TikTok is a social media video-based phone application which enables creative and engaging videos to be shared on social media platforms worldwide. TikTok has been applied to create fun, exciting, and engaging 15–60 s long chemistry outreach educational videos, to encourage public dissemination of science with a systems thinking approach. With the creation of an online TikTok account called “The Chemistry Collective” by undergraduate students, 16 educational videos were created, with approximately 8,500 views. Upon surveying participants, viewers of these TikTok videos strongly agreed that they had learned something new about chemistry since watching these videos (4.66/5.00) and had an increased interest in chemistry (82.7% agreed). As such, TikTok can be used to enhance public and undergraduate student engagement with chemistry and science education, together with facilitating the ability of the public to understand how chemistry can be fun, can be performed at home, and is part of our daily lives.

No abstract

Snapchat is a social media platform with the ability to share media and network with others. The platform has been applied with lower division undergraduate students studying chemistry, biochemistry, and natural sciences. Approximately 140 students followed a "class" account where both images and videos were shared with the aim of allowing them to contextualize subject knowledge in the real world, demonstrate practical setups in the laboratory, and provide an insight into research environments and life as an academic in chemistry. Upon surveying the students, with a 43% response rate, students overwhelmingly agreed that they feel more engaged with chemistry through using Snapchat in this manner (4.32/5.00) and together with it being a useful tool to contextualize their knowledge in chemistry in the real world and their degree program (4.32/5.00). As such, instructors using Snapchat in this way could enhance student engagement with chemistry together with facilitating the ability of students to understand how chemistry can be applied to affect their daily lives.

Research suggests that systems thinking is beneficial to education and it has been proposed that training students using systems thinking techniques may enhance their abilities to understand and solve some...

A laboratory experiment was developed to introduce students to waste valorization. This is the process of reusing, recycling, or composting from wastes, useful products, or sources of energy. In this laboratory experiment, waste valorization is demonstrated through transforming waste orange peel (WOP) into a marmalade-type gel by extracting a pectin-based mixture (or sol) and forming a gel in combination with an acidified sugar solution. Upon isolating the pectin sol, students examined how the rheological properties varied as a function of temperature using capillary viscometry. Gelation was followed via rotational viscometry, and non-Newtonian, shear-thinning properties were demonstrated by monitoring the viscosity change as a function of spindle RPM. In addition to providing a safe and green alternative to the traditional borax-cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) gel for students to study, this experiment demonstrates that valuable products for everyday use can be created from household waste such as WOP. Students making the transition from a first to second year undergraduate chemistry program within a natural-sciences degree have successfully conducted this laboratory experiment.