About Us

About the website

Colourful Solutions is one of several educational projects created by Charles Collingwood. It grew from his experience of teaching chemistry and from a long-standing interest in using programming to make practice, assessment and feedback more useful for students and teachers.

The site forms part of a group of science resources that also includes ibchem.com and mypscience.com. The first of these, ibchem.com, began in 2000 while Charles was living in Brussels and looking for something productive to do while hiding from the rain.

About the author

Charles Collingwood is a chemistry educator with BSc and MSc degrees and more than 30 years of experience with the International Baccalaureate. He has taught students of almost every age, from six-year-olds discovering science for the first time to eighteen-year-olds preparing for their final examinations.

His interest in chemistry began at the age of eight while helping a student teacher clear out a school cupboard. Two years later, he received a Lotts No. 6 chemistry set. The chemistry set has long since retired, but the enthusiasm has not.

Charles has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Kuwait and Spain. He has two children and, alongside teaching, has pursued a varied collection of business ventures, including a translation agency, importing electric scooters and producing panoramic photography of football stadia. This has provided plenty of evidence that a chemistry teacher can become interested in almost anything.

When he is not teaching, writing or programming, Charles enjoys playing guitar and following sport. Chemistry remains the longest-running interest, although the guitar occasionally makes more noise.