Conflicts in Chemistry: The Case of Plastics, an innovative role-playing activity for high school students, was developed by the Chemical Heritage Foundation to promote increased public understanding of chemistry. The pilot program included three high school teachers and their students at three different schools and documented implementation and…

This study aims to examine the impacts of the inquiry learning strategies employed in a "Plastic Education Project" on primary students' knowledge, beliefs and intended behaviour in Hong Kong. Student questionnaires and a test on plastic types were adopted for data collection. Results reveal that the inquiry learning strategies…

The inexpensive and disposable electrode based on a double-polymer-modified pencil lead is proposed for upper-division undergraduate instrumental laboratories to enable the highly sensitive detection of perchlorate. Students fabricate and utilize their own electrodes in the 3-4 h laboratory session to learn important concepts and methods of…

Reversible polymer dehydration and precipitation from water due to the unfavorable entropy of hydration is examined using a melting-point apparatus. The thermoresponsive lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is responsible for these effects. An experiment is described that allows students to…

Perhaps more than many other industries, today's universities and colleges are beset by dramatically rising costs on every front. One of the areas where overhead can be contained or reduced is in the operation of the chilled water systems that support air conditioning throughout college campuses, specifically the cooling towers. Like many…

Plastics are more prevalent in our society than ever before, yet the general public has a limited understanding of why plastics have properties that are vastly different from other common materials such as glass and ceramics. This lab is designed to introduce students to several introductory principles of polymer science and their relation to the…

Polymer science represents an important area in industrial and research laboratories for chemists and material scientists. However, experiments involving polymers are uncommon in chemistry and material science curricula; therefore, an experiment involving polymers has been developed. This experiment has been used to teach fabrication of polymer…

Preparation of laboratory-scale polyurethane foams is described with formulations that are easy to implement in experiments for undergraduate students. Particular attention is given to formulation aspects that are based on the main chemical reactions occurring in polyurethane production. This allows students to develop alternative formulations to…

The proportion of plastic bottles that consumers placed in appropriate recycling receptacles rather than trash bins was examined across 3 buildings on a university campus. We extended previous research on interventions to increase recycling by controlling the number of recycling receptacles across conditions and by examining receptacle location…

Almost everything people have ever done has involved materials. Historical evidence indicates that "engineered materials" have been available and utilized for the benefit of humankind since the Neolithic period, beginning about 10,000 BC. Some of these materials have been in existence for thousands of years. At first, materials consisted of wood,…

"Sustainability" is a very general term and the question arises how to specify it within daily laboratory work. In this regard, appropriate metrics could support a socially acceptable, ecological and economic product development. The application of metrics for sustainability should be strengthened in education, because they do not belong…

This laboratory experiment exposes students to the chemistry of self-healing polymers based on a Diels-Alder reaction. Students accomplish a multistep synthesis of a monomer building block and then polymerize it to form a cross-linked polymer. The healing capability of the polymer is verified by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments.…

Following collaboration between two chemistry lecturers and an academic developer an attempt was made to enhance the learning of students within a chemistry module through the adaptation of the delivery of content material. This paper reports a piece of practitioner led research which considered how effective the approach developed was upon the…

"I Wonder" boards are a teaching strategy that can be used in the classroom, as well as during science learning opportunities in nonformal settings, such as after-school science programs or summer camps.This simple strategy has led to deeper science exploration in 4-H, as young people learn alongside program staff, teachers, or…

This article summarizes an experiment on thin-film fabrication with layer-by-layer assembly that is appropriate for undergraduate laboratory courses. The purpose of this experiment is to teach students about self-assembly in the context of thin films and to expose students to the concepts of functional polymeric coatings. Students dip coat…