PeTeL Chemistry is an environment designed for studying chemistry. The environment was developed with the purpose of making chemistry teaching tools, in the approach of personalized teaching and learning, accessible to teachers, and at the same time emphasizing the students' group work, which characterizes chemistry studies, focusing on the lab and alternative assessment unit (30%).
As part of the Chemistry Group in the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science, unique databases of diagnostic questions and tasks for the purpose of evaluating the status of the student's knowledge have been developed. As well as suggestions for teaching sequences that are designed in accordance with the gathered information. Personalized teaching is created by using interactive databases of diagnostic questions for the evaluation of the student's status, and by suggestions for teaching sequences that are designed in accordance with the gathered information.
The study materials in the environment are based on two main sources: existing materials that were developed by teachers, teacher communities and teacher centers in the past; and development of current materials by leading teachers and as part of programs for the professional development of teachers, which were developed as part of the teachers' training in using these databases and integrating them into their teaching sequences.
The environment is accessible for free and creates a direct connection between the chemistry teachers in Israel in one collaborative content environment. Each teacher's personal environment enables them to manage the teaching sequence for the whole class, and presents the teacher with the real time status of the students in the classroom during the teaching sequence in terms of comprehension, performance and task success. Thus supporting the teacher with personalized teaching and learning.
In the 2020 school year, the PeTeL Chemistry environment is operated by a small team of operation teachers (beta teachers), who are gaining experience in using the environment and testing its efficacy in their classroom. We hope to expand the circle of operating teachers yearly using a "fan" method. That is, the more experienced teachers will help train the new teachers.