Sustainable Chemistry Katherine Haxton Education for Sustainable Development, January 2014
Course Background ‘Traditional’ Chemistry Course Dual Honours, Major Route Major curriculum redesign: redevelop every module create Single Honours Route create new modules considering UG Masters (MChem)
2 nd Year Sustainable Chemistry Whole year, no exam, focus on developing transferrable skills hand-in-hand with chemistry knowledge. Several aspects taught through narratives. Disjointed list of topics: - polymer chemistry - environmental chemistry - industrial chemistry - chemistry of gadgets
A Moment of Flippancy… …and we called it ‘Sustainable Chemistry’. It was a ‘theme’ for the module. Then we had no option but to ‘do’ Education for Sustainable Development. CC-BY 2.0
Chemistry Perspective
Foundations Intro lecture on sustainability concepts - thanks to Zoe Robinson and Phillipa Calver - produced a toolkit of key issues. Inclusion of relevant examples in other aspects - biodegradable polymers - environmental chemistry and life cycle analysis - focus on chemical perspective of a product - 12 principles of green chemistry in the laboratory
Group Projects ‘Green’ a 1 st year laboratory experiment. (20 %) Take an experiment you did as 1 st years, can you change it to be: - cheaper - produce less waste/less problematic waste - require less harmful solvents - ‘better’ by some quantitative measure but still fulfil the same learning outcomes (theory, laboratory techniques, data analysis as the original)?
Industrial Chemistry Essay in ‘New Scientist’ Style (25 %) Focus on aspect of industrial chemistry but MUST bring in sustainability issues. Scaffolding/Feedback Opportunities - industrial chemistry lectures involving narrative - life cycle analysis of a product (short written piece, 5%) - infographic on aspect of industrial chemistry (5 %) - lesson in proof reading, analysis of articles of type desired CC BY 2.0
Beyond 2 nd Year One Module IS NOT ENOUGH - but access is a problem. 1 st Year DKC Session - skills with sustainability themes 1 st Year Screencast Presentations (15 %) - last year ‘any aspect’ of chemistry. - this year ‘chemistry relating to sustainability or the environment’ - requires scaffolding: intro lecture and DKC session
Lessons Depressed students (‘we’re all gonna die’) Extremely complex role of subject within sustainable development - chemistry is both saint and sinner Easy to consider the environment, harder to move deeper into issues
CC-BY-NC Survive semester 2 (Industrial Chem, DKC, 1 st year presentations) Evaluate, revise and prepare for next year. Read more!