Vol. 34 No. 3
May-June 2012

Inspiring Youth in Chemistry—An Exhibit

March–June 2012, Pennsylvania, USA

When the United Nations designated 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry, organizations with missions related to chemistry eagerly joined forces to celebrate this central science and its impact on our world. This exhibit at the Chemical Heritage Foundation explores three programs that reached out to the world’s youth to encourage them to become more engaged with science and their chemical world: the Global Chemistry Experiment; Our Children on Water, an exhibition of paintings by children in Africa and Europe; and It’s Elemental, a periodic table full of videos created by U.S. high school students.

The Global Chemistry Experiment
This project, developed by IUPAC and UNESCO, included a set of four basic chemistry experiments designed to entice students around the world to learn about how chemistry contributes to one of the most essential resources in their daily lives—water. See feature article.

It Is Only a Gesture by Laura Valladares Salgado, 16. “In my family, we collect “the brown coins” (those of one, two, or five cents) . . . We used to undervalue them. However, with a little effort we had a can full of money. I think it happens the same way with water.”

Our Children on Water
Children from three countries in Africa and six countries in Europe were invited to create art based on the title “Water: Refreshment or Responsibility?” The result was Our Children on Water, an art exhibition developed by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The works of art show in some cases incredible imagination; others are extraordinarily thought-provoking and reveal varying cultural perspectives on the meaning of water. Over 1500 students aged 8 to 18 participated in the project, and a final selection of 54 pieces are included in this exhibition. The exhibit was first presented at the RSC in the United Kingdom and later traveled to Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

It’s Elemental!
Science, history, art, and technology unite in It’s Elemental!, a video competition created for high-school students by CHF. More than 2000 students from across the United States produced the 689 videos that populate an online, interactive periodic table. The three winning videos, selected by a distinguished panel of judges, are showcased in this exhibit.

www.chemheritage.org/visit/museum/exhibits/inspiring-youth-in-chemistry.aspx