RSC - Advancing the Chemical Sciences


Education

 

September 2006

Full issue available online.

September 2006

Column

A new look

Welcome to the new academic year, and to a new look for Education in Chemistry (EIC).



Westminster at night

RSC Council heads for Downing Street

The energy challenge. Chemical scientists will have a major role to play in meeting the objectives set out in the Government's energy policy.



UK olympiad team

UK Olympiad team excels in Korea

All four students in the team representing the UK at the finals of the 38th International Chemistry Olympiad have returned as medallists from the competition held at Yeungnam Unive...



student with molecular model

First look at A-level alternative

This month UK independent and international schools will receive drafts of a new post-16 qualification that will be available in 2008 as an alternative to A-levels and the IB.



Communicating science

In July the winners of the first RSC Bill Bryson Prize for science communication were selected from over 400 entries from secondary schools and 60 entries from primary schools.



Final call for Science on Stage delegates

The UK national steering group of Science on Stage, the Europe-wide festival for science teachers, is inviting teachers to apply to take part in the next Science on Stage event.



Non-specialist teachers - help is on the way

GlaxoSmithKline and the RSC have agreed to support a three-year programme aimed at raising the quality of chemistry teaching among non-specialist secondary school teachers in the U...



Short items

In brief..., and other items



Soundbite molecules

Simon Cotton, teacher at Uppingham School, takes a look at those compounds that find themselves in the news or relate to our everyday lives. In this issue: lead poisoning



Medicinal compounds

John Mann, Queen's University Belfast, takes a look at drugs on the market. In this issue: Rationing the drugs for Alzheimer's disease



In search of solutions

Put your questions on chemistry teaching to our experts. In this issue: thiosulfate coordination



Did you know?

Ted Lister, chemical education consultant, shares anecdotes and 'did you knows' to help you add that 'wow' factor to your lessons. In this issue: copper bottoms



Chemlingo

Peter Childs, University of Limerick, investigates words in chemistry. In this issue: air, earth, water and fire.



Web watch

Wilson Flood, chemistry education consultant, takes a look at some websites of interest to chemistry teachers. In this issue: International Baccalaureate, resources, environment...


Letters

Letters

Education in Chemistry Letters, September 2006


Exhibition Chemistry

oxy-acetylene torch

Spectacular demonstrations for teachers

Demonstrations designed to capture the student's imagination, by Colin Baker of Bedford School. In this issue: making ethyne


Features

cornflour

Making the most of starch

With some clever chemistry starch represents an enormous and sustainable source of renewable carbon for non-food applications.



William Perkin

A forgotten anniversary?

Has the significance of William Henry Perkin's synthesis of the purple dye mauveine begun to fade?



Dirty air

What constitutes ground-level air pollution and what are the impacts of such pollutants on Man and the environment?



Chapattis and the English disease

In the early 1700s in England 'nothing was so much feared or talk'd of as Rickets among Children'. We now know that this softening of the bones, leading to bowed legs and other def...


Reviews

Macabre chemistry

John Emsley 



GCSE science foundation and higher

University of York Science Education Group and Nuffield Curriculum Centre 

 





Chemistry for the 21st century

University of York Science Education Group and Nuffield Curriculum Centre 



AQA foundation

David Glover, Jean Martin and Helen Norris 


Distillates

Learning from the best

Researchers from the National Institute of Education in Singapore have attempted to determine why pupils from Singapore and Japan are so successful in answering science questions.



Boring science

Terry Lyons from the University of New England, Australia has looked at studies of secondary students' attitudes towards science to find out what makes school science boring.



Assessment of practical work

Researchers at Durham University have been investigating different techniques to measure key aspects of practical performance with a view to producing test items that are more reli...


Infochem

Fuelling the future

Fuel cells will be used to power everything from laptops, through cars and buses, to hospital electrical systems. Finding materials that are lightweight and can soak up H2 gas like...


Endpoint

The return of the prodigal sciences

Keith Taber has the last word.