Teacher's notes and resource

Use of the simulation

This simulated practical is not like a normal simulation, where the computer takes over and does the work for the student. In this simulation the student must take the readings and plot the graphs for themselves. The aim is not to mimic the dexterity required for the experiment, but the thought processes involved.

The SQA have stated that this simulation cannot be used as evidence of assessment. While the candidate may use the simulations as practice or as part of preparation for the experimental work, the candidate must for assessment purposes actually carry out the practical work.

Two versions of the practical have been produced:

1. A partially completed experiment, in which the solutions have been made up and all the students have to do is run the experiment and plot their results and draw their conclusions.
2. A complete experiment where students must define the volumes of chemicals to used for each run before performing the experiment.

You should choose the version that best suits your time constraints and the capabilities of your students.

Using the simulations

• Some teachers find it useful to demonstrate the resources to the whole class before allowing individual access to the simulation.
• You may well find that the partially completed experiment is suitable the for first usage of the resources by a full class in a computer lab.
• Do encourage the students to look through the simulation before running the actual experiment. All screens can be accessed at any time, though, as you might expect, some things later in the experiment won't work unless they've actually run the experiment. If they make a mistake it can be undone, so they should feel free to explore.
• Students could also use the resources on their own, as each screen of the simulation contains an information buttons, linking to a web page of questions commonly asked by students at that point in the simulation.
• Some teachers have found that it useful to use the simulations to provide data to students whose experiment has, for some reason, not produced usable data.
Other Issues


1. The default values for volumes of chemicals used in the partially completed experiment do not match the values given in the PPA sheet. (This was a specific request from the SQA). You can however, use those values suggested in the PPA sheet, or indeed any combination of volumes you wish and the reaction will still proceed at the rate it would in the real world.

2. In this PPA, students are asked to plot volume rather than concentration against rate. It seems teachers are split between those who prefer their students to calculate the concentration and plot that and those who prefer to follow the PPA instructions. The SQA have requested specifically that we demonstrate a version which follows the PPA guidelines. This is the version you will find on the SCHOLAR site. However, we have produced the alternative version which may be deployed at a later date.

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this page was last updated December 13th 2004 :RCT
© 2004 Jelsim Partnership