compounds, mercury compounds etc. are expensive for the
average Kenyan secondary school.. In a situation like this the teacher will perform a
demonstration.

Constraint on Time
Often pressure is made to bear on time by various factors e.g. exams, fires, student
disturbances and a host of unforeseen extra-curricula events. By proceeding by
demonstration the teacher will be able to meet given deadlines.

Safety as a Major Factor

An experiment that carries a safety risk is not worth the effort of doing it. Such are,
for example, preparations of toxic substances e.g. carbon monoxide, ammonia etc.
Others are those that may involve high voltage, radioactive compounds, and so on.
If such hazardous experiments must be done, then a teacher demonstration is
recommended.

Complications in an Experiment
Some experiments are complicated (Not necessarily difficult). For example testing
for electrical conductivity, fractional distillation, titrations involving more than one
indicator etc. A demonstration is necessary in situations like these.

What has been said above pertains to demonstrations that are performed by the
teacher. Teachers’ demonstrations carry authority and experience by virtue of
position and training. Because of this they are likely to work and yield the correct
results. This is all right. The main weakness is that they give the impression that
science works all the time. The students get the impression that science is something

44
that does not fail. As we know this is not the case. Above all this may go against the

A demonstration is economical in term of teacher/pupil and

teacher/hours. Discuss.

philosophy of science which says that science is investigatory and not confirmatory.

Tact can be employed so as to involve students in demonstrations. The teacher can

assemble the apparatus. He/she then nominates students who perform the experiment
for their peers. The students may even be asked to choose, assemble the apparatus
and perform the experiment. This approach shows the learner that they are part of the
learning experience. It brings attitudes of democracy to the learning
environment…..that we are doing it ourselves for ourselves.

Whichever of these two approaches that is chosen it is important that the teacher
rehearses the experiment. This aids in taking precautions about what is likely to go
wrong. Even seemingly simple thing can go wrong thereby making it difficult to
achieve the objective of the day. Rehearsals allow the teacher to see the experiment
“through the eyes of the students”. As in all learning activities the objective of the
demonstration must be clear so that it acts as a frame of reference for them
throughout the experiment. Finally a demonstration must at all times observe the
scientific method of observation, interpretation, deduction and conclusion.

Question 4.3
A demonstration is economical in term of teacher/pupil and
teacher/hours. Discuss

Activity 4.2
Aristotle says that knowledge should come from the learner. How does frequent
teacher demonstrations negate this.

45
4.6 Field Trips
We need to show the learners the link between the science in the class and natural
phenomenon. We need to show them, for example , that whilst fertilizers enhance
food production they also pollute through runoff. For this a field trip may be
necessary so as to see the link of these two mutually contradictory processes. There
are two types of field work.
1. A field work may actively involve a student. The student will be actively
involved in collecting data, evaluating such data and making conclusions.
One such an activity is , for example, in studying the conditions of rusting in
metals. Since the student is actively involved this would be equivalent to an
outdoor class practical.
2. A field work in which the student observes someone else performing.
Industrial visits are a common example of this. Industrial expenses demand
that only those authorized to do special tasks are allowed access to
equipment. It is they who will demonstrate to the students. This type of a
field work may be regarded as an outdoor demonstration.

Whichever of these two approaches that the teacher elects some criteria should be
observed.
1. The teacher should be familiar with the habitat/industry that is being studied.
Familiarity should assist the teacher with the main features to be observed.
2. The teacher should make up notes for his/her students to use during this field
trip. These will act as guidelines for his /her students during and after the
field trip.
3. It is good practice to follow a field trip with an assignment. The assignment
will show if the objective was achieved.
4. At all times ensure that discipline is maintained. This can be done by making
group sizes as small as practicable.

46
Activity 4.3
With a topic from chemistry discuss how field work is the link between theory
and nature.

III. 4.7 Summary

This lecture has discussed the various practical approaches to the learning and

teaching of chemistry at school level. As a teacher you will be involved in one or the

other of these styles from time to time. It is the teacher who is responsible of

choosing which of the approaches is best suited to the topic of the time. It must

nonetheless be said that at all times it is in the interest of the subject to allow as

much participation as possible for the students to take part. The teacher should act as

a guide to focus the way a student is thinking. At all times that any of these

approaches is used, the teacher should make sure that the objectives of the exercise is

made clear to the learner.

4.8 References

1. Waddington, D. J. (Ed.) (1989): Teaching School Chemistry, UNESCO, Paris

2. Jenkins, E. and Whitfield, R. (1974): Readings in Science Education,

London, Mc Graw-Hill

47
 LECTURE 5
DESIGN OF A SCHOOL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY

5.1 INTRODUCTION
As a chemistry teacher, one resource that you cannot do without, is a
laboratory. This lecture introduces you to the main features of a
school chemistry laboratory.

It has been observed that most new science curricula emphasize the
“hands on” experiences when learning science and chemistry in
particular. The laboratory is useful in a number of ways. It makes
learners to discover, to explore concepts and to manipulate materials,
thus developing useful skills.

Most timetables in schools will allow for chemistry to be taught in a

classroom and also in a laboratory. Teachers of chemistry are
encouraged to make maximum use the time in the laboratory.
Arrange for an activity – a practical, which can be learner oriented
and at times a teacher demonstration.

5.2 LECTURE OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Determine the main design characteristics of a chemistry
laboratory.

2. Relate the design characteristics with the teacher approaches

in chemistry.

3. Determine the use of a fume cupboard.

4. Relate safety measures and design

48
5.3 Design Considerations
A lot of emphasis has been placed on some key points when
designing chemistry laboratories. In the layout that will be
considered later, a number of assumptions have to be made
concerning its effective and safe use in teaching. What are these
major assumptions? For a school chemistry laboratory, the following
are useful considerations:
1. A chemistry laboratory is a practical area aimed at giving
students experiences in different learning activities.
2. Each section of the laboratory should be flexible enough to
accommodate future, as well as present, teaching and
learning needs;
3. Where flexibility is competing with safety in design, the
safety considerations should take priority.
After these general points (or guidelines) on design, let us now
consider a number of points in more detail.

5.4 Size and Orientation

In considering orientation, size and general layout, the technical
aspects such as measurements etc will not be considered here.
Rather, only, the main features of a chemistry laboratory are
discussed.

For a chemistry laboratory, the orientation (or direction) which is

preferred is the East-West, such that the windows are on the
North-South sides of the building (fig. 5.1). What would be some
of the safety considerations in positioning a chemistry laboratory
in this direction?

49
 Figure 5.1: Orientation of a Chemistry Laboratory

W W W D

East CHEMISTRY LAB

West

W W W

Question 5.1

With a topic from chemistry, discuss how fieldwork is the link between
theory and nature.

One obvious reason would be to cut out the glare by the sun. The
glare interferes with our sight, making vision difficult. There is also
another reason and often considered the more important one. It is
directly concerned with the effect of the sun’s rays on some chemicals
that are quickly decomposed when exposed to the sun’s rays (light).
Such chemicals which are easily affected by the sun’s rays are often
referred to as photosensitive chemicals. What are some of the
common photosensitive chemicals (or reagents) found in a school
chemistry laboratory? To give you a hint, they will normally be
stored in coloured bottles or dark containers. This leads one to think
of chemicals that include silver nitrate, potassium iodide etc. Can
you extend the list? More about this type of chemicals will be
discussed in another lecture that deals with storage of chemicals.

50
Activity 5.1

Nitric acid is one of the photosensitive chemicals found in a

chemistry laboratory.

(i) Describe what you would observe when you open a

bottle of concentrated nitric acid.
(ii) Write the equation to represent your observation.

A school chemistry laboratory structure comprises three separate

rooms, namely the main laboratory, the store and the preparation
room (fig 5.2). Student experiments and teacher demonstrations are
performed in the main laboratory room. The store-room is used for
keeping chemicals and in some cases apparatus. The preparation
room is for ‘preparations’ that is, to preview experiments or try out
experiments before being performed in a lesson. The trying out (or
preparation) may be done by a teacher or a laboratory technician to
check if the intended experiment is working out as expected. The
preparation room can also be used for other purposes such as
keeping laboratory records. For example, it is in the preparation
room that you will find the equipment and chemicals – catalogues,
chemical ledgers, First-aid box, text-books etc.

51
Figure 5.2: Chemistry Laboratory Sketch Plan Showing
Main Rooms

PREPARTION
ROOM

MAIN LABORATORY

STORE
ROOM

5.5 Special Fittings:

1. Benches: These are very useful in a chemistry laboratory.
Giving it a broad consideration, there are two main
arrangements of benches (or tables) in a chemistry
laboratory. The first type of arrangement is what may be
referred to as fixed bench design (Fig. 5.3b). In this
arrangement the benches are in a fixed position.. On the
benches there are the usual facilities such as water, gas
taps, and electricity points.

52
 Figure 5.3: Bench arrangements and main facilities in the two
common chemistry laboratory designs

FC FC

(a) (b)
Main facilities arranged around the lab Main facilities on the fixed central
with central movable tables (benches). tables (benches).

KEY

Sink Gas Electricity FC Fume cupboard

This arrangement is found in the older chemistry laboratories in

schools. But starting from the early seventies, the emphasis on
the use of chemistry and science laboratories in general was on
flexibility. The emphasis on flexibility led to the design which
is often referred to as “movable bench design (Fig. 5.3a)”.

53
In this design, the student benches are not fixed (hence movable).
Only the teacher’s demonstration bench is fixed. The main facilities
such as water, gas and electricity are arranged around the
laboratory. This is the type of design you find in newly built
laboratories in schools. As noted before, the emphasis in modern
design is one of flexibility. We, therefore, expect design (a) to be more
flexible than design (b). To gain more insight into the flexibility of the
two designs, let us refer to some teaching situations:
1. Suppose you want to perform a teacher demonstration
experiment. It will be much easier to create space in
arrangement. (a). All you will do is to push the (movable)
benches back to create more space for students to stand (or
sit) around the teacher’s demonstration table for better
observation.
2. Class experiment is another useful example in comparing
the flexibility of the two laboratory designs. In the modern
design (a), the facilities are arranged around the laboratory.
This means that the students can work around the side
benches and as expected, will be messed up with chemicals
etc. After the experiment, the students can move back to
the middle benches which are still clean for discussion and
writing. Supervision is easier too – when going around. Is
one way round instead of winding between benches.
3. Lab. Period with no practical: Sometimes you may be
scheduled to be in a laboratory for certain periods at the time
you are handling topics that do not lend themselves to
practicals. Lab. design (a) would be suitable for there are no
chemicals and other items on the benches to fiddle with during
the lesson. This design (a) can suitably be used as a laboratory
and as a classroom depending on the topic being taught.
Design 5.3a is a much more flexible arrangement. This is the

54
 modern design that all new laboratories are expected to
feature.

Activity 5.2

Given the two chemistry laboratory designs (a) and (b),

explain which one is suitable for group work.

5.6 Gas Supply

A gas supply is essential in a chemistry laboratory since many
experiments in chemistry require heating. By this time you should
be familiar with the general installation of a gas in a chemistry
laboratory. You may already be aware that most schools in
developing countries like Kenya use a gas stored in cylinders. There
are various companies marketing gas under different trade-marks.
The common ones are Afrigas (shell) Calgas (caltex) and Agip gas,
(Agip). All these brands, market almost the same quality of gas.
Choice by schools as to which gas to use will very much be governed
by factors of convenience such as distance, stock reliability etc.

