Teaching Resources

Date: 2013.02.02

Posted by Miroslav Prokša (Slovakia)

Message: This page interested me even though there are older videos, from beggining of 90’s, it is still a very useful teaching help. For today’s customs it could seem not to be very dynamic but it contains a lot of good ideas and it shows us that being a chemist is still very interesting. The page consists of 26 half an hour parts. The first one is an introduction and shows us how chemistry creates world all around us and influences our daily life. Each next part is then dealing with each particular topic. Individual parts are dealing with topics as stomic structures, components and states of a matter, chemical bondings, chemical reactions but also with parts which represent individual areas of chemistry, eg.environment, organic material, biochemistry and etc. Each part has an introduction and an epilogue by prof.Roald Hoffmann (laureate of the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1981) and all parts are connected with applications containing various industrial, environmental or health problems where opinions of representatives from an academic sphere and industry are presented. The last episode with the title “Future” is trying to provide a look at a development of chemistry in future. Of course we have to take into consideration a fact that in last 20 years technology has changed a lot but the principles of chemistry and its application to individual areas of our life, industry and environment remained unchanged and they are only updating. From this point of view is this page very interesting because it shows us many areas which progressed in research in last 20 years, where the mistakes were made or that a research went wrong or where it gets until today.
In the end, the essential chemical terms are represented in simple and easy understandable way and an emphasis is put at an importance of chemistry as a toll of improving the quality of our life.

Date: 2013.01.25

Posted by Aleksandra Smejda - Krzewicka (Poland)

Message: A Video on demand series of chemistry and physics films - join with experts to observe chemistry in action and learn the laws and principles of this dynamic field. Computer technology and special effects place students in a front-row seat to observe many processes, even those that are too dangerous or impractical to experience directly. Working industrial and research chemists of all backgrounds serve as role models. The World of Chemistry is appropriate for students taking high school or college chemistry, from introductory to advanced levels, and is easily applicable to different teaching approaches. It includes physics and Earth science components, and is also valuable for teachers seeking to review the subject matter.

Date: 2012.11.29

Posted by Maria João Seixas Melo (Portugal)

Message: A site where science is still shown with videos of 90 minutes... Too long for our frenetic times, without HD, but with very good ideas and a vision of chemistry that reminds us that being a chemist is one of the most beautiful professions one can imagine.

Date: 2012.09.09

Posted by Sanakis Ioannis (Greece)

Message: This program series was created in 1988-1990. It comprises 26 half-hour episodes. The first episode is introductory and it demonstrates how Chemistry is involved in the world around us in everyday life while each subsequent episode focuses on a specific topic. The first episodes deal with fundamental aspects such as atomic structure, the constituents and states of matter, the chemical bond, chemical reactivity etc with the following episodes presenting particular areas of Chemistry (i.e. environmental, organic, material, biochemistry). For each episode there is an introduction and an epilogue by Professor Roald Hoffmann (Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1981) and usually a simple presentation of the issue with an historical overview. A laboratory class demonstration is also included. In almost every case the topic is directly connected with applications involving industrial, environmental or medical issues, with each episode hosting the views of representatives from Academia and Industry. The last episode, entitled “Future”, attempts to give the likely developments in Chemistry in the years to come.

The material does not require a strong background in Chemistry and the episodes are independent. The series was created 25 years ago and it is inevitably old-fashioned in some respects. For instance the computers and the monitors nowadays are much different. Whereas the basic principles of Chemistry as well as its applications (energy, health, environment etc) have not changed since the late eighties, methodological aspects, in the light of new discoveries, have taken different directions.

For example, the episode entitled “carbon”, relates mostly with Organic Chemistry issues. Nowadays, when referring to “carbon” the scientific community perceives it differently. Due to developments sparked several years after the series was created, the term “carbon” today is more often associated with research into carbon nanotubes or graphene with enormous potential applications. Another example is that of high temperature Superconductivity which was a very hot subject at that time due to the discovery of the phenomenon in cuprates. Naturally, the series included it as a topic with promising applications in the future e.g. wires based on high Tc superconductors. However, due to the inherent properties of these materials this particular application, 25 years after their discovery, has still not yet found a wide market. On the other hand, Superconductivity itself is still an issue of significant scientific research since other materials (such as Magnesium diboride in 2001) just a few years ago were unexpectedly found to exhibit high Tc superconductivity. These discoveries led to a renaissance in Superconductivity research in an effort to understand the basic principles behind the phenomenon and in order to construct new devices.
Finally, much Chemical research nowadays is closely related to Nanoscience which brings together many traditional scientific fields in an interdisciplinary approach (Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Materials Science).

In conclusion, the fundamental Chemical concepts are presented in a simple, easy to understand, manner. The series successfully promotes the significance of Chemistry as a tool for improving the quality of life. However, one has always to keep in mind that during the last 25 years new priorities and possibilities have emerged. The interested teacher has to be kept up to date on the latest advancements.