Ten essential resources

1. The Subject Guide and the IB Chemistry Data Booklet

The IB Diploma Chemistry Subject Guide (for first examinations in 2016) is absolutely essential as it contains the detailed syllabus and also details how the assessment (both internal and external) operates. This guide can be can be downloaded free from the Resources section of My IB which you can log into from the ibo website. You will also need copies of the IB Chemistry Data Booklet (also available from the resources section on My IB) to give out to your students. This is used in Paper 2 and Paper 3 of the examinations and your students will need to be completely familiar with using it. The page Novel uses for the IB data booklet gives more details on this. 

2. A well-equipped classroom

I suppose it is not impossible to teach IB Chemistry in a classroom equipped with nothing much else other than a blackboard and chalk (I did it once!) but those days have hopefully long since gone. ICT is an important part of IB Chemistry and ideally you should have Internet access in your room and be able to project images either using a data projector or a smart board etc.  You will also need a white board and marker pens for more traditional teaching. If you can obtain a room where the seats and tables can be rearranged then this will encourage group work. Make sure you have access to molecular modelling kits and other items that are on the equipment list (see below) that can also be used in the classroom as well as the laboratory. Posters around the room (a big Periodic Table is essential) are also important

3. A well-equipped laboratory

This may be integrated with the classroom or may be separate. You are required to do 40 hours practical work with your Standard Level students and 60 hours with your Higher Level students so good laboratory facilities are essential. If you are equipping your Chemistry laboratory from scratch then I have provided a list of equipment and chemicals on the webpage on Setting up a new laboratory.

You will need to comply with national and local safety laws. Some countries have a limit on the maximum number of students a science teacher is allowed to teach (for practical work). I think that 16 is a reasonable maximum number. I know some schools have to cope with larger numbers than this but if your class is bigger than twenty students then I do not think it is fair on you to have to cope and I certainly do not think it is fair on the students. It is likely that their results will suffer.

4. A chemistry technician

You will have your work cut out just teaching IB Chemistry – particularly if you have large classes. A good Chemistry technician is a tremendous asset. They will be useful not only for when you do class practical work but also for when students do their extended essays and Group 4 Project.

A good technician will not only be able to make up solutions and maintain the laboratory to a high standard but also be prepared to help keep your stock of chemicals up to date and repair or replace faulty equipment.

5. Time

This may sound like a strange resource but it is extremely important. Work out how many hours you will actually get over the two years to teach your students. Don’t forget to deduct any hours when your teaching will be interrupted for mock examinations, end of term examinations, sports days etc. You should have 150 hours for your Standard Level students and 240 hours for your Higher Level students. If you have significantly less than this then it is unreasonable of the school to expect you to be able to deliver the course in a professional and competent manner.

6. Suitable books

Students will need books to refer to in order to back up what you have been teaching and to provide more general background reading. I am completely biased here and recommend that they each have a copy of IB Study Guide: Chemistry for the IB Diploma 2014 Edition which has been rewritten specifically for the 2014 programme. It follows the syllabus and covers all the basic chemistry with no frills. It is also helpful if your students have a copy of their own, or at least access to a copy, of one of the text books written specifically for the IB programme.

7. Separate classes for Standard level and Higher Level

This may be impossible to achieve – particularly in a small school but I really do recommend it. The IB syllabus is written to some extent in order to accommodate the two together as it does happen in practice but the IB certainly does not recommend teaching SL and HL students together in the same class. If you are forced to teach them together then two experienced teachers provide some advice as to how to cope in the linked page Teaching SL & HL together in the same class.

8. Student access to wider resources

If you have the space (and money) to have a separate annex with computers, books and journals etc. near your classroom then you can make good use of this during lesson time. Otherwise try to ensure that all of these are available in the school library or computer rooms.

9. A My IB account

Your IB coordinator should provide all IB teachers within the school with their own personal access to My IB. This is an easy way for you to download other useful material such as Teacher Support Material (TSM), Chief Examiner Reports, Sample Extended Essays etc. etc.. There is also a discussion forum where you can ask questions and shares views with other IB Chemistry teachers.

10. Past IB Chemistry examination papers

Perhaps not absolutely essential but they can give you a good guide as to the standard at which you should be pitching your teaching. There are many IB-type questions on this website, for example, see Multiple choice tests for each topic and the quizzes and short answer questions after each sub-topic on Teaching each topic & sub-topic . Actual past IB examinations are copyright and so I cannot include them (even though I wrote many of them myself!). The easiest way to get them is to purchase them together with the markschemes  through Follet. Another way is for your IB coordinator to purchase all the examinations for a particular session from which you can extract the Chemistry examinations and markschemes. It is sometimes possible to obtain some past papers on the Internet if you do a search, although this breaches their copyright. The current Chemistry syllabus was examined for the first time in May 2016. Many of the questions from the last (2007 and onwards) programme are still suitable to use but do check that the questions cover material that is still on the current syllabus. The IB produced some specimen papers for the 2014 programme together with the answers and mark schemes so you should certainly have copies of these, although they are not as useful as the actual examination papers from May 2016 onwards.