Phosphate Recovery as a Topic for Practical and Interdisciplinary Chemistry Learning

Abstract

Phosphates are essential components of any efficient fertilizer. Natural phosphate rock is, however, not available in every part of the world. According to the European Commission, phosphate rock has high economic importance as well as a certain supply riskat least for Europe. For these reasons, environmental technology research has received a great attention from the stakeholders that provided support in developing processes for recovering phosphate from wastewater and sewage sludge to help to close the phosphate cycle and reduce potential risks, including eutrophication and its influence on the environment. In this paper, we present a design case study of integrating the idea of phosphate recovery into chemistry education via a nonformal learning experience for high school students in Germany. The paper discusses a series of experiments and shows how they were embedded through interdisciplinary curriculum development.

A Qualitative Investigation of the Interactions of Students with Graduate and Undergraduate TAs in General Chemistry Laboratories

“…Although students' concern about their grades could be understood to some extent, it is important for science educators to do something about it and use evidence-based strategies to spark an interest in their students. Among successful interventions, introducing topics in context and relating the topics to students' majors, lives, or societies have been widely used and proven to be effective in this regard [29][30][31][32]. In such classrooms, it was determined that students become more interested in the topics taught and motivated to do more to be successful [28].…”

Promoting Education for Sustainable Development with an Interactive Digital Learning Companion Students Use to Perform Collaborative Phosphorus Recovery Experiments and Reporting

“…Furthermore, this problem-based context with multi-perspective problem-solving ed-2020-00408h.R1 Article aspects indicates chemistry's need for solving challenges in the context of sustainable development and the impact of scientific technologies to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 4 The topic of phosphate recovery is appropriate as a socio-scientific issue due to its authenticity, relevance, the possibility of discussion, and different points of views in society; furthermore, phosphate recovery is a meaningful techno-scientific query. 26 Due to its multidimensional nature, the topic of phosphorus recovery connects cross-disciplinary aspects.…”

“…Therefore, the European Union declares phosphates a critical raw material . In connection with these problems, environmental technology is developing recovering processes for phosphate from wastewater and sewage sludge . This should reduce potential risks and the impact on the environment as a result of the closed phosphate cycle by the recovery processes.…”

“…In this context chemistry topics can be connected to sustainable development. Protection of phosphate resources as a socio-scientific issue allows pupils to see the individual and social relevance and a professional vantage to chemically analyze industrial solution approaches to solve this problem. , Furthermore, interactive widgets can connect different places of learning in a way that links school topic, laboratories experiments, and industrial processes. MLBs serve as a connection, both between formal and nonformal places of learning and between the transfer of competences for pupils. , …”

Using the chemistry of pharmaceuticals to introduce sustainable chemistry and systems thinking in general chemistry

“…For example in the United States, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include systems thinking and modeling as a cross-cutting concept (4,5). Recently, a special issue of the Journal of Chemical Education that focused on systems thinking in chemistry education has provided a number of examples for chemistry topics that can be meshed with traditional content of the general chemistry curriculum (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). While these articles provided a number of practical examples of content in general chemistry connecting to larger systems, the role of chemistry in the discovery and production of pharmaceuticals was not featured as an example.…”