Gas cylinders are stored in a special small room, often referred to as

a ‘gas-room’. The position of a gas room is usually just outside the
main laboratory and more often than not, attached to the main
laboratory (fig. 5.4.). Why is this position preferred? We know that
the gas used is very flammable and incase it catches fire it is easier to
fight the fire from outside the main laboratory, thus giving a chance
(to save) the main laboratory.

55
Figure 5.4: The position of the gas room and master tap with
respect to the main Laboratory

MAIN
LAB

Master tap

Gas
PREP room
ROOM
STORE

In most cases, gas rooms are constructed in concrete walls. The

doors are either made of perforated wood or a wire mesh. This is to
allow as much air circulation as possible. Why do you think this is
necessary? It has to do with dilution of gas in case of a leak so that
the concentration of the gas is diluted below ignition level.

Ordinary gas cylinders are fitted with special parts called ‘regulators.
A ‘regulator’ aids in releasing the gas to flow into the pipes and then
to the burners in the main laboratory. The pipes are usually made of
copper metal.

Question 5.2

Why is copper preferred for piping gas in laboratories?

56
Before the gas is distributed to other points in the laboratory, there is
a tap which is often referred to as the ‘master-tap’ (fig 5.4). The
master-tap is useful incase of leaks in the piping system. For this
reason, it is always recommended that the master-tap should be
switched off after lessons and classes. If a laboratory is not being
used for sometime e.g. over the week-end and during holidays, it is
useful to disconnect the regulators in the gas room.

5.7 Fume Cupboard:

This is an essential fitting in a chemistry laboratory. A fume-
cupboard is perhaps most important, for experiments whose
products are poisonous gases or fumes (from organic solvents). At
school level, a number of poisonous gases are worth of note. The
very poisonous gases, for example carbon monoxide and hydrogen
sulphide have to be prepared in a fume cupboard. In case of no fume
cupboard or a faulty one in a laboratory, one can carefully arrange
for the preparation of the mildly poisonous gases like ammonia. One
such arrangement would be near a window with a gentle breeze away
from the students.

The other major use of a fume cupboard is to store volatile and other
smelly reagents. Can you think of the common reagents that could
be stored in a fume-cupboard? Examples should include bromine
water, tetrachloroethane, and chlorine water.
The third major use of a fume cupboard in a chemistry laboratory is
in the process of diluting volatile liquids, which include ammonia
solution, concentrated hydrochloric acid and some organic
compounds. (Page 13)

The majority of modern chemistry laboratories are fitted with two

fume cupboards – one is used for ‘smelly experiments’ and the other

57
as a ‘smelly store’. To perform these functions effectively, a fume
cupboard should be fitted with (1) a pump, (2) a gas tap (3) a sink
and water tap (4) electricity point (5) a door.

Activity 5.3
Locate and justify the position of a Fume Cupboard in your
Chemistry School Laboratory.

Figure 5.5 Best position for a fume cupboard

PREP
ROOM

FC

STORE
FC

FC: Fume Cupboard

Fume cupboards are usually lined with suitable materials, which

resist corrosion and coated with chemically – resistant paints.

The fume cupboard contributes to the ventilation system of the

laboratory. For effective ventilation, the windows of the laboratory
should be large and remain open during school times. How about
the ceiling? Should a laboratory have a ceiling? A low ceiling
reduces air circulation in a laboratory and will, therefore, not be

58
suitable. The type of ceiling which is found useful is the high type
which goes along the roof. This type of ceiling has an advantage as it
increases the air circulation in addition to the usual advantages of a
ceiling (like keeping the room cool; reducing noise e.g. when raining).

Question 5.3

Why is the location of the chemistry laboratory

removed far from other buildings?

Modern laboratories have come up with a design for a suitable

blackboard (or writing boards). (Fig 5.6). The blackboard has two
soft boards, one on each side. One side can be spared for teaching –
aids e.g. charts, and the other side for assignments and general
laboratory information.

Figure 5.6: Structure of a writing board in chemistry

Laboratory

SOFT BOARD WRITING BOARD SOFT BOARD

5.8 SUMMARY
This lecture has outlined a number of useful points regarding
different lay-outs of a school chemistry laboratory. Emphasis in
modern design is placed on flexibility and safety in school
laboratories. Flexibility is attained by having the main facilities
arranged around the main laboratory with central movable tables.
This arrangement allows for a more effective teacher demonstration,
supervision of a class experiment (by the teacher and fits group-work

59
arrangement. It can suitably be used as a laboratory and as a
classroom.

A chemistry laboratory should have enough working space and

normally it should have the main lab, a prep-room and a store. On
safety considerations, it has been noted that the ventilation is an
important factor in laboratory design. It is for this reason that a
chemistry laboratory should be fitted with large windows, a high
ceiling and most important of all, a fume cupboard. It is also for
safety reasons that the gas-room is always situated outside the main
laboratory.

5.9 END OF LECTURE ACTIVITIES

Carry out the following activities using a chemistry laboratory. Use
the following outline to compile notes on the given activities:
1. Major features of gas installation in a chemistry
laboratory:
(a) Gas room
(i) What is the position with respect to the main
laboratory?
(ii) Draw the structure of the doors.
(iii) Examine cylinders and how the regulator operates.
[b] Piping the gas:
(i) What is the metal used in piping?
(ii) Considering the bends and joints of the pipes,
suggest reasons why the metal used is most
suitable.
(iii) Locate the master-tap: What is the position with
respect to the main laboratory?
(iv) Suggest how you would use the master tap in case
of:

60
 (a) a leaking bunsen burner bursting into flame.
(b) Students continue heating during practical
when they have been told to stop.
(c) Features of a fume cupboard:
1. Examine the switch and the pump. Is there a
pilot light?
2. Determine the size of the fume cupboard.
3. How is the ‘window’ or door to the fume
cupboard designed? How does it open?
4. Does the fume cupboard have a water tap
(sinks) a gas tap and electricity point?
5. How high is the chimney?
2. General Features:
(a) Determine the orientation of the laboratory.
(b) What is the arrangement of the benches: are they
movable or all are fixed?
(c) Does it have a ceiling? Which type?
(d) Are windows large enough?
(e) How is the floor? Rough or smooth?

References:
1. Archenhold, WF; Jenkins, E.W. and Wood-Robinson, C(1978) School
Science Laboratories: A handbook of design, management and organization.
John Murray, London.

2. Armitage, P. and Fasemore, J. (1977): Laboratory safety: A Science

Teachers’ source Book. Heinemann, London.

61
 LECTURE 6

STORAGE AND USE OF CHEMICALS IN A CHEMISTRY LABORATORY

6.1 INTRODUCTION:

This lecture considers mainly the storage of chemicals in a school chemistry

laboratory and reflects on how this may facilitate some teaching situations. As it has
been mentioned earlier, a chemistry laboratory is an important teaching resource that
chemistry teachers cannot do without. For the laboratory to be an effect resource, it
should be safe working place and one factor which makes a chemistry laboratory
safe is proper storage of chemicals and apparatus. It is with this consideration that
this lecture is viewed as important to chemistry teachers.

The lecture will mainly emphasize the storage of ‘stock’ and bench reagents storage
of chemicals and other related managerial aspects that are important to chemistry
teachers. As you go through the lecture, it is important to try and reflect on your
school laboratory with the view of improving storage techniques.

6.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Relate storage techniques to safety.
2. Integrate storage techniques with the teaching of methods in chemistry.
3. Create awareness on safety and storage of chemicals.
4. Identify the ‘dangerous’ chemicals and relate to their safe storage.

6.3 Factors Guiding Storage of Chemicals

In the process of teaching chemistry in schools, one will certainly handle or use a
wide range of chemicals in a laboratory. The rate at which a chemistry teachers
interacts with chemicals is so high that it warrants a sound knowledge of the storage
and the nature of the common chemicals. The demand on the teachers will be
dictated by the type of school they are teaching. Large and well established schools

62
are likely to engage well qualified laboratory technicians who can effectively
manage the activities of the laboratory. In such schools, chemistry teachers have a
very negligible role to play regarding laboratory management. Most schools in
developing countries, however, have many schools of lower status and are unlikely
to engage qualified laboratory technicians.

You may wonder why we stress proper storage of chemicals. This aspect is
emphasized for three major reasons. First, properly stored chemicals are not easily
contaminated, and so they keep (fresh or pure) and so they keep for a long time.
This means a huge saving considering that chemicals are quite expensive. The
second important consideration is that proper storage reduces dangers or risks such
as breakages, fires and poisoning. The third is that it makes it easy to locate
chemicals, thus, saving time

As noted earlier, chemicals are kept in store-room. The store-room would usually be
fitted with cupboards and shelves for placing chemicals. There are a number of
useful guiding principles worth noting when storing chemicals. The most important
ones are considered below:

(a) Storage by sections of chemicals

In general, chemicals are stored in sections. At secondary school level, there are
two main sections:
(i) inorganic chemicals
(ii) organic chemicals

In addition to the two main sections, some arrangements may include a small section
of indicators. Going by the emphasis at secondary school level, the chemistry
syllabus tends to emphasize practicals and other science related experiences that
make use of more inorganic than organic chemicals. It may not be surprising,
therefore to find most school chemistry laboratories having more stocks of inorganic
chemicals as compared to organic compounds. The sections are clearly marked and

63
each section has its compounds arranged in an alphabetical order – from A – Z. The
arrangements in sections followed by an alphabetical order has the main advantage
of facilitating spotting or finding a particular chemical. This arrangement also
becomes handy at the time of stock-taking when a chemistry teacher or technician
goes down the alphabetical list of chemicals.

(b) ‘Dangerous chemicals

There are many chemicals in a school chemistry laboratory that are potentially
dangerous. These ‘dangerous’ chemicals are considered under the following groups:

(i) Very reactive chemicals (or elements)

These include a wide range of elements and compounds. The most common in this
class are the reactive metals (of the first group in the periodic table). Potassium and
sodium are the most commonly found in school chemistry laboratories. Because of
their reactivity, these metals are kept in an inert liquid medium. Most organic oils
( e.g. naphta or kerosine) have been found suitable. When these metals are exposed
to air, they start smoldering and burst into flames after a short time.

Among the non-metals, white phosphorous is very reactive. It also smolders in air
and after a short while bursts into flames. Because of this reactivity it is stored under
water (in a bottle). Other ‘dangerous chemicals include very powerful oxidizing
agents like chlorates, peroxides and nitric acid. Such oxidizing agents should be kept
away from oxidizable chemicals.

In referring to them as ‘dangerous’ chemicals or elements should not sound scaring

to both teachers and students. These chemicals are quite safe to use in experiments
so long as they are handled properly. Let us take an example of a case where a
teacher is using sodium with water. This experiment can be very safe to handle if the
following points are noted:

64
 (1) Should be done by the teacher (teacher demonstration) with the students
keeping good distance.
(2) Use a small amount of sodium metal.
(3) Should not handle the metal with bare hands (causes burns).
(4) After cutting a piece, put back the remaining piece (in the oil).

Activity 6.1

Use your school chemistry laboratory to observe how sodium or potassium

is stored. In particular determine:
(a) whether the bottle is clear or coloured.
(b) the nature (name) of the liquid in which it is stored.
(c) the position (or place) where it is stored.

