What the simulation does
The simulation puts a lit Bunsen burner on a lab bench with six metals laid out in watch glasses at the front: magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, copper and gold, ordered by reactivity. A reactivity ladder runs down the side, and the whole thing follows a clear two-step loop.
First a pupil taps a metal, which opens a prediction question asking what they think will happen in the flame. After they commit to an answer, that metal becomes “armed” and a floating Tap/Drag badge points to it. They then drag it up into the flame, where it ignites on contact and burns in real time before their eyes: magnesium blinding white, calcium brick red, zinc blue-green, iron with orange sparks, copper slowly blackening with no flame, and gold doing nothing at all. The light filling the scene takes on the flame’s colour, and as each reaction dies the flame fades back to Bunsen blue. A result card then gives the observation, the balanced equation and a teaching note, and the metal’s dish is marked as done so pupils can work through all six.
The whole thing is built SEND-first, with the Adapt accessibility menu (overlays, colour-vision filters, reading ruler, text scaling, projector mode, reduce-motion, buttons-only mode and spoken announcements) and it’s responsive from a projector down to a phone.
Suggested class activity: “Predict, observe, explain”
This plays to the simulation’s built-in predict-then-reveal structure and works as a full lesson.
Starter (5 min). Project the simulation and burn magnesium once as a whole-class demo. Ask pupils to describe what they saw in their own words, drawing out the key vocabulary: oxidation, metal oxide, reactant and product.
Main, paired work (20 min). Pupils work in pairs on their own devices with a results table to complete: metal, prediction, observation, oxide colour, and whether it reacted vigorously, slowly or not at all. They must write their prediction before dragging each metal in, then record what actually happened. Because the simulation asks them to predict first, the discipline is enforced for them. The pairing matters here, since one pupil operating and one recording keeps both engaged and generates discussion at the point of disagreement.
Discussion (15 min). Bring the class back together around three questions their tables let them answer: Why does the order of vigour match the reactivity ladder? Why does gold stay shiny while copper turns black even though copper does not catch fire? And what is the general word equation that fits every reacting metal (metal + oxygen → metal oxide)? The copper-versus-gold contrast is the richest discussion point, since it separates “no flame” from “no reaction”.
Plenary (5 min). Pupils write the word equation for one metal of their choice and, as an extension, the balanced symbol equation.
For adaptation across the class, lower-attaining pupils can use the buttons-only route and focus on the observation and colour columns, while higher-attaining pupils add balanced symbol equations and predict where an unfamiliar metal such as lithium or lead would sit on the ladder before checking against a data book.