The Teachers TV video Indicators in Chemistry shows a magical lesson starter for a lesson about indicators. The introduction will really get students thinking and wanting to know more. It leads into students' own practical work where they try to form solutions the same colour as the traffic lights: red, green, and orange. As they soon start to find out, it’s more difficult than it sounds and they really have to develop good practical skills if they are to end up with that elusive orange solution.
To assess students understanding of pH, these diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:
- Describe how to find out, safely, whether a solution is an acid.
- Identify and give examples of alkalis.
- Describe what information an indicator provides.
- Interpret the pH scale.
- Compare acidity or alkalinity using the pH scale.
The resources include details of common misconceptions and a summary of the research upon which the resources are based.
For a more in-depth project idea, how about a Crest bronze award: Monitoring acid rain, where students monitor levels of atmospheric sulfur dioxide and rainfall acidity in the school grounds, or a shorter project looking at ocean acidification ?