A teacher following these steps will have no safety problem in performing this
experiment. Most good text-books give safety measures for experiments that may
sound potentially dangerous.

(ii) Poisonous Chemicals

There are a number of poisonous chemicals in school chemistry laboratories. It is
strongly recommended that scheduled poisons should be kept in a locked cupboard
marked poison. (Some institutions prefer not to mark them but only lock them). In
addition to the poisonous gases considered earlier, the common scheduled poisons
likely to be found in school laboratories are quite few. If some generalizations can
be made about the most common poisons you are likely to encounter in schools,
these would include barium, mercury, lead and the cyanides.

Activity 6.2
You find a white salt on a table and you suspect it could be a salt of lead metal.
Describe a test that would make you confirm the suspicion.

It should be noted that a number of these poisonous chemicals are frequently used in
qualitative practicals by students. It is strongly advised that students wash their

65
hands thoroughly with soap after any practical involving any of these poisonous
chemicals. As you will read later, laboratory rules are very useful in preventing
poisoning. One of the rules forbids eating anything in the laboratory, not even biting
nail !
Question 6.2.
Suppose you are working on a practical which involves
lead salts. Apart from cautioning your learners to wash
hands after the experiment, what other important safety
instructions are you likely to give?

(iii) Carcinogenic chemicals

These are chemicals which have been linked with cancer (cancer causing
chemicals). Fortunately a number of these compounds have been considerably
reduced and almost eliminated from school laboratories. There are, however, a few
still found in school laboratories and could be worth of mention. Asbestos (as in
asbestos mats) and benzene are still very much in use in school laboratories.
However, from the latest communication in the chemical bulletins, every effort is
being done to phase out asbestos mats and instead introduce fibre-glass materials.
Carcinogenic compounds are usually stored like poisonous chemicals.

(iv) Radio-active chemicals (or elements)

The common elements in this class are Radium, Polonium and Uranium. These are
usually kept in lead blocks which are then stored in concrete (or wooden) blocks.

66
Fig. 6.1: Storage of Radio active element

Lid

R Radio Active Element

Lead Bloc
Concrete

This arrangement is found effective in cutting down all the rays from the elements.
Any experiments done using these radio-active elements should be handled with
care, allowing minimum direct exposure to the rays.

(v) Quantity of Chemicals

Quantity of a chemical is likely to determine where it is kept in the store. Large
quantity chemicals (like in Winchester bottles) when stored above floor cupboards
are difficult to handle due to instability problems. Heavy chemicals are therefore,
usually kept at the base while the light chemicals at the upper shelves.

67
Figure 6.2: Arrangement of Chemicals according to quantity

└ └ └

└ └ └

└ └ └

└ └ └

Η H H

FLOOR

KEY: H - Large Quantity Chemical

L - Small Quantity Chemical

6.4 BENCH REAGENTS

There is a group of chemicals, which are usually kept on benches (or tables) in the
main laboratory. These chemicals can be either liquids of solids. These chemicals
that are found on laboratory benches and normally used for qualitative tests are often
referred to as bench reagents.

In most laboratories, these reagents are kept in reagent bottles. As has often been
mentioned, most chemicals are corrosive and for this reason, should not be placed on
a bare table. A common arrangement in school laboratories is to keep reagents in
wooden racks with a white tile-base.

Question 6.3:
What would be the other alternative material to use instead of a tile as a base?

68
Figure 6.3: A wooden reagents bottle rack with a white tile base.

This arrangement is aimed at preventing the bench from possible corrosion by

chemicals.

For quick and clear identification, reagent bottles should be accurately labelled.
Most modern reagent bottles have engraved letters which are, therefore, permanent.
Ordinary bottles often need ordinary ‘sticker’ labels (made of paper). Such labels
are easily corroded by chemicals that roll down the labels every time it is poured out.
These chemicals may corrode the labels and after a short time, there might be no
label left.

There is a simple method which uses wax, that can be used to preserve the label for
much longer. The wax is melted and spread over the label. Wax is cheap to buy and
inactive. Incase the chemical rolls on the waxed label, you would just wipe off.

The labels on reagent bottles should carry the following information. First the
concentration of the reagent if it is in aqueous form. You may note here that most
reagent concentrations are 2M with a few exceptions like silver nitrate which is
usually 0.01M (it is expensive!).

The other usual point to note is of course the name on the label. In this case one may
use a formula or a full name. It is important to note that the name should be in
IUPAC system. The last important information to go on the label is the date when a
fresh reagent was re-filled.

Storage of some reagents need special note. The first class of reagents that needs
attention is the photosensitive group of reagents. These are kept in dark or coloured

69
bottles. The common ones are: silver nitrate solution; concentrated nitric acid;
potassium iodide solution and bromine water.

The second group of reagents that need special attention in storage is of the strong
alkalis, especially sodium and potassium hyroxides. The aqueous forms of these
reagents react with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form carbonates or hydrogen
carbonates between the stopper and the bottle. The carbonates are capable of
forming a very firm seal which makes opening of the bottle quite difficult if both the
stopper and the bottle are made of glass. To open, one has to use force and this often
results into breakage. This can be avoided by storing sodium or potassium
hydroxide solutions in glass bottles with a rubber stopper or a plastic bottle with a
glass stopper. Since one of the parts in plastic, little pressure or force will squeeze
out the stopper.

Activity 6.3:
When sodium hydroxide solution is exposed to air, it will undergo some
chemical changes (or reactions). Write and explain all these changes.

6.5: SUMMARY
This chapter has dwelt mostly on the storage of chemicals in a school chemistry
laboratory. Proper storage is important in reducing the risks of poisoning and fires.
Storage has been emphasized in two major areas of the laboratory. The ‘stock’
chemicals are kept in the store-room, while the reagents are kept on the benches in
the main laboratory.

Storage of chemicals in a store-room should emphasize two major classes of

chemicals, namely inorganic and organic. To facilitate quick identification, these
two classes should be alphabetically arranged.

The dangerous chemicals which include the very reactive, the poisonous
and the radio-active should be accorded special attention and stored separately. In

70
the same way; quantity of chemicals should be a factor in deciding where to store
chemicals. Heavy chemicals should be kept at the basement shelves while the light
ones on the upper shelves.

A brief consideration has been given to the storage of bench reagents. In this regard
attention should be given to the racks which hold the reagent bottles, proper labelling
of reagent bottles, and special cases of photosensitive chemicals which are kept in
coloured or dark bottles.

Aqueous sodium or potassium hydroxide should be kept in a plastic bottle with a

glass stopper or in a glass bottle with a plastic stopper to avoid formation of a tough
seal between the bottle and the stopper.

Storage and handling of chemicals should be along-side teaching situations. Some

suggestions have been made regarding how to handle the ‘dangerous’ chemicals in
teaching situations.

6.6. ACTIVITIES
Organise to do the following activities at your own convenient time. As you may
realise, this chapter deals with laboratory management and most of the activities will
require the study of related aspects of a school chemistry laboratory. It is, therefore,
important that you actually examine a school chemistry laboratory.

1. Storage of Chemicals: (Store Room)

(a) Major Sections: Are chemicals arranged in section? Are the sections
alphabetically ordered?

(b) How are the special cases considered?

(i) poisonous chemicals.
(ii) large quantity chemicals
(iii) indicators.
(vi) the very reactive (K, Na, P etc).

71
 (c) What factors will influence a chemistry teacher to buy some chemicals in bulk?
(d) How often is stock-taking done? And what procedure is followed?

2. Storage of Chemicals (bench reagents)

(a) Examine the storage of:
(i) Sodium and Potassium hydroxide solution
(ii) Silver nitrate solution
(iii) Bromine water.
(iv) Concentrated nitric acid.
What is special in the way
(i) are stored?
(ii) – (iv) are kept?
(b) Examine the labels on several reagent bottles:
(i) What information is on the label?
(ii) Is the information adequate?
(iii) Is the label permanent or on paper?
(iii) Are reagent bottles kept in wooden racks having a tile base?

References:
1. Archenhold, WF; Jenkins, E.W. and Wood-Robinson, C(1978) School
Science Laboratories: A Handbook of Design, Management and
Organization. John Murray, London.

2. Armitage, P. and Fasemore, J. (1977): Laboratory Safety: A Science

Teachers’ Source Book. Heinemann, London.

72
 LECTURE 7

SAFETY AND RELATED ASPECTS IN A SCHOOL CHEMISTRY

LABORATORY
“ There are those romantics among the chemistry teachers throughout our
educational system who think that chemistry must be made an exciting subject by
punctuation at intervals with loud explosions, sheets of flame or a lung-full of
sulphur dioxide or hydrogen sulphide. Is a chemist sometimes more juvenile than his
biologist colleague who would never dream of stimulating a class by sticking a
scalpel into an innocent guinea-pig just to show how loudly it could squeel?

Muir G. D. (1975): Communication in safety. Education in chemistry, 12, 6, pg.

172.

7.1 INTRODUCTION:
Every responsible chemistry teacher wants to feel that his/her laboratory is a safe
working environment. For many teachers and learners, safety must therefore, be
seen as the foundation for effective activities in the laboratory.

In the earlier lecture on laboratory design, you were constantly reminded of safety
considerations in the design. This reinforces the idea that most laboratory
management issues place safety very high indeed.

This lecture will mainly emphasize safety matters in a chemistry school laboratory or
equivalent institutions. The lecture will take you through some useful information
on the common incidents and the related first aid you can give. It also advises
teachers on a range of protective wears and fire equipment that can be used in
attempt to limit incidents in the laboratory. The lecture ends with a set of possible
laboratory rules that are useful for safe operations in a chemistry laboratory.

73
7.2 Objectives
By the end of the lecture, you should be able to:
1. Identify and prevent common incidents in a chemistry laboratory.
2. Administer first aid to common incidents in the laboratory.
3. Be aware of the range and use of protective wears available in chemistry
laboratories.
4. Operate a range of fire-fighting equipments found in the laboratories.

7.3 Common Incidents in Chemistry Laboratory and Related First-Aid

All accidents have a cause and most of them can be prevented. Most accidents
described here are incidents, which are preventable by adequate forethought. We
shall start by answering the question: What are the common incidents in a chemistry
school laboratory?

(i) Cuts and Scratches:

These are by far the most common in a chemistry laboratory. They are known to be
caused by broken pieces of glass or sharp edges of glass or metal. A common cause
of cuts has been linked with fitting a glass tubing into a cork or rubber bungs. In this
connection, it is important that you wet the end of the glass tubing with water,
glycerol (or even using saliva). You then hold the tubing close to the end you want
to fit into the cork and gently rotate it back and forth into the hole. A piece of cloth
should be used to protect your hands as you wrap the glass with it.

Question 7.1:

What do you consider to be the role of water or

oil when fitting a tube into Cork?

Cuts and scratches have also been associated with ‘unpolished’ glass tubings. Before
using a glass tubing for any purpose, it is important that you check if it is polished
(by heating the tube-ends in flame as the tube is rotated). Polishing makes the ends

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round and blunt. This is a simple but a useful technique and chemistry teachers
should be encouraged to practice it laboratories.

Broken glass left on the floor has also been linked with cuts especially to pupils who
may not be wearing shoes. Such pieces of glass on a floor should be swept and
disposed in the dustbin.

