ILPAC unit S4: bonding and structure

This collection is made up of the twenty units that made up the first edition of ILPAC, the Independent Learning Project for Advanced Chemistry, which was written for students preparing for the advanced level examinations. The project was sponsored by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and the materials were extensively tested in London schools and colleges. After the trials, the units were first published by John Murray in 1983 and were designed to cover the syllabuses of all the major examination boards.

ILPAC was initially conceived as a way of overcoming some of the difficulties presented by uneconomically small sixth forms and was adopted because its approach to learning had certain advantages over more traditional teaching methods. Students were required to assume a greater responsibility for their own learning and work, to some extent, at their own pace, whilst teachers could devote more time to guiding individual students and to managing resources.

The project was intended to allow students to study A level chemistry with less teacher-contact time than was conventional at the time. The resources included personal guidance, detailed solutions to the many exercises, backed up by the optional use of video cassettes.

The project aimed to help solve a variety of challenges. Students with only limited access to laboratories, for example those studying at evening classes, could concentrate upon ILPAC practical work in the laboratory, in the confidence that related theory can be systematically studied elsewhere. The materials could be used effectively where upper and lower sixth form classes were timetabled together. The project also expected to support inexperienced teachers of A level chemistry.