Chicago Section American Chemical Society - Primary School Education Committee

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Primary School Education Committee

AACT LOWERING DUES FOR ONE YEAR

To provide support for teachers during this unprecedented time, AACT has decreased teacher member dues by 10% through April 30, 2021. Teachers who join or renew during this time will pay $45. Joining will allow you to gain access to over 900 classroom resources, a library of professional learning webinars, subscriptions to ChemMatters magazine and Chemistry Solutions, and more. Go to teachchemistry.org for more information.

TEACHER KITS ARE BACK!!!

Teacher Kits are back. The Chicago ACS Section has 50 K – 12 educator experiment kits to hand out. This is the 3^rd big kit that the section has done this year. Every kit has the supplies and instructions for teachers so they could do the activities in their classroom. Please fill out the linked form to sign up to receive a kit. Kits will be available in April at several locations. Videos about the activities will be linked on the website for teachers to be able to understand how and why about an activity. There are over 12 experiments that can be done multiple times. Topics with this kit include:

Intermolecular forces – looking at the polarity of various dyes
Cartesian Diver
Making a Spectroscope
Rate of Dissolving
Discrepant Event
Acids and Bases
Corrosion
Paper making
Earth Day activities
Electrolysis
Measuring a wavelength of light

There might be one more kit will be available this school year for teachers to do demonstrations and labs with their students. Please stay tune to see if there is one more kit this school year.

Marie S. Curie Girl Scout Chemistry Day - 2017

The 2017 Marie S. Curie Girl Scout Chemistry Day program gives girls ages 10 to 18 the opportunity to learn about chemistry through lecture and laboratory, the careers available in various areas of chemistry and to talk, and interact with female role models who are chemists. Events will be held in three locations:

College of Lake County on Saturday, April 22, 2017
Valparaiso University on Saturday, April 29, 2017
North Central College on Saturday, May 6, 2017.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We are currently looking for women chemists, or women in a related area of science, to help as mentors for this program. Mentors will meet with small groups of girls during lunch and describe their career as a woman chemist, educational requirements needed to be a chemist, and opportunities available in chemistry. We need at least 10 mentors at each site. Lunch is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. and pizza will be provided. Please contact Fran Kravitz by email at [email protected] if you are interested.

2016 Events

The Marie S. Curie Girl Scout Chemistry Day program is an opportunity for girl scouts in grades 4-12 to earn a patch in Chemistry through the Chicago Section ACS and in collaboration with the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana Council (GSGCNWI). The program describes the different areas of chemistry and how it impacts daily life. Scouts receive a 70 page chemistry booklet; participate in lecture discussions; and perform experiments in a college laboratory including

paper chromatography
Vitamin C titrations
iron nail redox reaction
reaction rates of glow sticks
making a density tower
Cartesian diver
slime

Lunch is spent in small groups discussing career in chemistry with female scientists from industry, academia and government. The 2016 program was held at three locations: North Central College in Naperville on Saturday, April 2, Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN on Saturday, April 9 and College of Lake County in Grayslake on Saturday, May 7. A total of 106 girl scouts participated in the program and received the Marie S. Curie Girl Scout Chemistry Day Patch.