Resources by Best Evidence Science Teaching

Solutions

This progression toolkit develops understanding of the key concept of solutions, as part of a topic on substances and mixtures. This key concept helps to build broader understanding about substances and properties, which is one of the big ideas of science education at ages 11-14.

It includes diagnostic...

Specific heat capacity

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Describe how the sensation of hotness is caused by vibrating particles.
• Describe the mechanism of thermal conduction that can occur in all solids.
• Explain why metals are...

Specific latent heat

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Describe the arrangement and movement of particles in a substance in the solid, liquid and gas states.
• Use the particle model to describe what happens to a substance when it...

Speed of waves

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Measure the speed of a wave using v = s/t.
• Describe how the speed of a wave can, and cannot, be changed.
• Describe how the frequency of a wave moving through a particular...

States of matter (age 7 to 9)

A big idea in chemistry is the idea of how substances behave and change. This is important because we are surrounded by objects made from different materials, each with their own physical properties that make them suitable or unsuitable for different purposes. How substances behave helps us to categorise them into...

Static Electricity

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Identify when an electrostatic force is acting in familiar situations. 
• Describe how objects with a positive or negative charge attract or repel other charged objects.
• ...

Structure-property relationships

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Recognise that compounds made up of separate molecules have different boiling points.
• Describe the change in arrangement of particles when a hydrocarbon boils.
• Explain the...