Dr Patrick Thomson
Senior Teaching Fellow
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Personal statement
Personal statement
I'm currently the head of First Year in the school of Pure & Applied Chemistry. I run the first year teaching laboratory and the chemistry summer school, and I lecture on introductory organic chemistry for first year students. Additionally, I provide staff professional development on several well-established educational enhancements, such as Peer Instruction.
I am interested in chemical education, and laboratory education specifically. Within this area I conduct research on guided inquiry, a framework for building from a novice to expert lab scientist.
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Area of Expertise
- Guided Inquiry
- Chemical Education
- Laboratory Education
- Peer Instruction
- Pre-Labs
- Blended Learning
Prize And Awards
- Royal Society Pairing Scheme awardee
- Recipient
- 24/3/2025
- Best poster prize at chemistry education conference
- Recipient
- 22/8/2022
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Recipient
- 12/8/2019
- Best poster prize at chemistry conference
- Recipient
- 21/8/2018
Qualifications
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry
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Publications
- Strengthening school-university collaborations
- Thomson Patrick, Wark Alastair, Kennedy Alan, Scott Fraser
- Nature Reviews Chemistry Vol 10, pp. 97-98 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-025-00788-2
- A snapshot of UK pre-lab practices and instructor perceptions of their purpose and effective design
- Navarro Cristina, Arenas Benjamin E, Haddow Mairi F, Kirkham Anna J, Thomson Patrick I T
- Journal of Chemical Education Vol 102, pp. 3893–3900 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c00321
- Non-formal chemistry learning : a scoping review
- D'Alton Megan J, Thomson Patrick I T, Scott Fraser J
- Chemistry Teacher International Vol 7, pp. 385-409 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1515/cti-2025-0020
- Responses of teachers in Scotland to the reintroduction of the practical project in the advanced higher chemistry curriculum
- Traynor Erin, Scott Fraser J, Thomson Patrick I T
- Chemistry Teacher International Vol 7, pp. 183-193 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1515/cti-2024-0073
- Integrated instructions and solvent polarity indicators : reducing the complexity of first-time distillation
- Thomson Patrick I T, Cleary Deborah
- Journal of Chemical Education Vol 101, pp. 4321-4326 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00466
- A snapshot of UK pre-lab practices
- Arenas Benjamin E, Haddow Mairi, Kirkham Anna, Navarro Reguero Cristina, Thomson Patrick
- Variety in Chemistry Education/Physics Higher Education Conference 2024 (2024)
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Teaching
I am interested in chemical education, and laboratory education specifically. Within this area I conduct research on guided inquiry, a framework for building from a novice to expert lab scientist.
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Professional Activities
- Spectroscopy in an envelope: addressing the equipment drought in rural Scottish sch
- Recipient
- 15/7/2025
- PhD Viva
- Examiner
- 6/6/2025
- Scott Arthur
- Host
- 29/5/2025
- Journal of Chemical Education (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 28/2/2025
- Journal of Chemical Education (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 22/9/2024
- The undergraduate lab practical transformation
- Interviewee
- 9/9/2024
Projects
- Spectroscopy in an envelope: addressing the equipment drought in rural Scottish schools
- Thomson, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Scott, Fraser (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2026
- 25th West of Scotland Meeting for Teachers of Chemistry
- Thomson, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Scott, Fraser (Principal Investigator) Wark, Alastair (Principal Investigator)
- Hosted conference, funded with £1200 from the Royal Society of Chemistry
- 16-Jan-2025 - 16-Jan-2025
- Technicians' CLPL
- Cleary, Deborah Mary (Principal Investigator) Scott, Fraser (Principal Investigator) Thomson, Patrick (Principal Investigator)
- Scotland-wide technicians' practical CLPL day, part-funded by an externally awarded RSC empowerment grant and an additional £500 grant from the RSC's Education Community (Scotland) Interest Group
- 06-Jan-2024 - 06-Jan-2024
- A Snapshot of UK Pre-Lab Practices
- Thomson, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Navarro Reguero, Cristina (Co-investigator) Arenas, Ben (Principal Investigator) Haddow, Mairi (Principal Investigator) Kirkham, Anna (Principal Investigator)
- A collaborative UK-wide project to evaluate the use of pre-lab activities in practical chemistry education.
- 06-Jan-2024
- 24th West of Scotland Meeting for Teachers of Chemistry
- Thomson, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Wark, Alastair (Principal Investigator) Scott, Fraser (Principal Investigator)
- Hosted conference, funded with £1200 from the Royal Society of Chemistry
- 11-Jan-2024 - 11-Jan-2024
- Who teaches the teachers? Developing CLPL to support Advanced Higher school projects
- Thomson, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Traynor, Erin (Researcher) Wark, Alastair (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2023 - 15-Jan-2024
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Contact
Dr
Patrick
Thomson
Senior Teaching Fellow
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Email: patrick.thomson@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 2347