Personalised Learning in Chemistry

Personalised Learning

Personalised Learning is broadly defined as “customized learning based on the specific needs and goals of individuals”. Though somewhat obvious, personalised learning is a factor that is commonly overlooked by many students as well as teachers. 

To understand the benefits of a personalised learning model and how to plan for one, read on as this article explains how you should plan your schedules to achieve the best for chemistry examinations and other subjects too.

What is a Personalised Learning Model

Simply put, individuals are inclined to learn based on a specific learning style, for example, some students prefer to have access to many materials to gather information and support their understanding of a topic. For others, having succinct and condensed information such as a cheat sheet will better aid in their understanding of the subject. (This can be further broken down into kinesthetic learners, auditory learners, visual learners, but these are just terms to explain types of learning styles.)

A personalised learning model is exactly that, a model customised and built to inform a student or an individual based on how they learn best. 

How Do I Find My Learning Style?

To find out what works best for you as a student learning about the world, try your hand at the following question: what is the composition of air and what is the most significant constituent of it? 

As you try to recall the answer, what is the form of recollection? Is it a visual mind map of the composition of air? Is it a segment of a lesson that was verbally taught in class at Achievers Dream or school? Or is it an immediate grasp at the numbers and names that come to mind. 

The answers to the question can be found here. 

If your method of recollection is a visual mind map, it is likely that you would do better at learning by rewriting and repeating a certain topic on paper. Drawing them through methods such as a mind map or several key words on paper helps you to connect the dots and understand the associations between a main topic (Air Atmosphere) and several parts of a subtopic (Formulas in the conversion of CO to CO2. : 2CO + 2NO → 2CO2 + N2.  4CO + 2NO2 → 4CO2 + N2 .) 

If your method of recollection is a verbally taught lesson, perhaps having different people explain the question to you verbally opens up your perspective and talking or communication is your method of learning. 

If your method of recollection is an immediate impression of the numbers, for example remembering that the composition of dry air is 78% while 21% is oxygen. This might mean that you are more mathematically inclined when you recall a certain topic. 

The above illustration is purely an example of how you can find out what your preferences are. However, it is very likely that students use a combination of the above methods to learn new skills. 

Collaborative Learning vs Individual Learning 

Apart from a personalised learning model, for certain subjects such as H2 chemistry or O-level chemistry there is a component for chemistry experiments or “practical”. This segment constitutes 20% of the score weightage, and it tests for aspects such as qualitative analysis, volumetric analysis and reporting of observations. 

To practise on chemistry experiments and practical, learning through individual hands-on experience or through a group experiment can also influence your learning model for chemistry. Similarly, there are benefits in either method. 

On one hand, in a practical test for Acid Base Titration or Salt Preparation, a group demonstration and experiment can help you to further understand what you are testing for and what should be the eventual product. (Insoluble salts, BaSO4,CaSO4, AgCl, etc.)

On the other hand, in a practical test for light and refraction, it might be more beneficial to experiment individually. Looking through a glass block to plot the points at the emergence on the other end is best learnt and the fastest by trying it out and replicating the same process again. 

Similarly, collaborative and individual learning can intermingle and be mixed according to which method best aligns with your learning style and comfort. 

What’s Next? 

Experimentation. Just like Chemistry, finding the best personalised learning model requires experimenting with the different styles of learning mentioned above. If diagrams, tables and notes help you out, discover some of the “best note taking app for students” here. 

Alternatively, the Achievers Dream team consists of tutors that were once MOE teachers, they are professionally trained and well aware of the problems that students face. If you are struggling with chemistry, chemical formula, molecular formula or simply understanding chemical compounds, fret not, many students have been through this process too. Learn more about how we teach and what other students think in this article.