Chemistry and the Environment

This issue contains more than 20 articles relating to the environment. Several articles of potential interest are indicated in the Table of Contents with the SSC mark (). Others are not so indicated because they depict use of expensive instrumentation or costly procedures, but if you have an interest in environmental chemistry you may wish to examine all the environmentally related articles. While many of the articles, both marked and unmarked, are targeted to college-level environmental chemistry curricula or to introductory courses for non-major, the methods described in several could be readily adapted to high school chemistry courses.

One article likely to be of interest to teachers is found in News from Online, pp 1608-1609. The author explains how to use the U.S. Environment Protection Agency's EnviroMapper Web site to view and query environmental information. She mentioned finding a hazardous waste handler located near her home, so I decided to check the area near my home. I quickly located a natural gas salt dome storage facility marked on the map and, with a few more mouse clicks, I found information that included status of compliance with regulations, amounts of each compound released to the air in tons per year, and how to contact the corporation owning the site. Email and Web site addresses were included for the convenience of anyone wishing to contact the corporation. Students could learn a great deal about where they live that is relevant to chemistry by using the EPA site. Additional Web sites dealing with environmental issues and chemistry are cited in the sidebar at the bottom of p 1609.

Among the articles that could be adapted to an advanced high school chemistry class or possibly even to an introductory class is one titled Bridge of Mandolin County (pp 1671-1672). It describes a case-study strategy similar to the scenarios used in ChemStudy. Students analyze information from various sources, including laboratory experiments if desired, discuss their findings, and make a recommendation regarding which of two road deicers should be used on the bridge.

The article Pesticides in Drinking Water: Project-Based Learning within the Introductory Chemistry Curriculum (pp 1673-1667) describes class involvement in field data collection and analysis. Since more sophisticated instrumentation than is possessed by many schools is required, 6th grade science and high school chemistry classes work with a college class to obtain and analyze data. Everyone involved in this approach wins. The 6th graders, high school students, and college students all gain experience in sampling, preparing samples for analysis, determining pollutant levels, and drawing conclusions, each at an appropriate level of understanding. Plus, the high school students are exposed to instrumentation that otherwise would not be accessible, such as gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Although the project described was started by the college faculty members who wrote the article, such an approach to many interesting environmental chemistry problems could be initiated by a high school teacher by seeking out a nearby college or university with whom to partner.

An article that probably would not have received the SSC mark had I not noticed that two of the coauthors are high school students, is titled Remediation of Water Contaminated with an Azo Dye (pp 1680-1683). In addition to being interesting, the article is a good reminder that research opportunities for high school students exist. Still another article that received the SSC mark because of a high school connection is Chemical Analysis of Soils (pp 1693-1694). The authors mention that with modification their techniques could be used in high school chemistry. They cite a reference to an article published several years ago, titled Soil Analysis for High School Chemistry Students (J. Chem. Educ. 1980, 57, 897-899). It was published in a feature titled the 50-Minute Experiment. Block scheduling has brought an end to the 50-minute period in many classrooms, but the experiment is valid and potentially useful in providing experience with real-world samples.

Write Now!

With the coming of December days are shorter and nights are longer, and for many readers in the United States and Canada winter weather has set in. If you have been thinking about writing an article for JCE perhaps now is a good time to be doing it. I would like to call your attention to four feature columns designed especially for high school teachers:

Chemical Principles Revisited
Cary Kilner, Editor
Exeter High School, 7 Salmon Street, Newmarket, NH 03857
Phone: 603/659-6825; Fax: 603/772-8287;
email: CaryPQ@aol.com

Interdisciplinary Connections
Mark Alber, Editor
Darlington School, 1014 Cave Spring Road, Rome, GA 30161
Phone: 706/236-0442; Fax: 706/236-0443;
email: malber@darlington.rome.ga.us

Second Year and Advanced Placement Chemistry
John Fischer, Editor
Ashwaubenon High School, 2391 Ridge Road, Green Bay, WI 54304
Phone: 414/492-2955 ext 2020;
email: fischer@netnet.net

View from My Classroom
David Byrum, Editor
Flowing Wells High School, 3301 E. Ft. Lowell Rd., Tucson, AZ 85716
Phone: 520/795-2928;
email: DavidB1032@aol.com

The titles are descriptive of the content sought for each feature, whose mission statement can be found at the JCE Web site, jchemed.chem.wisc.edu. Click on "Features" in the left-hand frame on your screen. All these editors will be happy to discuss your ideas for an article.

Secondary School Feature Articles

JCE Classroom Activity #22: Colors to Dye for: Preparation of Natural Dyes, p 1688A

Applications of Biocatalysis to Industrial Processes, by John T. Sime, p 1658