Appendix 1: Teacher notes – organisation of the lesson (Exploring the properties of metal ions using a hot flame)

Teaching notes for the flame tests and the lesson: Physics SHS1 Section 6, Unit 1 Atomic and Nuclear Physics.

This lesson, using the flame tests links directly to SHS and the teaching and learning activities associated with it.

Ideas for organising this exemplar lesson link directly to activities and teaching examples in the OpenSTEM Africa CPD units on Using ICT to support learning, and Approaches to active notetaking.

A full list of the OpenSTEM Africa CPD units can be found at: https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/CPD_units

Overview

If possible, this lesson should take place in the ICT Lab in your school if this can be arranged through your Head of Science and the Head of ICT. If the lesson takes place in the ICT Lab, it may be possible for each student to work individually at a computer; otherwise divide the class so that students are in small groups at a computer.

If it is not possible to use the ICT Lab for this lesson, then try to set up this lesson in your classroom. You may be lucky enough in your school to have a set of ‘empty’ tablets or mobile phones which students can use. Or you may be able to bring into the classroom a laptop connected to the internet or to your school intranet – and perhaps connected to a projector to make it possible for the whole class to view at once. If access to ICT is a real challenge in your school but you want your students to view an experiment, you might be able demonstrate it to small groups of your students at a time, using your own mobile phone

Whatever way(s) you set up the class, it would still be helpful to the students to be able to work in pairs or small groups for at least some of the lesson. Do remember as well that students need desk space to be able to write in their notebooks and to draw diagrams.

Steps in organising the lesson

Step 1: This takes place in the lesson before the one where you and your class access the OpenSTEM Africa Virtual Laboratory flame tests. Have students work in pairs to pre-read the Background section of the exemplar lesson and ask each other the questions in the Background section. While they are doing so, you may want to walk round the class and check their laboratory notebooks, as accurate note-taking and filling in the tables is important for this exemplar lesson.

Step 2: At the beginning of this exemplar lesson, check  understanding by asking them the questions  in the Background section. Organise the class, if possible, to work in the same pairs as in the previous lesson. Have each person in the pair create a frame for their drawing of the apparatus and each of them creates the tables in their own laboratory notebook in preparation for their data collection.

Step 3: Once the students have seen the video one time, give the class a set time to draw the apparatus in their laboratory notebook and label it. Within each pair, have them check each other’s work.

Step 4 Make sure that each pair has access to/can see the computer screen to begin the actual experiments. Ensure that each pair knows how to carry out the experiments– or if you are using a laptop/projector, that you draw on the expertise of the class as you go through each step of the flame test with each of the metal ions – i.e., ask them what the next step is

Step 5: Have the class follow the instructions for both the known metal ion samples and the mystery samples. Make sure, if working in a pair on a PC, that each student in the pair gets to follow all the steps in testing several of the samples; if working in a group on a PC, have the group leader ensure that everyone in the group is involved.

Step 5: What they write in their tables will be agreed between the pair or within the group but allow enough time for everyone in the class to fill in their own set of tables for the five named samples and the two mystery samples. Have them check each other’s writing.

Step 6: Ten minutes before the end of the lesson, tell the students to complete the quiz.

Other examples of lessons which could be relevant to the flame tests include:

• Physics SHS 2 Section 6
• Chemistry SHS 1 Section 2 Unit 3 Periodicity, Properties of Alkali metals

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