It has been expressed that cuts and scratches are common incidents in a chemistry
laboratory. What would you do as a teacher in case of an incident like a cut? It is
strongly recommended that you give immediate but temporary care or treatment
pending an expert (doctor or nurse). This care given immediately is often referred to
as first aid. Science teachers are encouraged to be familiar with the simple first aid
treatments. There are a number of organizations in the country, which help in
training for first aid administration. Examples are St. John’s and Red Cross Society.

Let us go back to our specific case of cuts and scratches. What is the first aid to
administer (as a chemistry teacher)? First remove any pieces (of glass) immediately.
Wash with water (use cotton wool) and dry the wound. You finally apply an
antiseptic cream and bandage or use a sticking plaster like Elastoplast.

(ii) Burns and Scalds

Sometimes burns and scalds are not considered as different. But for those who like
using precise terms, a burn is caused by dry heat (e.g. fire. hot rod) while a scald is
caused by moist heat (e.g. hot water or oil). This difference, however, will not be
emphasized in this text, as all will be referred to as ‘burns’. In a chemistry
laboratory we consider burns as second in occurrence (second to scratches and cuts).
Burns can be considered in two classes. Ordinary burns (caused by fire, hot rod, hot
water, hot oil etc) and chemical burns (caused by concentrated, acids, alkalis, very
active metals, white phosphorous etc). These burns can be lessened by avoiding
touching or getting in contact with hot pieces of apparatus or the chemicals. For

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example, one should not handle white phosphorus with bare hands but rather use a
pair of tongs.

Question 7:2

How is white phosphorus stored in a laboratory?

What first aid are you expected to give in case of a burn? Before considering the
first aid to administer, it is important at this stage to note that burns by different
chemicals will require slightly a different procedure in first aid administration. Let
us for now consider two common cases, namely acid and alkali burns.

Incase of an acid burn, wash with much cold water, preferably under a running tap
for about two minutes to cool the tissues. The water washes away most of the acid.
To ensure that the wound is without any traces of acid, apply a dilute solution of
sodium hydrogen carbonate (using cotton wool). After about five minutes, wash
again with plenty of water, dry the wound and apply a burns-lotion e.g. a criflavine.
Alkali burns are handled almost in a similar way as acid burns except in one of the
steps. Instead of washing with aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate as in acid burn,
you wash with dilute ethanoic acid (acetic acid). Otherwise the rest of the procedure
is the same.

Activity 7.1

Given the first aid procedure for acid and alkali burns, describe the first aid you
would administer to an ordinary burn e.g. a burn by a bunsen flame.

In your explanation state why burns are usually not bandaged (in the final stage of
first aid).

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(iii) Poisoning
This is not a common incident in schools. The common type of poisoning in schools
would involve commonly used chemicals such as acids and alkalis. If one swallows
an alkali or acid at a fairly high concentration, one is likely to be poisoned, although
this is usually very mild, depending on the amount. In the case of swallowing an
acid, the patient should be advised to drink a mild base such as milk of magnesia, or
health salts for example, ENO or Andrews liver salt. On the other hand, one who
swallows some alkali will be given a mild acid like lemon juice as first aid treatment.

The more difficult cases come when one of the scheduled (the more serious) poisons
is swallowed. The first aid to be given will very much depend on the type of poison
swallowed. But in general terms, it will be very useful if as the first step you make
the victim to vomit. This is very useful as it reduces the concentration of the poison
in the stomach and hence in the body. There are some foods or substances that are
known to induce the vomiting process. Such substances are referred to as emetics.
The effect of an emetic may vary from one individual to another. The following
emetics have been found generally effective: fresh milk, raw egg and warm brine
(sodium chloride in warm water). For poisoning incidents in a chemistry laboratory,
you are likely to find brine handy as an emetic.

It may be useful at this stage to repeat what was noted earlier in relation to potential
or real poisons in chemistry laboratories. Storage of the poisonous chemicals (in
locked cupboard) and through discipline (following rules, washing hands) can go a
long way in reducing incidents related to poisoning.

(iv) Eye Injuries

Injuries to the eyes are common in mild forms, which include effect by fumes or
vapour of a range of chemicals and a splash of corrosive liquid into the eye. At
times specks of grit may get into the eye after something has shattered. For all the
three cases, (vapour, splash and speck) the patient should be helped by washing the
eye with a gentle stream of water from a wash bottle or tap, followed by a few eye

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drops of an eye lotion. There are times when grit may not come out after washing
the eye with a gentle stream of water for a long time. If this fails and the grit can be
seen, it can be removed by use of a clean tip of a handkerchief moistened with water.

Activity 7.2:
Name three gases which are likely to make eyes to itch

A more serious case is when sharp particles are suspected to be lodged in the eye. In
such a case no attempt should be made to remove them. Instruct the patient not to
rub the eye and cover the eye with a thick soft pad to protect the eye. This should be
treated as urgent and the patient should be rushed to the hospital.

From the incidents considered so far, it can be noted that first-aid administration is
very useful knowledge for anybody working in a chemistry laboratory. For an
institution (and the nation) to be able to monitor the trend of incidents in laboratories,
an accurate record of all the incidents and the first aid given is important. Some
authorities give special forms for this purpose. Most institutions or schools keep
their record in a book, which is kept in a preparation room. Information in such
books is usually given in a tabular form e.g.

Name of Treatment & Teacher in

Date Form or Class Incident
Student Comments charge

Such information should include the date of the incident; the name of the student; the
Form or class; the nature of the incident, the treatment (or first aid) given and
whether taken to a hospital or doctor; and lastly the name of the teacher or technician
in charge.

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7.4 LABORATORY EQUIPMENT TO FIGHT INCIDENTS

It has been observed that there can be many incidents in a chemistry laboratory. But
in case of incidents occurring, teachers or technicians should be in a position to
effectively help. To be effective, one needs some appropriate equipment to deal with
these incidents. What equipment should be kept in a chemistry laboratory to aid in
fighting incidents?

1. First Aid Box and Chart

First Aid box is one of the most important equipment in a chemistry laboratory,
particularly for the parts required in administration of first aid. It is usually in a form
of a box and clearly labelled with a cross or crescent. For purposes of
safety it is usually kept in the preparation room-out of reach for students. The
box should contain mainly the following.
(a) roller and triangular bandages
(b) safety pins
(c) cotton wool
(d) a pair of scissors
(e) adhesive plastic e.g. elastoplast
(f) a pair of forceps
(g) eye lotion
(h) antiseptic cream e.g. savlon
(i) A criflavine cream (for small burns)
(j) Aspirin or Panadol
(k) 1% ethanoic acid
(l) Sodium hydrogen carbonate solution etc.

Question 7.3

In what situation would you use a triangular bandage?

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Most First Aid boxes run out of contents and little effort is made to replenish them.
A general picture of the state in most schools is of a depleted First Aid Box with only
a few short and dirty bandages left in one corner. It is the duty of the chemistry staff
and particularly the head of the department to ensure that the first aid box is fully
stocked. This will be one way of rendering effective and fast treatment to incidents
in our school laboratories.

Very related to the first-aid box is the First Aid Chart (or Treatment chart). It is not
possible for teachers or laboratory technicians to remember the effects and treatment
to be given to all chemicals in the chemistry laboratory. To aid in identifying the
effects and the appropriate treatment (First Aid) to give, the chart gives full
information on the signs an symptoms and the treatment required. The chart
emphasizes poisoning and treatment and not other incidents like burns and cuts.

To get a feel of how to use the chart, let us consider one common case of poisoning.
Lead and its salts are very poisonous: but how would you know (what would be the
symptoms?) that one has been poisoned by lead? And what treatment or first aid
would you give? The first Aid chart gives you these answers. On the chart they will
be three columns: compound, symptoms and treatment.

Compound Signs and Symptoms Treatment

Dry throat; intense thirst;
Abdominal colic; occasional
Lead (including its
diarrhea with black stains. etc.
salts)
Take Magnesium or sodium
sulphate followed by plain
water. Emetics may be
given… etc.

Using this information, some treatment can be given to a patient. Because of the
usefulness of this chart, it is advised that the chart be kept in a very accessible place
in a chemistry laboratory.

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Activity 7.3.

Use the first aid chart to determine the symptoms and treatment (first aid) you
would give to a student you suspect has swallowed mercury (Hg) salt.

(ii) Protective Wears

Many incidents in a chemistry laboratory are as a result of direct contact with either
chemicals or apparatus. One way such incidents can be reduced is by cutting down
the direct contact of chemicals and apparatus with most parts of our body. We do
exactly that in a chemistry laboratory by use of ‘Protective Wear.’

There is a wide range of protective wears. The simplest and perhaps most common
is (a white) lab-coat. This is a very useful wear for teachers and technicians who
have a high rate of handling chemicals. It protects them from staining their personal
dresses, which in turn gives them a feeling of confidence to perform duties without
undue worries about staining their nice dresses. Lab-coats also cut off chemicals
from reaching the skin. Most schools manage to supply coats to their teachers and
laboratory technicians but not to students or pupils. A number of schools make good
effort and supply aprons to students to be used during practicals.

An important but a very delicate organ on our body is the eye. This needs protection
particularly in cases where nasty fumes are produced or when there is a sudden
splash of chemicals. When carrying out experiments known for incidents involving
explosions we will also need protective cover to the eyes. The wears used in the
above cases in a chemistry laboratory are goggles (or masks). You will for example
wear goggles (or a mask) when diluting concentrated hydrochloric acid and ammonia
solutions (in a fume cupboard).Goggles and masks are expensive and their use in
most schools is likely to be confined to teachers and technical staff.

The last important wear in a chemistry laboratory is a set of rubber gloves. These are
useful when handling corrosive chemicals such as concentrated mineral acids and

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alkalis and also some organic solvents which may ‘dissolve’ in the flesh and may
cause problems for some people such as, those easily affected by allergy.

Question 7.4

Which two experiments will require use of goggles?

(iii) Laboratory Rules

Laboratory rules play an important role in keeping down incidents in a chemistry
laboratory. Each school should have a set of rules carefully printed out. To carry
some weight, the rules should be signed by the head of the department or of the
school.

A suitable point to start influencing students with rules is at the time they start Form
one and where possible each Form one student should be given a copy of the rules to
be used for constant reference. A copy of the set of the rules should go on the notice
board in the laboratory to aid quick or immediate reference during practical sessions.
An example of a set of rules is given in this section. This is just an example and one
may add or subtract to suit individual environment.

Sample of Chemistry Laboratory Rules

1. No pupil may enter the laboratory unless prior permission has been given by the
teacher.
2. Apparatus and materials must be handled only on instructions from your teacher
and must be used only for the purpose directed.
3. No apparatus or material may be removed from the laboratory.
4. Any injury, however slight must be reported at once to the teacher in charge.
Any acids or alkalis spilled on skin or clothes must be washed off at once with
much water before reporting.

