You’re reading this because you are dealing with disengaged chemistry students. We’ve all been there. Whether it’s a whole class or just a few students. You walk into your classroom ready to teach something you love, or find fascinating (or maybe you don’t…) And your students are students slumped in their chairs, arms crossed, faces blank. They’re only here because their guidance counselor made them enroll. Or maybe they heard chemistry was good for their college applications, but aren’t truly interested.
So how do you teach chemistry to students who simply don’t want to be in your class?
To keep it simple: You shorten your lecture, shift the focus to practice, and make room for students to feel successful. Let me walk you through my favorite strategies for making that happen, how to survive those low-energy days, and some free, practical ways to keep everyone moving forward without the grouchy attitudes.
Spotting the Signs
You know the students I’m talking about. Eyes are locked on the clock. They do JUST enough to pass. They never ask or answer questions. There’s ZERO curiosity. They often say things like “this is too hard” or ask “why are we learning this?” And my favorite 🙄 flat out tell you how boring your class is, or how much they hate it. ( Try not to take it personally. I hate organic. Each of us has at least a portion of chemistry we aren’t in love with.)
Sometimes they don’t actually hate chemistry. They just feel lost, overwhelmed, or disconnected from the material. Let’s be honest, it’s a lot. Unfortunately, when they check out, you can start to feel stuck too.
The Key? Get to the Point—Then Let Them Practice
I’ve found that the less time I spend in front of the room teaching, the more fun my class actually is. For everyone. When I first started using guided notes, I found that it cut down the time I spent teaching, and the time students spent writing notes. DRAMATICALLY. When you teach the essentials, those short attention spans can hold out for your full lesson.
Then you give them tons of time for practice. Group and solo work. It’s so much more engaging to be doing ANYTHING other than sitting and listening to something you’re not super interested in. Plus, my favorite part, you sit down in a student desk while your students work around you.
It’s like watching a baking show. Boring if you ask me. But actually being in a kitchen, baking, licking the spoon, and eating the final product sounds like a fun time. Sure chemistry might be boring, but doing chemistry is more interesting than listening to chemistry when you’re bored by it. Practice isn’t just where learning happens, it’s where confidence builds. Especially for those students who “aren’t science people.”
Building Momentum in a Low-Morale Class
Let’s be honest. This is super draining for you too. It’s really hard to bring your best energy when your students are unenthused and sucking the fun out of everything. I’d recommend decorating your room with tons of glitter, but I know that’s an acquired taste. Here’s a real few tips for ways you can keep a positive classroom.
1) Start with something low level that everyone can do.
I learned this while student teaching. The first question of all my tests is a real softball, so students have a little confidence boost. I do this with the Question of the Day in my guided notes curriculum too. Any time I’m explaining something tricky, like maybe how Dispersion Forces work, I start with something easy.
- What’s the charge of an electron? (Negative)
- What do we believe the atom looks like? (Wiggly clouds with a probability of finding electrons)
- What happens when too many electrons are in the same place at the same time? (Repel each other)
- How would that effect be different, say for the 9 electrons in fluorine vs. the 53 in iodine? (More significant with more electrons)
See what I mean? Start easy and build. Plus it’s a sneaky way to sort of spiral review.
2) Celebrate any kind of effort.
Chemistry is tough. If you’re only congratulating correct answers, it can be tough for students to get any accolades. I like to give out Chemistry Coins when I need a way to convince students to try. (This is my method for extra credit. I’ll be writing a blog post on it soon.) You can get the Chemistry Coins for free with an email sign up and I’ll send details on how I use them.
3) Get your students moving.
Try a Chemistry Quest where students walk around the room to find the right answers in the classroom.
Maybe let your students move chairs or desks to get a fresh perspective. And then you can let them work together! Any time they get to get out of their regular seats, they’ll have a little bit more energy, which is sure to help your disengaged chemistry students.
4) Give some low stakes assignments.
