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130 Journal of Chemical Education

_Vol. 88 No. 2 February 2011

_pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

_r2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

10.1021/ed101133m Published on Web 12/10/2010

Chemical Education Today

Distilling International Year of Chemistry Activitiesfrom around the Worldby Alice J. Teter

Journal of Chemical Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53715,United [email protected]

After the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations(UN) adopted the resolution proclaiming 2011 as the Interna-tional Year of Chemistry (IYC), the International Union of Pureand Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the United Nations,United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisa-tion (UNESCO) were placed at the helm of this global event.Stemming from their belief that the achievements of chemistryand its contributions to the well-being of humankind should becelebrated, they have identified these four key goals for IYC2011:

• Increase public appreciation of chemistry in meeting worldneeds.

• Encourage an interest in chemistry among young people.• Generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry.• Celebrate the achievements of Marie Curie and the contribu-tions of women to chemistry.

The official IYC 2011 Web site at http://www.chemis-try2011.org/ (accessed Dec 2010) serves as a central location forinformation about activities worldwide associated with thiscelebration. The IYC logo (Figure 1), which appears promi-nently on thisWeb site, may also appear in other places that haveinformation about IYC activities.

Please check the IYCWeb site frequently. The informationthere changes almost daily, and you will not want to miss anevent, project opportunity, meeting, or contest deadline.

Celebrating the International Year of Chemistry 2011

IYC 2011 International Launching Ceremony

TheOfficial International LaunchCeremony for IYC 2011will take place at UNESCO World Headquarters in Paris on27-28 January 2011, under the aegis of the UN,UNESCO, andIUPAC. The agenda for this event includes an internationalseminar, an exhibition, and other related social and culturalevents.

IYC and the Journal of Chemical Education

As part of the Journal's participation in IYC, we arewatching the IYC Web site. Some items have already caughtthe eyes of our staff members as particularly interesting, or fun, ormodels that other organizations might use to generate their owncelebrations.

We are also interested in “inside information” about IYC2011 activities, and invite developers and organizers as well asparticipants to write brief descriptions of how their activities

were developed, who participated, outcomes, and other mean-ingful information, and submit these to the Journal for con-sideration for publication.

Get Involved with IYC Activities, Events, and Ideas

The IYC Web site presents all manner of interestingmaterial: activities, events, and the groups sponsoring them.From the home page, “Connect” to the IYC Network, whichlists the people and groups who have registered events oractivities, and national primary contact people. Browsing thenetwork may help you find a local (and enthusiastic) expert,mentor, or partner for a project of your own, or even someonewho is doing something quite similar to your project, yet inanother part of the world. Join the network and register yourown activities, events, and ideas.

“Participate” by looking at the ideas, events, and activitiesthat have been registered. Note that new ones continue to beadded. Each has audience and topic tags, and useful filters areavailable for searches. When you find activities of interest, youcan participate in those that are nearby, or model and create yourown activities with distant programs as an inspiration.

A very small sampling of activities appears in Table 1. (Weomitted locations; this was not an oversight.) Have a look at theWeb site; you will almost certainly find it enlightening andenjoyable: http://www.chemistry2011.org/ (accessedDec 2010).

Figure 1. The International Year of Chemistry 2011 logo identifiesmany chemistry-related exciting events and engaging activities through-out the year and around the world. Visit http://www.chemistry2011.org/ (accessed Dec 2010) to find out more.

r2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.



_Journal of Chemical Education 131


Table 1. Sampling of Some International Year of Chemistry Activities Offered throughout the World

Activity Description Audience URLs (all accessed Dec 2010)

Games and Competitions

Dr. O'Too City ofChemistry

Interactive chemistry computergame played via Facebook

Middle andhigh school

http://www.chemistry2011.org/participate/activities/show?id=166

http://apps.facebook.com/dr_otoo

Australian NationalChemistry Quiz

Offered in 15 countries and7 languages, this quiz challengesstudents' reasoning



A World withoutPolymers

Video and essay contestrecognizing the ubiquity andimportance of polymers

High schooland college


UndergraduateOrganicCompetition

Students will be timed answeringmultiple-choice organicchemistry questions; videowill be posted on YouTube

College http://www.chemistry2011.org/participate/activities/show?id=144

Outreach Activities

Children's ChemicalExperiment Show

Interactive chemistrydemonstrations in ascience museum context

Elementaryschool


Yamagata FutureScience Project

Chemistry experiments atYamagata University andlocal schools



Chemikum Marburg Chemistry demonstrations, publicexploration stations, workshopsfor students

Public outreach http://www.chemistry2011.org/participate/activities/show?id=238

EstonianChemistry Days

Conference with poster sessionsopen to the public atTartu University


Super ScienceSaturday

Chemistry demonstrations,hands-on activities,poster displays,live feed from IYC openingevents in Paris


Chemistry and Art

Global StampCompetition:Chemistry as aCultural Enterprise

Students design stampsreflecting the importanceof chemistry locally;entries will be shownat the IYC closingceremonies in Brusselsand winningentries selected

High school http://www.chemistry2011.org/participate/activities/show?id=110

Chem13 NewsPeriodic TableDesign Project

Students create an element tile,contributing their design to thewhole periodic table collectivelymade and publically displayedby poster and online

Elementary, middleand highschool


http://www.chem13news.uwaterloo.ca

Workshops and Poster Sessions by High School Students

Symposium forYoung Researchersof Natural Sciences

Students conduct researchin chemistry and give anoral presentation oftheir results


Chemistry PopularizationWorkshops

Students take a chemistry quiz,attend lectures, and havetheir attitudes andmisconceptions challenged



132 Journal of Chemical Education



_r2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.


Table 1. Continued

Activity Description Audience URLs (all accessed Dec 2010)

Bilingual Activities

Química en Todo:Chemistry AllAround

Students write a blog in Spanishand English, reporting the resultsof their research on chemistryall around us


http://bscw.unizar.es/pub/bscw.cgi/526623

Did�actica de laQuímica y VidaCotidiana: Didacticsof Chemistry andEveryday Life

Students explore chemistry problems,exercises, experiments, andanalogies about everydaymaterials and experiences,accessing free resourcesonline mainly in Spanish andsome in English

High schooland college