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5. Any breakage or damage to apparatus and equipment must be reported at once to
the teacher in charge.
6. Always walk in the laboratory while looking where you are going.
7. Keep all gangways clear of obstructions – such as stools.
8. Bottles must not be held or carried by the neck.
9. All apparatus must be cleaned after use and returned to their correct places.
Benches should be wiped and left clean and dry.
10. No solids must be put in the sink – use the waste bins.
11. Gas taps must be turned off after use.
12. All laboratory procedures should be carried out accurately in accordance with the
instructions. If the printed (or written) instructions are not clear or hard to
understand, the student should not resort to arbitrary interpretations, but should
consult one of the instructors or the teacher in charge.
13. Do not return reagents and chemicals to the bottles – leave this to the teacher.
14. Do not put any chemicals in your mouth. If you accidentally take anything in
your mouth, spit out at once and rinse your mouth with much water and report
at once to the teacher.
15. Make sure you have the correct bottles, read the label when you pick it up and
again just before using it.
16. No tube in which a reaction going on or which is being heated should be pointed
towards yourself or any other person.
17. It is highly recommended that you do not use slippers in the laboratory as
dropping chemicals (especially acids) could burn your feet.
18. Do not reach across a flame.
19. Do not stand too close to apparatus in which material is being heated or is
reacting.
20. Always use tongs or a clamp to handle hot apparatus.
21. Do not eat anything in the laboratory.

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Activity 7:4

Suppose you are asked to give ten very important rules for your chem-lab.
Using the set of rules given above, isolate ten rules you wold consider as very
important.

7.5 FIRE AND FIRE-FIGHTING EQUIPMENT

Fire in a school chemistry laboratory can bring a big loss to property and can be
harmful to both the students and staff. It is for these two reasons that we should
consider precautions against fire very seriously.

There are three essential factors, sometimes called ‘the fire triangle’, which must be
present before a fire can break out. Removing any one of these factors means no
fire. The three essential factors to produce fire are:
1. A source of fuel.
2. Oxygen, usually from the air but also from certain chemicals to act as
support medium.
3. Heat sufficient to bring the fuel to a temperature at which sustained
combustion can be initiated (the ignition temperature).

Figure 7.1: The Fire Triangle

Oxygen Heat
(air)

Fuel

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Considering the three factors, it has been found much easier and faster to cut off
oxygen (air) than fuel or heat. It is along this principle that most fire-fighting
equipment have been devised – to cut off oxygen (air) from a burning situation.

There is a wide range of fire-fighting equipments that can be stored in a chemistry

laboratory. One of the simplest equipment is the fire blanket. This is used to cut off
air (oxygen) by covering the fire. To be able to cover the fire without itself burning,
the blanket must be made of special materials. The earlier blankets were made of
asbestos, coated with silica, which had the role of keeping asbestos dust intact. But
from the time asbestos was associated with cancer, the new fire blankets these days
are made from fibreglass. Many schools find these special blankets quite expensive,
and instead they use the ordinary blanket for this purpose. Incidentally, for small
fires, ordinary blankets are quite effective, but you have to be quick otherwise it
easily catches fire, making the situation worse.

Perhaps one of the cheapest devices used in putting out fire in a laboratory is sand.
This is normally kept in a bucket and there is normally a scoop to go with the bucket.
Sand is used for small localized fires. All one has to do it to spread sand on the fire.
The sand cuts off air and burning stops.

The last device is considered the most expensive but most effective and convenient.
This is the fire extinguisher. There are several types of fire extinguishers – namely
the powder, the water and the carbon dioxide types. The carbon-dioxide type is
considered the best in school laboratories for several reasons. First, it can be used
for most types of fires. Second, it is smart to use for it leaves no mess behind. And
third, it can be used several times (unlike the others that you use only once however
small the fire is) as it is not completely discharged when used.

All fire extinguishers should be inspected regularly, preferably by a specialist firm.

This will ensure that they always remain in an operating condition. Although fire

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extinguishers are expensive, it is recommended that each laboratory should have at
least one fire extinguisher.

Activity 7:5
Find a fire-extinguisher in your institution and:
1. Note the operation instructions: are they long or short?
2. Practice (if it is the CO2 type) to operate.

11. 5 SUMMARY
This lecture has considered a number of safety matters in the teaching of chemistry.
Safety is important if the laboratory experiences are to be effectively conducted.

This lecture has outlined the common incidents in a chemistry laboratory and the
likely First Aid that teachers can give I cases of such incidents occurring in a
practical class. These include scratches, cuts, poisoning, burns and eye injuries. To
be effective in managing incidents in a laboratory, one needs support equipment,
which include First Aid Box, Treatment charts, protective wears and laboratory rules
that instill discipline.

A small part on fire incidents considered the essential factors for a fire and how we
use this knowledge to fight fire in a laboratory. Most devices used apply the
principle of cutting off air from a burning situation, using a fire blanket, sand or a
fire extinguisher.

The theme of this lecture is that; a laboratory can be a safe place to work in, so long
as you (as a teacher) can lead the way in observing certain regulations and in the
process you guide your students to do the same if we have to reap a maximum yield
from our efforts in the laboratory. But in case of an incident, you should be
equipped to handle most minor cases.

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11.7 REFERENCES
1. Archenhold, W.F. Jenkins, EW and Wood-Robinsons, C: (1978):
School Science Laboratories: A Handbook of Design, Management and
Organization. John Murray. London

2. Everett, K. and Jenkins, E.W. (1991). A safety Handbook for Science

Teachers. John Murry. London.

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 LECTURE 8

CONCEPT LEARNING AND PROBLEM SOLVING IN CHEMISTRY

8.1 Introduction
As people grow they want to make meaning of the numerous events about the world
around them. The task facing the chemistry teacher is how to condense the myriad of
information that the student encounters into identifiable compartments. They do this
through concept formation. Concepts represent a difficult grasp of information.
Further concepts do not mean the same thing in all subjects. What is a fact in one
subject may be a concept in another and the vice versa. The key to concept formation
is discrimination. It is discrimination that assists the learner to anchor incoming
knowledge to that already in place. This way learning develops.

8.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to;-
1) Describe the characteristics of concepts, concept learning, and problem
solving.
2) Describe the role of the learner and the teacher in concept learning and
problem solving.
3) Describe assessment within concept learning.

8.3 Concept Learning

Concept learning is arguably the lowest form of learning. It is the nearest that one
can come to a definition. Take a moment and try to define the following terms;-
“Chair, Acids, Energy, Mole, Oxidation”.
Perhaps you defined “Chair” as an object with the following attributes;-
a) We sit on
b) With four legs and a back-rest
c) Made of wood, metal, plastic etc.

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With criteria such as you have assigned “Chair” it follows that any item which has at
least one of the qualifiers will likewise be a chair. We see that a concept is a product
of thought that is unique to an individual. Further since no two individuals are
mentally identical, it follows that for the same concept no two individuals will have
the same mode of thought. In the concept “Chair” above, an attempt has been made
to assign class identity. Therefore, a concept is a mental composition that results
from class identity of objects, experiences, and ideas. The simplest concepts are the
concrete ones. To these we attempt to assign generic criteria. We have seen this with
the concept “Chair”. But there are abstract concepts. “Acidity” is an abstract concept
which involves many consideration, for example, concentrations of the hydroxonium
and hydroxy particles, amphoterism, protonic transfer, electronic character etc.
Another example maybe “Periodicity”. This is a concept that in many ways binds
over 100 chemical elements based on their electronic properties. A concept must
have;-
a) At least two facts or observations that tally, for example, the concept “Alkali
Metals” is those elements on the periodic table whose ground state
configuration has one electron on the outermost shell. In their reactions they
donate this electron.
b) An exception. The above criteria exempts elements like calcium, chlorine etc.

Question 8.1

Define the following concepts clearly showing at least two facts and an exception.”
East, Energy, Conductivity, Aromatism”.

A concept is learned through verbal instruction. If you had to describe the concept
“Banana” to somebody who did not know it, then language between the two of you
would be an important factor. Even if you presented a banana you would still need to
add verbal descriptions to support the item “banana” ( because there are many
different types). For this lesson we would need to show our learner that stones,
oranges, mangoes, plums etc. are not bananas.

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What about abstract concepts? Let us consider an example, in this case, the concept
“Density”. You cannot feel, see, touch or taste “Density”. Density is a ratio
relationship between the mass of a substance and its volume. Mass and volume in
turn are concepts in their own right. Here we see relational concept. A relational
concept is one which involves relating two or more concepts to define it. Molarity,
equilibrium, pressure, conductivity etc are relational concepts. A relational concept
has a cognitive structure that is superior to the meanings of the various concepts in it.

Activity 8.1
These are relational concepts: “Aromaticity, Alkalinity, Acidity”.
Write the conceptual relation you see in each.

8.4 Role of the Learner In Concept Learning

The supporting structures of concepts are facts. Facts are available to all. Stars are
there for all of us. To a person navigating a sea vessel at night they are not mere
stars. They are points which when closely followed will lead to a pre-determined
destination. They are concepts. So it is the differential manner in which we use facts
that make them concepts. Further forming a concept is an individual ability. Two
individuals given the number 4 will see it differently. One will see 2+2 whilst
another will see 1+1+1+1. Forming a concept requires that the learners;-
1) Be presented with the facts that are relevant to the concept.
2) Explore these facts with the aim of finding if they relate.
3) Search for similarities or differences amongst the facts.
4) Identify non-concepts.

Of prime importance is for the teacher to know that concept formation will be
facilitated by the stage of intellectual level. It is as difficult for primary school pupils
to understand benzene as it is for high school students to understand spectroscopy.
In both the cases there is not the necessary background knowledge to understand the
concept.

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8.5 The Role of the Teacher in Concept Learning

The way a teacher structures a program can determine how the concepts in that
program will be understood. Research has established that science is best learned
from concrete to abstract. We measure mass and volume before we can talk about
density. Therefore by organizing programs that proceed from concrete to abstract the
teacher will be facilitating concept learning. Further as many examples of the same
concept as possible aid in learning that concept. For example if we are to teach
“Oxidation”, then we should do so with reference to it as addition of oxygen,
removal of hydrogen, removal of electrons, electromotive forces and so on.

Question 8.2

As a teacher, what examples would you give of the concept

“Reduction”

Concepts are the basis upon which generalizations are made. Generalizations allow
the learner to move from specific to universal knowledge. It is generalizations that
allow for new incoming information to be fitted into an already existing matrix of
knowledge. Teaching must consequently aim at generalizations. It must move away
from teaching for acquisition of facts to teaching for concept formation. In summary
then, the teacher needs to;-
a) Provide a wide range of experiences for his pupils. As a starting point always
consider concrete experiences.
b) Show examples and non-examples of a concept.
c) Teach for generalizations.
d) Encourage students to evaluate the appropriateness of the concepts they have
learned.

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8.6 Assessment in Concept Learning

As a teacher you will be interested in establishing whether the students have

understood the concepts the way you intended them to. Take Boyle’s law. It states
that at constant temperature the volume of a given sample of a gas is inversely
proportional to pressure. If a student were to state the same as has been stated herein,
would that imply that the student understands Boyle’s law? Not necessarily and
most certainly not any more than an actor would do the same as a line in a script. The
student may just have chained the words. So to test such a student we would have to
ask questions such as;-
1) Does the student understand the concepts of pressure, temperature and
volume?
2) What does the student understand by constant temperature?
3) Given an array of measurements, could the student graphically represent
Boyle’s law?
4) Can the student rearrange Boyles law to make pressure times volume the
subject?
And so on.

A student understands a concept when they demonstrate an understanding of the key

features of that concept. To do so we test whether the student can discriminate,
categorize, and evaluate the key features of that concept. Most importantly the
student must be able to extend the concept from an isolated piece of information to a
generalization.

