Increasing Awareness of Materials and the Environment: Hands-On Outreach Activity Presenting Water Purification Materials and Concepts

Abstract

Water pollution is one of the biggest environmental issues of our times. To address such a huge challenge, the full involvement of everyone is required. In this context, we report the results of outreach hands-on activities aimed at presenting to the general public two classes of materials with high potential in the removal of common water pollutants, such as heavy metals and dyes: zeolites and chitosan-based aerogels. Under the guidance of young students of materials science and engineering, participants have performed safe, fast, and easy to understand experiments for the removal of copper ions and dye molecules from water. The discussion of the results, which was adapted time by time to the knowledge and age of the audience, provided all participants with a general understanding of the two phenomena underlying water purification, namely, ion exchange for zeolites and molecular adsorption for chitosan aerogels. Besides raising awareness of young people about water pollution and, more in general, about environmental issues, the proposed activity highlights the key role of materials scientists in providing smart and feasible solutions to tackle everyday problems.

STEAM Project-Based Learning Activities at the Science Museum as an Effective Training for Future Chemistry Teachers

“…Focusing into the learning and teaching of chemistry, in the last decades non-formal and informal learning and teaching emerged as crucial aspects in education of both children and adults [10]. Several studies [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] have indeed evidenced the role of out-ofschool activities in motivating students and promoting positive attitudes toward chemistry [15], testing new teaching and learning methods applied to chemistry [14,16,18,40], dealing with new and emerging topics in chemistry, such as sustainability and green chemistry [11][12][13][14], as well as problematic themes, such as environmental pollutions and microplastics [24,28,32]. Among various possibilities, informal activities, such as the individual visit to a museum or an open day, or the consumption of a TV show may influence positively the learning of specific chemical topics.…”

“…Remarkably, these non-formal laboratorial activities showed to be effective in including low-achievers and students with different abilities [11]. Known experiences of non-formal activities centered on chemistry, whose impact on students have been reported [15][16][17][18][19][29][30][31][32]41], are the so-called outreach programs, where universities and other institutions organize laboratories and other activities for kids and for school students. In the last years, several examples of remote laboratories and virtual highly interactive platforms have also been developed to inspire interest about chemistry and scientific research and to orient students in continuing their studies in science and chemistry, too [15,31,[41][42][43][44].…”

“…Significant efforts in building up innovative exhibits related to chemistry, such as interactive laboratories to explore D.N.A. or the energy associated to chemical reactions, and digital tools to approach the history of chemistry in very interactive ways, have been reported [27,32,49,54] Moreover, the cultural and social roles of museums of chemistry, as well as the historical chemical landmarks [46], are connected with their potentialities as neutral contexts to stimulate critical discussions around chemical issues with relevant ethical, economic and social implications [33,36,55].…”

“…In the recent years, out-of-school programs and outreach activities [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] designed for children, school students and adults concerning chemistry and STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines [20] have been reported and discussed in terms of learning outcomes, effectiveness of the non-formal contexts and acquired skills. Among non-formal environments, science museums [21,22], and, in particular, museums of chemistry, collections of chemical instruments and historical scientific collections demonstrated to influence positively the learning of chemical concepts, to enhance the engagement of different publics into chemistry and to motivate high school students in continuing their studies in science and in chemistry [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Chemistry is recognized from the scientific community as a 'central science', since it connects different disciplines such as biology and medicine, nanoscience and material science [33], however, the general public perception of chemistry is not always positive and the general attitude of students toward chemistry is very much influenced by their experiences at school [34][35][36].…”

Training of Future Chemistry Teachers by a Historical / STEAM Approach Starting from the Visit to an Historical Science Museum

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Several papers, published in the recent years, show that out-ofschool programs and outreach activities designed for children, families and/ or for school students are effective in terms of acquired knowledges and skills in specific topics about science and technology. [14][15][16][17][18] Traditional science museums, historical collections linked to high schools or universities and interactive science centres are nowadays strongly connected with schools of any levels, from primary to high schools, and they have developed numerous activities, mainly laboratorial and interactive ones, where science is presented in its relationship with Society and with other disciplines. 5,7,8,18 This approach is an effective alternative to the more traditional and scholastic ways of teaching science through its concepts, laws and more formal aspects.…”