Nuffield Curriculum Centre

Nuffield Advanced Chemistry

Michael VokinsOrganisers
E H Coulson (1960s), Bryan Stokes (1970s), and Michael Vokins (1980s and 1990s)

Aims
The Nuffield Advanced Chemistry team was committed to the idea that courses should only be based on principles of the subject that were regarded as being of fundamental importance at thye time. Also that the teaching approach should develop imaginative thinking on the part of students.

The implications of this had been spelled out in detail in the O-level Handbook for teachers which made the case for cutting or amending topics that had traditionally featured in school and college chemistry courses.

The approach
Treatment of chemistry at advanced level was based firmly on three aids to understanding that were seen as being fundamental. These were:

• The use of the Periodic Table to provide unifying patterns for the diverse properties of elements and their compounds.
  
• The relationship between structure (atomic and molecular) and the properties of chemicals.
  
• The way in which energy transfers can determine the feasibility and outcomes of reactions.

The course presented chemistry as an integrated subject. Four areas of integration were given prominence:

• Integration to break down barriers between the traditional division of the subject into inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.
  
• Integration of facts and concepts - with the teaching introducing new concepts to explain primary and secondary data - where possible derived from hands-on practical work.
  
• The integration of theory and practical work - a radical change at a time when many schools taught the theory in parallel with laboratory training in volumetric and qualitative analysis.
  
• The integration of 'pure' and 'applied' chemistry notably through the inclusion of special studies of areas such as Food Science, Biochemistry, Chemical engineering and Metallurgy.

Assessment
It was important that the system of examining reflected the spirit and intent of the teaching scheme. With this in mind the Nuffield Chemists worked with the then London Board to develop new styles of assessment to support new approaches to teaching and learning in science first at O-level and than at A-level. Many of the approaches adopted then have stood the test of time with the common use of a mixture of fixed response, structured and free-response questions.

The main innovation at A-level was the replacement of a practical examination by a scheme of internal assessment of practical work by teachers.

Publications
This course developed the most commercially successful of the Nuffield patterns of publications, producing easy-to-use student books. These maintained the spirit of developing understanding through practical investigation while providing sufficient guidance and support for students and teachers.

As a result the 4th edition Nuffield Chemistry students’ book continues to sell very well, nearly 40 years after the 1st edition appeared.

Nuffield Chemistry has always embraced the Book of data which is used throughout the course and in some examinations.

Impact
The development of the Nuffield Advanced Chemistry course started in 1965, and by 1979, 34% of schools and colleges were either doing the Nuffield Advanced Chemistry exam or making substantial use of the materials.

The original Nuffield vision of what a modern chemistry course should be like has stood the test of time. A focus on X-ray diffractions has given way to the study of spectroscopy, but generally there is little in the QCA criteria for AS/A2 courses after 2008 that would surprise the first Nuffield team.

For about 40 years the course has been sustained by the energy and enthusiasm of the users and the examining team. See Refreshing and sustaining Nuffield Advanced Chemistry

Teachers of Nuffield Advanced Chemistry were leading contributors to Salters Advanced Chemistry in the 1980s. This programme sets almost exactly the same set of chemical ideas in context. The Salters topic From minerals to elements was a reworking of the Nuffield Mineral process chemsitry special study. Salters, like Nuffield chemistry, adopted the approach to entropy that had first been developed by the Nuffield Physics team and taken up in later editions of Nuffield Chemistry. Exam entries to Salters Chemistry have grown steadily, as those for Nuffield Chemistry have declined.

However the Nuffield Advanced Chemistry course which started in 1968 still continues, and will be taught in schools and colleges until at least 2009.