8.7 Problem Solving

The peak of teaching is to enable our learners to be able to solve problems. In the
context used here we must extend the meaning of problem to go beyond numerical
dimension. A non-swimmer who finds themselves at the deep end of swimming pool
has a problem. A motorist in a traffic jam has a problem. A buyer trying a bargain

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has a problem. The range of problems is wide. Let us attempt to define problem
solving.

“It is a process by which the learner discovers a combination of previously learned

concepts to enable him/her to solve a novel problem.”

Consider this problem.

“Make R the subject of the universal gas equation PV=nRT”

By using the mathematic concepts of algebra the student may eventually find that
R=PV/nT. The student now has discovered the relationship between the constant R
and the measurable parameters of pressure, volume , moles and temperature.
Problem solving must bring out discovery by getting the student to know something
they did not know hitherto. It is just like the three examples given above. The non-
swimmer discovers that by kicking legs they come to the end of the swimming pool.
The driver realizes that by keeping to lane he/she is able to come out of the traffic
jam. And the bargainer at the auction discovers that by holding onto the last moment
of bidding they get a favourable offer. What is learned through discovery is highly
resistant to forgetting. This is perhaps one of the strongest points about teaching
through problem solving.

There are four steps involved in problem-solving.

1) The problem is presented verbally to the learner.

2) The learner defines the problem in their own language.
3) The learner formulates a hypotheses that they can apply to the problem.
4) The learner then tries to verify the hypotheses.

We see here that of the four steps, three of them form the part played by the learner.
The implication of this is that the learner is the main player in problem solving. If we

93
are going to follow the principles of problem solving we must at all times make the
learner central to our teaching.

We know that people are not good problem solvers to the same extent. What makes
some better than others?
a) Store of concepts…a person who has a better repertoire of concepts will have
a richer information bank to draw from and hence a better chance of arriving
at a solution.
b) Ease of recall…No matter how large the repertoire of information one may
have, the ability to recall the relevant concepts is crucial. You may remember
a personal occasion where you could have solved a problem if only you could
recall some information.
c) Concept distinctiveness…Those who can distinguish the fine differences
between concepts will be better problem solvers. In the gas equation above, it
is those who can tell the significance of degrees Kelvin over degrees Celcius
who will be better problem solvers.

Question 8.3
1.Consider the concept “Alkanes”. Give at least three facts that are
relevant to this concept. How would you test that your students
understood the concept “Alkanes”?
2. As a teacher what would you include in your lesson in teaching for
the concept “Alkanes”?

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8.8 Summary
This lecture has dealt with the ways in which concept learning forms the basis of
rule formation and problem solving. Concept formation is the building block of
intellectual activity. It is therefore important for the teacher to ensure that the
students understand the intended concepts clearly by highlighting the important facts
around each concept that is taught. In testing for concepts the teacher should
examine the relevant relationships in that concept. At all times we should be aware
that chaining a definition does not amount to an understanding of a concept.

8.9 References
1. Gagne, R. (1970): Conditions of Learning 2nd. Edition, London, Holt,
Rinehart and Winston
2. Daniel, D. J. (Ed.) (1975): New Movements in the Study and Teaching of
Chemistry, London, Temple Smith

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 LECTURE 9
PROJECTS IN CHEMISTRY

9.1 Introduction
The on-going Kenyan chemistry curriculum encourages projects wherever possible.
Projects are important because they link classroom work and the outside natural
phenomena. Projects are extensions of practical work to the “real world”.
This lecture discusses the following;-
1. Advantages of projects
2. Design of projects
3. Evaluation of projects
in the teaching and learning of chemistry

9.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to;-
1. Discuss the advantages of projects in the learning of chemistry.

2. Discuss how to design projects.

3. Discuss how to evaluate chemistry projects

9.3 Advantages of Projects

Perhaps a good starting point is to attempt a working definition of a project. A
project is a planned undertaking involving a problem that calls for a thought and
action mainly by the student under the guidance of the teacher. The key ideas here
are;-
1. Planned undertaking.
2. Thought and action by the student.
Learning is greatly enhanced by active participation by the learner. In the process the
learner develops their ability to recall. But is this not achieved by practicals? If so
why then add projects on top of this? Class practicals do not relate to the outside
world in the same way that projects do. Projects are taken in the “ real world”
setting. They thus allow the learner to study scientific phenomena under natural

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settings. Take oxygen. One laboratory preparation of it is by the action of heat on
potassium permanganate. In nature this happens by the photosynthetic action of
green plants. So by, for example, taking a project with spirogyra ( a plant whose
metabolism yields oxygen) a student will be able to see how oxygen is generated in
nature.

Group participation is key to success in projects. It is the teacher who decides upon
group sizes. In a large project the teacher must decide which group does what. The
teacher may even decide which student does what in every group. As for the latter
the teacher may allow the group to decide who will do what within particular groups.
A great sense of cooperative participation emerges. It is this versatility that makes
projects enjoyable to the learner.

Question 9.1

One of the aims of education in Kenya is to promote national unity.

In what ways do you see projects contributing to this aim.

The highest point of education in chemistry is to train the learner in problem solving.
Projects contribute to this through three steps;-
1. The generation of a working hypothesis.
2. The inspection of data to see if a pattern emerges.
3. Formulation of relevant conclusions.

9.4 Designing a Project

Designing a project involves three steps:-
a) Conceiving the problem
b) Investigating the problem
c) Establishing whether there is a cause-effect relationship
A look at the above will show that these are essentially the steps involved in all
practicals. It comes as no surprise because projects are practicals in their own right.

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Projects should be planned well ahead of time for various reasons. The project may
be subject to weather; it may require support from other subjects e.g. a specific
knowledge of mathematics; it might be unique in itself e.g. measuring pollution in a
river etc. It is up to the teacher to determine what exactly may influence the success
of a project and to consequently in-build this within the project plan.

Activity 9.1
You have a class of 40 high school students who you want to undertake a project
on “The conditions of rusting of metals in our environment”.
1) What subtopics would you break this project into?
2) Briefly describe how you would guide your students to investigate each
subtopic.

Where do ideas on projects come from? Who chooses the projects? The answer to
these questions is simply, “All those in the learning situation”. Ideas can come from
either the teacher or the learner. In fact as far as possible the teacher should be a
facilitator who is continuously encouraging the learners to suggest ideas about
projects. The teacher should invite the students to design the project, decide on the
appropriate procedures to follow, and finally what method of data collection to
adopt. As a way of good practice the teacher should require of the students that they
observe safety regulations in their project. In all of this the teacher will be using
projects to inculcate the practice of democracy—in itself a desired outcome of
learning.

9.5 Evaluation of Projects

Like all cases of learning it is important to evaluate projects. The success of a project
can only be measured against a set objective(s). Below is a checklist of some of the
guidelines the teacher may follow. You may want to add some yourself.

Formulation of the Problem

1) How original was the problem to the students.

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 2) Will they have encountered it in another variant.
3) How accurately they formulate the appropriate working hypothesis.
4) Is the timeframe adequate for the task.

Collection of Evidence
1) Was the evidence qualitative or quantitative.
2) Was the data reasonable in light of the design.
3) Did the students pay attention to detail e.g. units, error margins etc.
4) Were the conclusions made along the lines of procedure followed and data
obtained.
5) Did the student attempt to replicate the project in an effort to find a pattern.

With a checklist such as the one above the teacher can develop a point system with
which to grade a project. The weighting of the various factors will change from
project to project as will the distribution. There will be moments when the teacher
may want to add weight to extra-curricular considerations. Some projects demand
persistence, initiative, ingenuity, patience and so on. These are abstract attributes
which are not easy to measure with pencil and paper. Objectivity in this regard poses
a problem. The only way out is for the teacher to let the students know from the very
beginning that these will be observed in the grading.

Activity 9.2
a) Select one subtopic and using a checklist to show how you would distribute
10 marks.
b) How many students would you assign each topic/subtopic?
c) How would the project inter-relate the factors that cause rusting?

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Question 9.2
Why is it not possible to give hard and fast rules on how to
choose resources for projects?

9.6 Summary
Projects are encouraged in the ongoing Kenyan secondary schools’ science
curriculum. Projects are educative because they relate what is taught in the classroom
to the natural world and the various phenomena that we observe in the natural
environment. Good preparation on the part of the teacher and the student is crucial to
the success of a project. It is important to write out a report regarding any project that
is undertaken. This will conform to proper scientific way as well as acting as a
source of future information. Of prime consideration is time. The teacher must be
aware of the sort of time a project is likely to take so that this will be in line with the
set scheme of work.

References
1. Jenkins, E. and Whitfield, R. (1974): Readings in Science Education,
London, McGraw-Hill
2. Daniels, D.J. (Ed.) (1975): New Movements in the Study and Teaching of
Chemistry, London, Temple Smith

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 LECTURE 10
FURTHER RESOURCES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OF
CHEMISTRY

10.1 Introduction

The importance of resources in chemistry education lies in the student’s

participation. The aspect of recall forms a core of learning activity that is vital.
Nothing enhances this as allowing the learner to do things for themselves. This will
only happen if we expose the learner to as wide a variety of experiences as possible.
Incorporating a wide variety of resources is just but one way of achieving this. This
lecture reviews three resources that are increasingly becoming common in our
schools. Where possible the teacher is encouraged to incorporate these in his or her
teaching.

10.2 Objectives

At the end of this lecture you should be able to: -

1) Describe the main features of a worksheet.

2) Design a simple worksheet.

3) Define the main features and operations of a computer in chemistry

education.

4) Justify the use of a calculator in the teaching and learning of chemistry.

10.3 Worksheets
A worksheet is a device that is meant to help a student to work to their fullest

capacity. As a teacher of chemistry you are going to find yourself and your students

using worksheets a lot particularly during practical work. It is therefore important to

be familiar with what goes into a worksheet so that what you intend it to achieve is

indeed what it does. A worksheet is easy to produce because all you need is a stencil

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and a duplicating machine. You can produce it yourself or do it with the help of your

assistant. A worksheet must be prepared with a particular class in mind and more so

with regard to language. Clearly the language competence of form 1 is different from

that of form 4. It might help you in designing a worksheet to contact your languages

colleague so as to make sure that the syntactical and dialectical meanings in the

worksheet are what you intended.

There are several functions that a worksheet serves.

1) They encourage pupils to think for themselves. The reader must constantly

ask, “How do I understand what I am reading? What do I do after this?” and

so on. In all they have to draw their own conclusions from their observations.

2) Not all the students in your class will have the same ability. This is natural.

So they will work at different paces. It is important that you help them work

as individuals on their own pace. A worksheet will help you achieve this.

3) From time to time and for a variety of reasons, for example sickness, a

student may be absent. A worksheet will assist such student to catch up with

the rest of the class in so far as to what has been going on. This is because in

itself a worksheet is a written record. If time and resources allow, such a

student may be tutorialised with the same.

4) Chemistry involves systematic recording of data and detail. Such may be

numerical results; diagrams; graphs; and so on. Worksheets are particularly

suited to this task..

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 5) Worksheets are a form of written notes. They assist the teacher from the

routine of writing on the board for the students to copy. Further, since they

are standardized, the teacher is sure that the notes arising out of them will be

the same for all the learners in the class.

