• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Neutralisation and naming salts). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Name the salt: copper carbonate + hydrochloric acid → ___ + water + carbon dioxide (copper sulfate / copper nitrate / copper chloride / copper oxide) → copper chloridePrompt: The first part of the salt's name comes from the metal.
2. Indigestion tablets help with too much stomach acid because they… (turn the acid into sugar / kill all the stomach's bacteria / contain bases that neutralise some of the acid / contain more acid) → contain bases that neutralise some of the acidPrompt: What reacts with an acid to cancel it out?
3. 20 cm³ of an acid starts at pH 1. An alkali is added 5 cm³ at a time. The pH readings are 1, 4, 7. What total volume of alkali made the solution neutral, in cm³? → 10 cm³Prompt: Neutral means pH 7.

• Drop an antacid tablet in water (or show a clip) and ask whether a new substance is being made.
• Share the objective: The reactivity series and displacement. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Reactivity series (most reactive first): potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium (aluminum), zinc, iron, copper, silver, gold. If calcium is added to a solution of iron sulfate, will a displacement reaction happen?
• Step 1: calcium is more reactive than iron, so it displaces it.
• Step 2: So the answer is: yes
• Answer: yes
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Reactivity series (most reactive first): potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium (aluminum), zinc, iron, copper, silver, gold. If iron is added to a solution of calcium sulfate, will a displacement reaction happen? (yes / no) → noPrompt: A more reactive metal displaces a less reactive metal from its compound.
2. Iron is extracted from iron oxide by heating it with carbon. Why does this work? (Iron is more reactive than carbon / Heat alone splits iron oxide / Carbon is more reactive than iron, so it removes the oxygen / Carbon is a metal) → Carbon is more reactive than iron, so it removes the oxygenPrompt: This is a type of displacement (reduction).

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Reactivity series (most reactive first): potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, aluminium (aluminum), zinc, iron, copper, silver, gold. If zinc is added to a solution of iron sulfate, will a displacement reaction happen? (yes / no) → yesPrompt: A more reactive metal displaces a less reactive metal from its compound.
2. What does "oxidation" mean in terms of oxygen? (melting / loss of oxygen / gain of hydrogen / gain of oxygen) → gain of oxygenPrompt: Rusting iron gains something from the air.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-9.