I make my students complete vocabulary assignments. They write the word and definition in their notebooks. It’s an easy way for my students to get a 100, it forces them to work with the vocabulary terms that are going to pop up throughout the unit, and they have study material. I have 15 units of study in my chemistry course, and for each unit, they have this easy assignment. It’s really nice for students to get this grade in BEFORE their test arrives. It’s good to boost morale, and help them prepare.
5) Try Whiteboards
Whiteboards can be is an upfront investment, unless you can sign out a class set at school. (I feel it is a VERY worthwhile investment though.) I like to use these for drawing particle diagrams, nomenclature practice, filling in 10 minutes in our day with some review questions. My boards make their way into the hands of my students at least every other week. I use expo markers and the washable face scrubbers from Dollar Tree as my erasers. (I couldn’t find them on the Dollar Tree site, but these I found on Amazon are the most similar!) I bring them home and wash them once a year.
6) Partner or Group Quizzes
I’ve loved giving group quizzes. I usually make sure it’s a low stakes quiz, because I want to make sure my test and quiz scores accurately reflect my students’ knowledge. If it’s a small quiz it doesn’t have a huge bearing on their overall grade. If you give this a try, your students will love it, I’m sure. Set some parameters to make it a little tough. Dictate if, when and how your students can talk to each other. Maybe put a strict time limit on the quiz. Allow open notes for the first five minutes only. Maybe your students can confer with a partner for five minutes, but then have to finish alone. Either way, knowing that this is a possibility in your classroom is sure to engage your disengaged chemistry students.
7) “CAMA” – Chemistry Ask Me Anything
Modeling after social media AMAs, give your students an opportunity to ask you any *chemistry* question they may wonder about, even if it’s not relevant to what they’re currently learning. Be specific if you’ll allow other science questions. In my experience you’ll get a ton of medical questions. So if you’re not comfortable answering those, be sure to set parameters.
8) Labs, labs, labs
If you really want your students interested in chemistry, one of the best ways to do it is with labs. Even when I was teaching chemistry in an old art classroom, I found a way to do plenty of labs. While it does take some finagling, it can work. You can check out my Lab Manual, which includes 41 labs in total, 85%-ish of which are low maintenance enough to do in any classroom in the school building. They have your students doing hands on chemistry, and writing rigorous lab reports too! It’s one of my keys for disengaged chemistry students.
9) Be Nice
This is going to depend on where you are in the world. In many places where I taught, this meant giving students the benefit of the doubt. When they “forget their homework” believe them (at least once or twice). If there’s a bad score on a test, allow for a FULL retake. In fact, I allow unlimited test retakes within a marking period. I’ve found that for the most part, being nice to a teenager usually means cutting them some slack.
There are other, non-academic ways to be nice too. Notice them. Get to know them as more than just “student who sits in the front row.” One of my favorites as a student was “Fun Attendance.” Each day my history teacher had queued up a question of the day. As he read the roll, we answered the question, 1 by 1. There were rules that we couldn’t repeat the same answer. So if you and somebody else had the same favorite movie, you’d have to change your answer if they were ahead of you on the roll. It was a great way for our teacher to get to know us, that didn’t take up tons of time. We also got to know each other. In fact, a boy once asked me out on a date based on my Fun Attendance answers!
Share about yourself too. (I know this can get hairy in some parts of the country.) But sharing your hobbies, favorite meal, your college experience, and some other things about yourself outside of teaching can be really beneficial.
Make Room for Joy
Here’s what I’ve learned over the years: even students who don’t want to be in chemistry class still appreciate structure, clarity, and a chance to feel successful. They may not fall in love with balancing equations, but you CAN make them fall in love with being in your classroom.
So trim your lecture with guided notes. Maximize practice time. Add in activities that feel different than the usual worksheet.
Once you have the reputation as “the really hard class with the teacher who makes it fun” you’re sure to see an increase in enrollment, a happier, smiling face in your classroom. (At least more often than you used to. Some teenagers will just never be happy at 7:30 in the morning. Even if you wrote them a check for a million dollars!)