6) For you the teacher a worksheet provides a written record in regard to a

particular task, at a given time, for a given class. They offer you an

opportunity of revision and upgrading to suit future opportunity.

Question 10.1

Why is it important that we use standard English in our

worksheets?

At high school level, and given the fact that English will be a subsequent language, it

is important to keep a worksheet complete but short. This should not be done at the

compromise of content. As a guideline try not to exceed two A4 pages of instruction.

Double space the layout for easy reading. Before your students begin working

preview the worksheet with them to make sure that they understand the worksheet

the way you mean it. This is particularly important with low ability students.

Highlight important features of the worksheet by boldfacing and underlining them.

One of the most important aspect of any practical work is safety. No practical work

should compromise your safety or that of your students. Therefore a worksheet

should highlight this over and above your own verbal emphasis. Worksheets take a

lot of effort to prepare. But as has been stated above they will have benefits that

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account for their preparation. Presently they can be prepared on diskette and revised

as new experiences demand. As a teacher they will save you from reading ill-written

and long laboratory write-ups. The time you save can be used for tutorials and

remedial exercises.

Activity 10.1
Prepare a worksheet for a form 1 class on the topic “To investigate what
happens when sodium metal is placed in water”.

10.4 Computers and Instruction in Chemistry

Computers are increasingly becoming part of activity in our schools. As a chemistry

teacher it is vital that you acquaint yourself with the working of the computer.

Broadly the computer works by a tandem of hardware and software. It is this latter

aspect that should interest the teacher. In the past teachers would write out their own

software as part of instruction to the computer. Luckily today there are organizations

that have taken up software writing in education and it is to this that the teacher can

turn to and buy ready-made programs. The challenge to the teacher is to be

acquainted with the computer syntax that is a pre-requisite to using the said software.

There are several broad areas of chemistry software that computer assisted

instruction can take place.

1) Dialogues

Dialogue type of software poses questions to which the learner proposes

possible correct answers. The computer is programmed to store as many

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 alternative answers as possible. It also has a “help” dialogue to assist the

student should they encounter difficulties.

2) Graphics

Drawing diagrams and graphs is part of education in chemistry. There are

computer softwares that assist in drawing accurate diagrams of, say, test

tubes, beakers, pipettes, jars etc. They can also provide for line, bar, pie

graphs. In case of graphs they can even extract required sectors of a graph

and its related information thereby making analysis very easy and quick. It is

important though, that the operator knows what they want in this, for as the

saying goes, “garbage in garbage out”.

3) Computer –managed Instruction

Computers can be used to set homework for students. They have quizzes,

which a student can perform, and they can instantaneously view their scores.

Remedial work can be incorporated so as to improve on the scores. And for

the teacher items out of such quizzes can be selected to make out term tests or

end of year tests.

Activity 10.2
What test items would you include in a computer program for the reaction of
sodium and water?

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10.5 Calculators
Calculators are increasingly becoming a way of life. We use them for shopping,

weighing, measuring, and so on. It is only practical that they are to be found in

schools. Calculators employ arithmetic logics. They also employ the four arithmetic

operators i.e. addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division. Decimalisation

makes calculators suitable for scientific problems because small and large numbers

can be treated factorially. Although a majority of calculators are designed for simple

tasks, nowadays there are scientific models. These allow for logarithmic,

exponential, square root, trigonometric, etc. operations to be made.

Relative to many technological appliances, calculators are cheap. They also come in

many different models which makes them user friendly. Perhaps their biggest

advantage is versatility. They are easily transportable (by pocket). They use batteries

thus making it possible to use them in areas where there is no electricity. The

additional cost to purchase a scientific calculator is justified by the array of extra

functions it serves. Their life span makes them an ideal investment.

10.6 Summary

Resources compliment the way chemistry is learned. Resources are continually

changing as technology advances. Advances in technology are making it easier and

cheaper to purchase educational resources. It is against this background that the

classroom teacher must operate. It is important that the teacher acquaints

himself/herself with the latest software, calculator, computer, etc. so as to keep pace

with what the market is offering. Further it is the only way that the teacher can

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authoritatively be a leader of the learners. Apart from the technological gadgets the

teacher will design the worksheet. It is important that liaison with the language

department is maintained. This will ensure that the communication intended in the

worksheet is what actually goes into it. Unless the receiver of a message receives it

as intended then there is communication breakdown.

10.7 References

1. Jenkins E. and Whitfield R. (Ed) (1974): Readings in Science Education,

London, McGraw-Hill

2. Waddington D.J. (Ed) (1984): Teaching School Chemistry,Unesco, India

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 LECTURE 11
ASSESSMENT IN CHEMISTRY

11.1: INTRODUCTION
Assessment is an important aspect of any educational programme. It
is through assessment that we determine whether a range of our
objectives have been realised.

This lecture introduces you to various types of questions used in

chemistry for assessment of learners. Two main types are
emphasized, namely the fixed response type (closed) and free
response type (open) of questions.

Quality assessment will depend on quality questions that form a

question paper. A good question paper should have high levels of
reliability and validity.

As mentioned earlier, the main objectives of teaching chemistry falls

into two main categories, these are understanding of concepts and
acquisition of a range of manipulative and process skills. It is
important, therefore, that any serious assessment in chemistry
recognizes these two areas – theory and practical.

11.2 Objectives:
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Determine the type of questions used in assessment
of school chemistry.
2. Write a range of questions as examples of questions
used in assessment of chemistry.
3. Determine the qualities of a ‘good’ chemistry test
or examination paper.
4. Write and use a marking scheme for a given test.
5. Apply simple statistics on a given test.

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11.3 Questions for theory paper
Teachers and other instructors are expected to write their own
classroom tests. Most of these tests will focus on certain objectives
or content area. For the teachers to come up with an effective
chemistry question paper, it is important to have not only quality
questions but also a variety of questions. A variety of questions are
useful in testing a wide range of objectives or content. What type of
questions should chemistry teachers use?

There are four main categories of questions used in chemistry

tests. There are:
(a) objective questions
(b) short answer questions
(c) structured questions
(d) Essay questions

These four categories can be considered into two categories basing on

the length or elaboration of the questions. The two broad categories
can be labelled as ‘short answer’ and essay type of questions.

Table 11.1: Categories of Questions

‘Short- answer’ ‘Long – answer’
1. Objective questions 1. Structured questions
2. Short answer questions 2. Essay questions

There are reasons for determining to use short answer or long answer
questions in your tests. What would be some of these reasons?

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Table 11.2 outlines the main reasons that will guide you in
determining the choice.

Table 11.2: Reasons for Selecting Short or Long answer

Questions for a Test in Chemistry

Short questions Long questions

1. Provides good item pool
2. Samples objectives and
broad content
3. Is independent of writing
ability (quality of
handwriting, spelling) and
verbal fluency
4. Discourages bluffing by
Writing or talking “around
the topic”
5. Is easy and quick to score
6. Scoring and grading are
reliable procedures
7. Scoring is objective
1. Calls for higher levels of
cognitive thinking
2. Measures student’s ability to
select and organize ideas
3. Is easy and quick to prepare
4. Tests writing ability
5. Eliminates guessing or
answering
by process of elimination
6. Measures problem-thinking
skills
7. Encourages originality and
unconventional answers
8. Is practical for small groups
of students, older students,
and high-achieving students.

(a) Objective Questions

These types of questions as noted earlier are also referred to as
closed. The common ones are: -
(i) True-false
(ii) Multiple choice
(iii) Multiple completion
(iv) Assertion reason
A test made up of objective items is often referred to as ‘paper and
pencil’ test. All a candidate needs are the two items, paper and
pencil.

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Among the types of objective items listed (i – iv) perhaps the most
frequently used is the multiple-choice type.

Question 11.1

Why are multiple choice items most frequently

used for tests as compared with other objective items?

Let us consider in a bit of details the first three types of objective

items, namely true-false, multiple choice and matching pairs.

True-false: A true-false item requires one to determine

whether the statement is true or false. For example:

“When sodium carbonate is heated in a laboratory it gives off

carbon dioxide.” True False

The candidate is supposed to tick whether the statement is true or

false. In this particular statement it is false, so tick √ under
false.

Critics in Science and in Chemistry consider true-false items to be

almost of no value as they encourage and even reward guessing and
measure memorization rather than understanding. It is mainly for
this reason that these types of items are not used much in chemistry
and science in general.

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Activity 11.1: Score the following question
The electronic configuration of an element with atomic number
of 20 is, 2, 8, 10 True False

Multiple Choice Items:

These are the most popular objective items, especially at Secondary
School level. The basic structure of a M.C. item is the stem (which
defines the problem), the alternatives or choices, which contain the
key (answer) and distractors (in- correct alternatives). We can look
at an example at this stage.

Q: Both hydrogen chloride gas and ammonia gas:

(a) are only slightly soluble in water
(b) turn wet blue litmus red
(c) reduce hot copper (II) oxide to copper
(d) react with each other to form white fumes

This item can be used to identify parts of a multiple-choice question.

Stem: Both hydrogen chloride gas and ammonia gas:
Key: (Right answer) : is (d)
Alternatives: (Choices, options): a – d
Distractors: a,b,and c.

Matching Pairs (or classification items)

In this type of objective item, a candidate is presented with two
columns and is required to match them. In its commonest form, the
matching pair’s technique provides candidates with four or five
questions and five or six responses (answers), each which may be
used once, more than once or not at all. It is important to note that
usually the questions and responses (answers) should not be of equal

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number, otherwise you encourage the process of answering by
elimination.

Let us consider a typical matching pair item.

Item: You are given a list of the following elements, A – E
showing the number of electrons of each element. (A) 2 (B) 11 (C)
9 (D) 12 (E) 13.

From the list give the element that is described by the following
statement. You may use the statement once, more than once or
not at all.
1. is a noble gas
2. is the most electronegative
3. is an alkali metal
4. is a reactive gas at room temperature
5. has a valency of three
6. forms a nitrate of the formula X (N03)2

Activity 11.2:
Work out the solution to the matching item given (above)

Free Response Questions

Objective items are not the best form of testing for science subjects.
They do not measure divergent thinking, imaginative thinking,
linking of concepts, and expression of terminologies. It is for these
reasons that objective items are not usually used in science tests at
secondary school level. The sciences and chemistry in particular
prefer to use the following questions in the theory papers.
(a) short-answer questions
(b) structured questions
(c) Essay questions
The first two types (a) and (b) are commonly used in chemistry and
science in general. Essay questions seem to be going to oblivion
these days.

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Short – answer questions

Short-answer questions are popular with many Examination Boards,

including Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC). These
questions are usually used in paper one and are normally many per
paper. They can be as many as thirty forming a paper. What is the
main purpose of this paper with so many questions? This paper
serves one main purpose – to test nearly every corner or topic in the
syllabus. Such a paper gives the examination or a test an important
quality, which is content validity. A test or an examination has
content validity if it tests most of all the main topics in the syllabus
(or all topics covered in a term if it is an end-term test).

When guiding students or prospective candidates on how to respond

to short-answer questions, it is important to emphasize the following:
♦ Read the question carefully
♦ Think critically about the answer required
♦ Respond precisely and to the point

The short-answer questions use a format where some space is left for
the candidate to write the answer.

At this level, let us use an example

Q: Methane is one of the hydrocarbons used as
‘cooking gas’
(a) What is a hydrocarbon?
……………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
(b) Give the equation for the complete combustion
of methane
……………………………………………………..

