Introduction

Practical work is an important component of IB chemistry. Approximately 25% of the total teaching time should be devoted to practical work and it makes up 24% of the final assessment mark under the heading 'Internal Assessment' with the external examinations providing the remaining 76%.

Much of the practical work will involve experiments in a school laboratory, however 'internal assessment' can be intepreted quite liberally. For example, a well-planned visit (as opposed to a 'tourist visit') to a university research laboratory or industrial site such as a power station or sewage works, virtual labs or molecular modelling can also be included for a few of the total hours.

One of the great strengths of the IB practical programme is that there are no 'set' experiments or investigations that your students must undertake. You are completely free to design your own practical programme. This can be quite daunting for a teacher new to the programme but what I have tried to do in this section is cover everything that you will need with many suggestions and examples.

Why do practical work?

It is worth getting students to consider why practical work is so important. Ultimately, of course, chemistry is an experimental science and the whole of chemistry is based on observations. Some of the reasons are:

to re-enforce the theory
to develop theory from practical observations
to learn specific techniques
to gain confidence in manipulative skills
to develop an appreciation of the benefits and limitations of scientific methodology
to address the IB assessment criteria
to have fun

When devising your own programme you should bear all these aims in mind. Some, but by no means all, of the work will be assessed according to certain criteria and samples from some students will be sent to the IB for moderation.

Links

Links on the left provide examples of practical schemes of work and details (including the background and teacher's notes) of many specific experiments that could be used for both Standard Level and/or Higher Level. There is also full information on how the assessment criteria should be applied and details on how the work is assessed and moderated with useful tips on how students can achieve high grades. Examples of marked student practical write-ups are included. Information and examples of the requirements for using ICT in practical work are provided. For teachers setting up a New IB chemistry laboratory there is also a suggested list of equipment and chemicals.