CITIES for Teachers

CITIES for you – teachers

The CITIES team welcomes all who visit this site, especially chemistry colleagues who may take part in the CITIES training courses.

For you, and for us, chemistry is an exciting science, and we want to introduce our students to this field in the best possible way. We have a product free of charge to offer!

Some of us have not studied chemistry, but maybe biology or physics. They may, more than anybody else, want tested, up-to-date didactic material that helps them to make their classes even more vibrant. For this purpose, we have developed module 4 of CITIES, called "Chemistry - bringing it alive". For example, we know that students show specific interest in Forensic Science. In module 4, you will find appropriate experiments which lead from the forensic application to the chemical basis of the techniques used.

Others may have started their career as a pupil in school, gone to university, and then back to school as teachers. They may feel that those aspects of chemistry which relate to its industrial and commercial use should be brought to them in such a way that they can use them in their classes. This would help to make students familiar with the economic and societal aspects of chemistry, and with career perspectives the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and related industries offer. Background information, helpful links and didactic material for this purpose is found in module 2, which we have called "Commerce and innovation - our future".

Most of our curricula in Europe are still very much centered around scientific principles, and we are bound to teach them. In some cases, curricula already contain elements of "everyday chemistry", of aspects relating the scientific content to its practical application, economic value and benefits for all of us. Starting from the film "A day without chemistry", we offer elements that make a short link between the curricular scientific content and the world in which we and our students, live.  We called these contents of module 3 "Chemistry changes everything". They are accompanied by a model for "Promoting Chemistry" from a sample case - simple, low cost, safe experiments to be performed during a roadshow, in a classroom or at a science fair.

Chemistry seen in a "European Context" is presented in module 1. You will find basic Information on EU policies, with special reference to the context of chemistry and the chemical industry; material concerning international educational programs and available sources of funding;  information on different approaches to chemical education in Europe (secondary and tertiary as well as vocational education), with a sub-section on student work experience and student mobility and on the employability of the graduates in a global economy.

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