IB May Chemistry exams
The two May IB Chemistry exams (TZ1 and TZ2) have recently been sat and marked and the results are eagerly awaited. Teachers were encouraged to complete G2 forms to comment on these exams but as these...
Cows' farts
A past Paper 3 question for Option E : Environmental chemistry asked students to identify a natural source of methane. Several students gave the journalistic answer “cows' farts” which earned them zero...
Chemical passwords
The very fact that you are reading this tends to suggest that you use the Internet a lot. One of the frustrating things that I find is that I am often required to give a username and a password to access...
Alcohol in the body
Many people’s jobs (e.g. health workers and airline pilots) depend on the fact that they abstain from taking alcohol. The chemistry behind the common methods used to determine the amount of alcohol in...
Isocyanic acid
When we breathe in smoke from a wood fire we may be breathing in toxic amounts of isocyanic acid. Isocyanic acid is the simplest molecule to contain all four of the most common elements in organic compounds....
Tech-savvy generation
I wonder how many teachers are taking on board the quantum shift that has occurred during the past fifteen or so years that has completely changed the way a whole generation communicates. Most of the...
Hookah pipes
I’ve never believed that teachers should tell their students how to live their lives outside of the school premises although hopefully we can certainly influence them by setting an example as good role...
IT and workshops
I’ve been running IB workshops for many years – the first was in the 1980s and I have seen a lot of changes. Like all changes there are usually advantages and disadvantages. Until recently in Europe and...
Illiterate chemists
It is that time of year again when I get to see many Extended Essays in Chemistry. Two factors stand out. One is very pleasing to see – more and more students are actually writing genuine research Essays...
Vacant seats on planes
March has been a hectic month for travelling. I’ve run workshops in Berlin, London (twice) and Zurich as well as set the 2011 European Baccalaureate examination in Brussels and next week I am in Italy....