DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
Article originally written in English - and translated by Marek Orlik
The article is available in the bi-monthly magazine for teachers of chemistry “Chemistry in the School” (‘Chemia w Szkole’)
This is a magazine for chemistry teachers of all types of schools and teachers and students of chemistry. It contains materials on various topics to help teachers improve their teaching of chemistry. It has been available on the publishing market since 1954.
The journal publishes:
- Methodological and didactic solutions to facilitate the proper implementation of the new curriculum and prepare students for final examinations and tests in chemistry at the end of high school;
- practical tips for chemistry experiments and safety in the classroom chemistry;
- Information about the most important achievements of chemistry in the last century;
- tasks, tests, and quizzes with answer keys of Polish and international chemical Olympiads and chemical national competitions for students of junior secondary schools and upper secondary schools;
- Conference Reports written and published by educators of chemistry and teacher trainers, highlighting new educational initiatives;
- news publications: books, popular science books and publications appearing in international journals.
REVIEWER’S COMMENTS ON THE PUBLICATION
“Sustainable development - the Challenge of Education” is an article based on the Peter Atkins lecture, which took place in Warsaw on November 2011, translated into polish by Marek Orlik. In addition to his career at the University of Oxford, Peter Atkins is a prolific author of both popular chemistry textbooks and science books for the general public. The best known of these is Physical Chemistry, now in its ninth edition. It is used throughout the world and has been translated into many languages.
The author emphasizes the importance of science education to sustainable progress of societies. He states that science does not only greatly enhances our understanding of the everyday world, but also enriches us intellectually. He compares the scientific knowledge to the great ocean fed by many rivers - the river of biology, physics, chemistry and other sciences. Places where these rivers meet each other turn out to be mutually useful, never destructive. However, the chemistry is specified by the author as one of the most important fields of science, as it relates to processes occurring both, inside our bodies, as well as in the world that surrounds us.
By determining chemistry as the heart of all sciences, the author suggests nine key, in his opinion, ideas in chemistry and describes them briefly. These include: 1. The matter is made of atoms, 2. Chemical elements form related groups, 3. Atoms join each other by forming bonds with the participation of electron couples, 4. Form is extremely important, 5. There are some interactions between molecules, 6. Energy is conserved, 7. Energy and matter show a tendency to disperse, 8. Chemical reaction encounters barriers 9. There are only four types of processes by which chemical transformation takes place. The author suggests several ways of introducing these key ideas into chemistry classes, however he stresses that it is not an easy task for the teacher. He doesn’t recommend to teach chemistry as a separate area of science, but encourages teachers to describe the roles of chemical concepts and issues in our daily life. Students should be aware that chemistry is something that surrounds us and from which we are made of, so it affects us directly. Author recommends to use electronic books during chemistry lessons and lists their advantages He also commends the revolution that is taking place in the field of education and encourages teachers to spice up chemistry classes.
I believe that described article applies to very interesting issue, which is the impact of development of civilization on the methods of teaching chemistry. However, in my opinion, the article is too comprehensive, and some parts are repetitive. But the very idea of improving the chemistry lesson, by showing connections between the chemical laws and the real world, and also the use of electronic gadgets in the classroom, is a great concept in my view. Therefore this article may be very useful for chemistry teachers at all levels of education.
Monika Smaga
