Integrated Instruction Sheets

Practical sessions which require some assessment for examination purposes often include lots of words many of which are superfluous to the actual technique being used The idea of these sheets is to strip the technique down to the bare bones and then build up the lesson plan from there.
This may be in the form of inquiry, problem solving argument, data processing, chemical analysis and the many other approaches to teaching science you can use.

David Paterson has taken this to new heights on https://eic.rsc.org/feature/improving-practical-work-with-integrated-instructions/3009798.article by linking ideas which have gone before with cognitive load theory. See Page 4 Microchemistry helping in learning.
"Cognitive load theory explains why splitting students’ attention between a diagram and instructions can make it harder for them",
With practice it is easy to make these instructions and continually improve of them as you see students stumble through them. These have not been tested in front of students (I am retired  you know) but you can adjust them to what you want. Do send me some notable improvements. 
How to make one

• I use photos from catalogues for equipment.
• I use shapes from PowerPoint menu bar and text boxes which you can move around easily.
• I make up diagrams in Inkscape (https://inkscape.org/) for more complicated diagrams
• I use photos from myself and the web (especially catalogue photos).
• I use of the OneNote screen cutting tool to take screen pictures from videos etcon to the PowerPoint
• I arrange them together on  a PowerPoint screen which I can then save as both  PowerPoint and JPEG
• This picture is copied and pasted into a Word.document. Very useful to have some laminated as well.

You can see more of David's instructions here https://dave2004b.wordpress.com/2018/07/09/integrated-instructions-for-aqa-required-practicals/ and mine are below in the downloadable PowerPoint file.

integrated_directions3.pptx
File Size:	44818 kb
File Type:	pptx

Download File

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Ammonia Drop Chemistry

2M Ammonia solution (0.5ml) is inserted into a little holder (empty blister pack). the gas diffuses within the Petri dish and enters puddles and indicator paper to carry out reactions. Only 24 cm3  of gas can be produced. Beautiful Halos are observed. The circles are made from the shapes app on the PowerPoint programme.

Percentage  Water in Crystals

This uses the indestructible crucible which is a brown bottle top (with the plastic insert burnt away) with a bolt through it. The bolt allows you to clamp it or hold it over a spirit burner flame. This uses photos from catalogues to show the equipment to use.
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Cracking

The diagrams here are made using the Inkscape programme. The left hand side shows how the closed pipette is filled and the right hand side how the equipment is put together.