Rate and extent of chemical change - chemical equilibrium - R2P

This resource provides a lesson plan showing how to use modelling-based teaching to teach about chemical equilibrium. The approach used in the lesson is based on education research which is summarised in a separate research summary document.

The lesson outlines how to use a demonstration of the appearance of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)/dinitrogen tetroxide (N₂O₄) in a sealed tube at different temperatures to introduce the concept that chemical reactions can be reversible and that they reach an equilibrium which is dynamic. Another activity asks pupils to work in groups to model what is happening at a particle level in dynamic equilibrium.

By the end of the lesson pupils should be able to:

• describe the relationship between the forward and backword reaction rates when a reaction is at equilibrium
• use models to represent the relationship between the forward and reverse reaction rates when a reaction is at equilibrium

The research summary discusses the use of modelling-based teaching to promote successful learning about chemical equilibrium, improving pupils' understanding, reasoning and ability to make predictions.

This resource is part of a collection of research informed secondary science lesson plans produced as part of the Research-2-Practice (R2P) project undertaken by research teams at the University of Roehampton, University of Lincoln, York St John University and KYRA research school, between 2020 and 2021, which was funded by Wellcome.

The overall aim of the project was to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in science by giving time-pressed teachers quick and easy access to relevant research to inform their practice and provide exemplar lesson plans to show how the research could be used in the classroom. More resources can be found here.