RSC - Advancing the Chemical Sciences


Education

 

July 2008

Full issue available online.

July 2008

Column

Countries signed up to the Bologna agreement highlighted in Orange

Bologna reflections

Recent research by RSC's Mastering Bologna Group calls for more clarity in learning outcomes of UK chemistry degrees to enable students to be successful in continental Europe



Students competing in Top of the Bench final

Londoners take top spot in final

Students from Highgate School, London, overcame strong competition from a field of 27 secondary school teams to take first prize at this year's Top of the Bench national final



coins

Extra cash for chemistry in the short term

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has awarded an additional £1.65m to the Chemistry for our future (CFOF) programme



Maths equations

Pfizer to support maths in HE

Pfizer-RSC collaborative project, Discover chemistry, to investigate maths provision in UK undergraduate chemistry courses



Dr Paul Wyatt, director of the Bristol ChemLabS

Innovation in the lab earns HE award

University of Bristol's Paul Wyatt is the winner of the 2008 RSC Education Division's Higher Education award



What benefits subject-specific CPD?

Independent report finds that teachers who take part in RSC's Chemistry for non-specialists (CFNS) become more confident in their teaching of chemistry and practical chemistry



In brief

Items: Various short items



Sweaty man with fan

Chemlingo

Peter Childs, University of Limerick, investigates words in chemistry. In this issue: no sweat



Depressed woman

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: Prozac problems



Web key

Web watch

Tony Tooth, chemistry teacher at The King's School in Ely, takes a look at some websites that may be of interest to chemistry teachers


Letters

Letters

Education in Chemistry Letters, July 2008


Exhibition Chemistry

Wasp

Exhibition chemistry

Demonstrations to capture the student's imagination, by Adrian Guy of Blundell's School. In this issue: toxic hydrogen cyanide


The Elements

Magnesium symbol from the Visual Elements Periodic Table

The Elements

John Emsley, University of Cambridge, takes you on a tour of the periodic table. In this issue: Once the destroyer of cities, magnesium is now an energy saver


Features

nmr apparatus

The power of NMR: the beginnings

Originally a curiosity of the quantum world, NMR is now an essential tool for chemists, biochemists and clinicians



Illustration of the

Nanomedicine arrives

Nanoscale chemical entities target the building blocks of biology with medicinal consequences



Multiple-choice paper and pencil

Multiple-choice tests - are they fit for purpose?

Of what value are multiple-choice tests in the new GCSE Science specifications?



Antimony on the Periodic Table

Antimony revisited

The intriguing chemistry of antimony, one of the earliest elements to be discovered



Woman in library with laptop

E-learning in practice

Making the most of the Internet and ICT to support teaching and learning in science



Distillates

gunshot residue in fibres

Lead-free gun crime

US forensic chemists develop a fast and cheap method for identifying gunshot residues



Alligator

Alligator aid to combat superbugs

Alligator's blood is a potential source of new drugs



Valerii Vinokur and his colleague

Superinsulators

Titanium nitride films with superinsulating properties prevent short circuits



MOF-74 model

Hydrogen tank

Metal-organic compounds, the key to hydrogen-powered cars


Reviews



Looking through glass DVD

Alan Leadbetter




Endpoint

Triple science - the best option?

Colin Osborne has the last word


Infochem

InfoChem issue 111

InfoChem July 2008

In this month's pupil supplement: Artificial photosynthesis; Thomas Crown tries to avoid detection; A day in the life of a regulatroy affairs consultant