Dr. Phil Brown

Put on The Education Forum July 24th 2004 Adrian Dingle A links An email list may be a good idea BUT listing good sites is also I do my best to find and list good sites, sorted from hundreds and hundreds at ... http://www.wpbschoolhouse.btinternet.co.uk/page02/page02.htm and at the end of page .... http://www.wpbschoolhouse.btinternet.co.uk...ev/AQAindex.htm which was written for my GCSE students. (and also page06, page07 and page12 which were for my Salters A level Chemistry students) I also try to link what I've written to any GCSE/IGCSE course containing chemistry! at http://www.wpbschoolhouse.btinternet.co.uk/page20/page20.htm BUT unfortunately it takes time to review and assess sites for their worth. Far too many links sites just list and list for ever without real appraisal. Also, I get very little feedback, particularly from busy teachers, as to how they or their students use my own site because FEEDBACK MAKES ME CHANGE THINGS and I invite via email on every page. The current 'debate' is on animations in quiz Q's, distracting or makes the page more colourful or lively, PLEASE have your say????

Guilty on the 1st two counts BUT it is not the teachers fault, its direct result of two factors. (1) pressure to get good results - repeat what you know works and (2) and RARELY DISCUSSED, the demands to produce numbers to match criteria - rarely mentioned and wipes out 95% of all GCSE chemistry. Broaden the criteria with good 'moderated' mentoring the coursework itself will broaden. I must confess I've written two extremely well used web pages on the '1st two counts' they were meant to represent a combination of 4 good 'brainstorms' to represent the four criteria for students or new teachers. Opinion is divided on their 'cheat level' BUT I was a long way from what sites like 'revisioncentral' offer which I find disgusting, where you can buy whole pieces of coursework and free subscription if you supply 3 pieces of finished and good grade coursework. I wish it could be covered by the law!

Many students perceive chemistry and physics as being very hard A levels and often opt for biology which they perceive as the 'easy' science A level. Even after choosing chemistry I often had more than average drop out rates. HOWEVER in my last 7 years of teaching I'd changed to Salters Advanced Level Chemistry and although the recruitment did not improve dramatically the drop out rate became minimal. They loved the applied nature of the course (except the coursework - VERY demanding, but good for university entrants), the 'weakest' students hung in and 90-95% of all students passed and the biologists appreciated the 'biochemistry aspects' from Aspirin to enzymes to DNA. Most of my students went on to to a science/medical degree but rarely pure chemistry BUT most needed a good chemistry background. There is a need for students with A level chemistry background but they are more interested in applied acience eg medical sciences and forensic science. I hope there will not be a continued shortage of chemistry specialist but it could be difficult in the future with less pre chemists needed than when I was a student. When it came to teach A level chemistry I'm VERY glad of my traditional pure and industrial chemical education background from ONC night class to being on the very 1st HND chemistry sandwich course in 'Widnes Tech'!!! in the 60's and finally graduating with a 'GRIC', the 'professional' degree of the (as it was then) Royal Institute of Chemistry after 1 years full-time education. We need good pure chemists in education because I feel thery can apply themselves to any chemical situation required, as well of course, as having good teaching and communication skills.

My Webpage Dr Phil Brown, ex Head of Chemistry, Whitby Community College, England who hopes "Doc Brown's Chemistry Clinic" will help any student around the world and is affiliated to the UNESCO project "Ray of Hope". It's a free to use, non-commercial, 'nuts and bolts' revision web site for CHEMISTRY. It is constantly evolving and expanding with a wide range of revision notes, quizzes and word-fills that were initially designed to support (1) UK KS3 chemistry (equivalent to USA grades 6-8), (2) any UK based KS4/GCSE/IGCSE syllabus containing any chemistry (equivalent to USA grades 8-10) and (3) UK based GCE Advanced Level AS-A2 chemistry (equivalent to USA grades 11-12). My main site is at www.wpbschoolhouse.btinternet.co.uk