The approach

Hands-on
The course is for students who enjoy carrying out laboratory work. It is well suited to those who may want to use chemistry to support other qualifications or to progress onto further study.

The teaching
In the Nuffield inquiry approach, teachers encourage their students to speculate about likely patterns of behaviour both from their previous experience and from general chemical principles. Then the students investigate their ideas experimentally before discussing the outcomes of their practical work and working with their teacher to consolidate theoretical understanding.

In this way Nuffield Chemistry develops the imagination and encourages students in their own thinking.

Discussion
The course relies heavily on class discussion. Sometimes this can be lengthy involving the whole class. At other times it may last just a few minutes and only engage a small number of students.