Terri James, Head of Science teacher, writing for Schoolzone
Date - March 2005
Crocodile Chemistry 501 is a virtual chemistry lab where students and teachers alike can recreate reactions safely and with relative ease. It provides an acceptable alternative to practical chemistry hence could be used in some of those tricky situations that we all encounter from time to time - teacher absence, technician absence, no lab available, lack of equipment, pupils' dislike of practical chemistry.
The product is aimed specifically at the practical chemistry content of the KS3 and KS4 Programmes of Study and whilst not a substitute for practical activities, it does provide an interesting and alternative approach to the delivery of some topics, especially when assembly of equipment tends to get in the way of the actual learning objective.
There are no instructions with the CD-ROM, but there is a detailed help file available together with a small number of tutorials. The CD also contains some ready to use models. There are 64 of these spread across 10 themed areas of Chemistry such as Acids and Alkalis and Reactions of Metals. It is quite tricky to remember what all the different tools are actually for. The best way is to actually start to design your own models.
The program could be used with a whole class as a teacher demonstration tool using a data projector, especially if you have a whiteboard. It can also be networked for use by pupils on an individual or group basis. The easiest way to use the program would be for the teacher to set up models for their classes to use; however, some computer-literate classes, with training, could actually design their own models. It would certainly be useful for more-able pupils following Triple Award courses, as they can control experiments, alter concentrations and temperatures and plot graphs of their results.