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IB Approved Workshops
Chemistry (New Syllabus)
IB DP Category 2
Stockholm, Sweden, 12 - 14 May 2023
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Chemistry (New Syllabus)
IB DP Category 2
Online (IB Approved), 25 - 27 August 2023
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Find all InThinking Workshops at www.inthinking.net
School visits
If you are interested in an InThinking consultant visiting your school to work with teachers and/or students, please
contact us.
Latest updates
Metals and ICP spectroscopy17 August 2022
On a recent visit to the Science Museum in London I came across this interesting exhibit. It is some slivers of aluminium that were made in 1855 by reducing the aluminium ions in cryolite with sodium... more
Introduction to materials science 17 August 2022
It is the first time that triangular bonding diagrams have appeared on the IB syllabus, although they have been on the Cambridge pre-U syllabus (another international examination for 16-19 year olds)... more
Stereoisomerism 17 August 2022
The IB now distinguishes between conformational isomers and configurational isomers. However as conformational isomers exist in dynamic equilibrium their individual properties cannot easily be studied... more
Synthetic routes 17 August 2022
Which route to take?This a rather strange sub-topic as basically it just makes links between other organic sub-topics and the reactions contained in them which is what a good teacher (and student) should... more
Reduction reactions 17 August 2022
Both sodium borohydride and lithium aluminium hydride are white inorganic solids but students are not very likely to have 'hands on' experience of either of them in a school laboratory. Sodium borohydride... more
Electrophilic substitution 17 August 2022
1. The structure of benzeneThe elucidation of the structure of benzene provides an interesting example of how science can progress. The structure of benzene had been puzzling chemists for years as none... more
Electrophilic addition 17 August 2022
How many chemists from the former Soviet era are known in the West?Vladimir Markovnikov (1838-1904) was a Russian chemist who in 1869, on the basis of little evidence, formulated the rule that when hydrogen... more
Nucleophilic substitution 17 August 2022
1. Use of curly arrowsWhen teaching and describing organic mechanisms involving the use of curly arrows it is much clearer to use 3-D diagrams rather than 2-D diagrams. A curly arrow represents the movement... more
Halogenoalkanes & benzene 17 August 2022
The syllabus states:“Halogenoalkanes are more reactive than alkanes.”A rather nice Nature of Science exercise might be to get your students to question the validity of this statement. Is it a valid... more
