Setting the scene
It is now worth considering how you have prepared your students to make links between macroscopic, sub- microscopic and symbolic representation of chemical changes.
This is sometimes referred to as the 'chemical triplet'.
Are your students able to move comfortably between word and symbolic equations?
Have your students acquired a mental model of particle behaviour?
In what ways have you encouraged them to describe what is taking place in a chemical reaction?
Have you considered your own understanding of the links students need to make between macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic representation?