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Let us suppose that a candidate gives the following answers:

(a) A hydrocarbon is a compound which contains

Carbon and hydrogen

(b) CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

Critical analysis of these answers would reveal that they are not
complete.
(a) is missing the word only at the end, which is a key word
(b) the equation is balanced but has no state symbols.

Such a candidate might score only half of the points, which is not
good enough considering that he/she might not just have been
careful in interpreting the question.

Activity 11.3

Identify the inadequacy in the following answer to the following

question:
Q. Describe a chemical test to distinguish between
Methane and ethene gases.
A: Ethene decolourises bromine water and methane
does not.

Structured questions
These usually take the form of short-answer questions except that they are stretched
or longer. They are called structured because they have a structure, and as we are
aware, something with a structure has parts. That is what a structured question is. It
has parts, and at times, many parts.

We can consider the following as the main characteristics of

structured questions.

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 (a) They consist of parts of questions requiring short
answers to be entered in spaces provided on the paper.
(b) The longer type of structured questions will consist
of a series of questions on the same topic.
(c) The questions will usually have a central source of
sub-questions, which may be a diagram or a table.
(d) The question present a hierarchical structure of
sub-questions such that the first sub-questions tend
to be easy but gets more difficult as one moves on.
The last parts are usually the most difficult.

Let us consider an example of a structured question.

9. The table shows the numbers of protons and electrons in sodium
and fluorine atoms.

Atom Number of Number of

Protons electrons
sodium 11 11
flourine 9 9

(a) Draw diagrams to show the arrangement of electrons in a

sodium atom and in a flourine atom.

(b) (i) Draw a diagram to show outer electrons in a flourine

molecule, F2

(ii) What type of bonding is present in a flourine

molecule?
………………………………………………………………………

(c) When sodium and flourine combine, electron transfer

takes place and ions are formed.

(i) What electron transfer takes place?

………………………………………………………………………

(ii) Write down one similarity and one difference between

sodium and fluoride ions.

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 Similarity
…………………………………………………………………………
Difference
…………………………………………………………………………
(d) Sodium fluoride has a giant structure.
(i) What is a giant structure?
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………

(ii) Suggest two properties of sodium fluoride.

1………………………………………………………………………
2………………………………………………………………………

Essay Questions
These type of questions are more condensed and, therefore,
brief. They often require a candidate to describe an experiment,
a manufacture process etc. These questions give an
opportunity to a candidate for self-expression and also to
organize the answer or response to the best ability. In general,
essay questions are easy to set but difficult to mark.

Let us consider an example of an essay question.

Q. The following question is about ammonia
(a) Describe how you would carry out a reaction in
which ammonia behaves as a reducing agent.

(b) Ammonia is often used as a reagent. Describe how

Ammonia solution (ammonium hydroxide) may be
used to distinguish between a solution containing
Zinc ions and one containing aluminum ions.

Such a question usually puts a lot of demand on candidates.

In the example given, there is considerable demand in terms of

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 experimental procedures, a diagram, conditions, writing
equations etc.

11.4 Determinants of the quality of a chemistry test

There are two major criteria for considering or determining a quality
test. No matter what type of test you use, it should be reliable and
valid.

Reliability: By reliability we mean that the test yields similar results

when it is repeated over a short period of time. When this happens,
then the test is reliable. A reliable test can be viewed as consistent,
dependable, and stable. But we are all aware that even very scientific
instruments sometimes give slightly different measurements on
different occasions unless all-important factors are controlled. It is
not easy to have full control of all the factors and therefore, absolute
or complete reliability is rarely reached. What is sought or required
is a reasonable degree of reliability.

Reliability of a test can be expressed in a numerical form. A

reliability coefficient within a certain range is recommended. A
coefficient of 0.80 or higher is taken as a high reliability, 0.40 to 0.79
is fair but less than 0.40 is low and not acceptable (usually a
reliability coefficient if 0.7 to 0.8 is considered good).

There are three basic methods of determining reliability of a test. These are:
(a) Test-retest method: Using this method, a test is
administered twice with 10 – 30 days in-between. The
correlation is then determined.
(b) Parallel forms method: Two different but equivalent
forms of the test (are produced and students are given
both tests). The correlation between the scores on the two

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 tests is determined. This gives a good estimate of the
reliability of the test.

Split-half method: A single test is split into two and used as if it is

one test. The correlation is then determined for the scores of the two
tests. It is important to note that correlation coefficients are used as
measures of reliability.

Validity: This is another important characteristic of a test. The

validity of a test estimates whether the chemistry test is testing what
it ought to be testing. Estimates of validity is simply answering the
question” Is the test measuring what is supposed to measure in
chemistry?” A chemistry test should test a number of components:

Q. 11.2: What are the two main components that a

Chemistry examination tests?

The concept of validity has two main related parts: (I) the content
validity and (ii) construct or technical validity. A test with content
validity ensures that it includes questions from all topics in the
curriculum (or from the topics taught in one school term). As
mentioned earlier, this is usually achieved by use of objective
questions (such as multiple choice questions) and short-answer
questions.

Construct validity has to do with the way the test measures the main
components or attributes of chemistry. A construct can be a
definition, valency, balanced equation, mathematical calculation etc.
This is usually achieved by using a specification grid, also referred
to as the blueprint.

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Let us suppose you have taught the topic Acids and Bases and you
are to construct a short test. An example of a specification grid can
be:

Topic Constructs

Definitions Experimental Writing of pH

procedures equations
Acids of terms
and
Bases 2 1 (question) 2 (questions) 1 (question)
(questions)

Using this topic you will therefore have six short questions: two on
definitions; one on experimental procedures two on writing equations
and one on the pH.

Activity 11.4

Using the topic Gas Laws write a specification grid for a test of four
questions

There are other ways of increasing reliability and validity of the test.
The following are useful to note:
1. Identification and use of the key objectives of the syllabus
or topics covered.
2. Competent judgement of the content and structure of the
test.
3. Construction of specification grid (as earlier observed).
4. Construction of an accurate marking scheme.
5. Sound knowledge of the abilities of the candidates.
6. Comparison with the previous tests of known validity and
reliability.

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11.5 A marking scheme:
In broad terms, a marking scheme has two main parts; the answers
or solution to the question and the marks or points distribution
against the specific answers to the question.

Let us consider an example of a marking scheme using the following

question.

Q. Sulphuric acid is produced from sulphur using the contact process.

(a) Three reactions in the production of the acid are:
1. S(s) + O2 (g) SO2(g)
2. SO2(g) + ½ O2(g) SO3(g)
3. SO3(g) + H2O(1) H2SO4(l)
Which one of these reactions:
(i) Requires a catalyst? (1 mark)
(ii) Produces a flame? (1 mark)
(b) Give two possible sources of the sulphur that is used in the
manufacture of the sulphuric acid. (2 marks)

(b) Reaction 3 causes misty fumes as it is carried out as shown in the

equation. Explain using equations how this reaction is carried out
to avoid fumes in the factory. (6 marks).

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The outline marking scheme would be as follows:

The Marking Scheme

(a) (I) reaction 2 requires a catalyst (1)

(ii) reaction 1 produces a flame (1)
(b) Two possible sources of sulphur:
1. Pure sulphur produced by the Frasch process (1)
2. Burning metal sulphide e.g. CuS or PbS (1)
(c) This reaction is carried out by dissolving sulphur V1 oxide (SO3)
in concentrated sulphuric acid to give oleum (2)
SO3(g) + H2SO4(l) H2S2O7(l) (1)
Oleum is then diluted by adding water to form concentrated
sulphuric acid (2)
H2SO7(l) + H2O(l) 2H2SO4 (l)

Such a marking scheme is detailed and is going to guide a chemistry

teacher to mark in a consistent manner. It is highly recommended
that you make a marking scheme before marking your test. As it can
be observed, a marking scheme is easier to write if the question paper
has a good structure, which shows the marks distribution. This is
also guiding to candidates as this can be seen from part (c) of the
question. Using the marks distribution, the candidate can easily
determine what is expected of him or her, and where to invest more
time and thinking.

There are certain points, which are worth noting when writing a
marking scheme.
1. The best time to write a marking scheme is when you are
setting the paper. As you set the paper, write a marking
scheme alongside.
2. Allocate marks to parts of the answers according to the
difficulty of the concepts involved. The weighting of your
points should therefore favour difficult concepts.

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3. A marking scheme should allow for some little flexibility
and the teacher should determine this as marking
continues.
4. It is advisable to mark one question through (especially the
long type). This approach has been known to bring
consistency (reliability) and makes one to mark faster as
you would have the marking scheme “at your finger tips”.

Q 11.3: Why is it best to write a marking scheme alongside

a question paper?

5. After marking a question, carefully add the points (marks)

for the question. It is important that you get mathematics
correct. One approach which ensures that the addition is
right is to add your marks ‘down’ and them ‘up’. Just to
be sure you can do this twice. You can imagine the
disappointment of a candidate who finds out that the sum
of the marks adds higher than the score given

At the end of marking and totalling mark for each question,

record the marks, usually on the front page. Let us suppose
that your test has five compulsory questions which carry 20
marks per question. The following is an example of the score
sheet in front of the first page.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 TOTAL

16 12 06 18 14 66%
20 20 20 20 20

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Having all the mark score in one place or the centralisation of the
mark scores has some benefit to both the teacher and the candidate.
By a glance one can see the overall performance profile of each
candidate. In our example we can see that this is a good candidate
but has a problem with question three.

Marking is a tedious task and calls for some sacrifice in effort and
time. At the end of it however, the individual scores gives you a
picture of the performance. A better picture is given if some simple
statistics are applied to the individual scores. One easy statistic to
apply is the mean. Using means is a powerful way of comparing and
determining the overall performance of a test. Let us suppose you
give a test consisting of ten questions, all marked out of fifteen
marks. After marking and getting the means of each question it gives
the following picture.

Question Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10

Mean Score 09 12 10 08 04 11 13 07 10 08

As a teacher, what sort of questions are you likely to ask? You are
likely to ask yourself what went wrong with question five.

Q 11.4: What are some of the likely factors that could have
contributed to the poor performance by most candidates
in question five?

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At the end of the marking and performing of some statistics, it is
useful that you end up with an organised list of names and record
marks with basic statistics usually at the bottom of the list.

11.6 Summary
This lecture outlined many points regarding types of questions used in
assessing chemistry at secondary school level or its equivalent. Two
categories of questions were emphasized, namely the fixed response
(also referred to as objective) and the free response types. The fixed
response type considered the true-false, multiple choice and matching
pairs or classification types. On the other hand, the free response
type considered short-answer questions, structured and essay
questions.
The choice of the type of questions to be used in a chemistry test
or examination is largely determined by the objectives of the course.
At secondary school level chemistry, theory papers do not use fixed
response but rather free response especially short-answer questions
(for purposes of attaining content validity) and structured questions
for in-depth understanding of the content.

A good test should have a reasonable reliability and validity indices.

Just as it is important to construct a good test, it is equally
important to mark carefully, record and analyse the marks for useful
feedback.

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11.7 References
1. Ornstein. A.C. (1995): Strategies for Effective Teaching.
Brown and Benchmark, Dubuque,
USA.

2. UNESCO (1980): UNESCO Handbook for Science

Teachers. UNESCO, Paris

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