What is the International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011)?

The IYC 2011 intends to increase the awareness and public appreciation of chemistry, and how it has contributed to the well-being of the human race. It will be a year-long worldwide celebration.

The theme for the IYC is “Chemistry – our life, our future”. This theme will be celebrated through many activities conducted around the Globe that aim to be educational, entertaining and educational for all ages.

RADMASTE has already embarked upon the IYC 2011 journey by holding a teacher workshop in support of the Global Water Experiment, which forms part of the IYC. This took place on 17 January 2011 within the framework of the SACI-FASC conference, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. RADMASTE has conducted several more such workshops for teachers that use the IYC Global Water Kits with their learners.

The Global Water Experiment was officially launched by UNESCO and IUPAC on 22 March 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa at an event called the "Big Splash". RADMASTE participated in this launch, which coincided with the UN World Water Day and the South African National Water Week. Read more about this in our Newsletter.

For more information on the IYC 2011 and associated events, please go to http://www.chemistry2011.org
 

What is the Global Experiment for the International Year of Chemistry?

The Global Experiment for IYC 2011 is called "Water - a Chemical Solution". It intends to unite school children of all ages around the World by allowing them to participate in activities that will emphasise the role of chemistry in water quality and water treatment.

There are four component activities that make up the Global Water Experiment. These activities are adaptable to a variety of schools and to a wide range of ages of learners. This makes participation possible for all schools and facilitates strong links with the relevant school science curriculum (both primary and secondary).

The four activities of the Global Water Experiment are:

Some activities can result in quantitative data which can be included on the IYC data collection website with an interactive global data map. Detailed directions for all components of the Global Water Experiment are available on this same website.

RADMASTE has developed a special microscale chemistry kit in South Africa for world-wide use in the Global Experiment. This includes the few chemicals required.

For more information on the Global Experiment, please download and read the White Paper for "Water - a Chemical Solution" by clicking on the image below:

Global  Experiment white paper - public.pdf

You can also learn about the Global Experiment at http://www.chemistry2011.org/participate/featured-ideas/global-experiment
 

What are the small scale kits that RADMASTE has developed in support of the
Global Experiment?

In order for the Global Experiment to become truly accessible to students and teachers around the World, there must be some  minimal equipment and chemicals available at a cost that is affordable to both developed and developing countries. To address this need, RADMASTE has developed low-cost, safe, robust kits to be used by teachers and learners to carry out the four activities that form part of the Global Experiment.

For the school children, there are Global Water Kits (GWKs) containing most of the equipment and some non-hazardous chemicals. The kits can be used by individual learners or groups of learners (up to four per group). For the teacher, there is a School Resource Kit (SRK) which contains additional apparatus and chemicals to support the GWKs in the classroom. Schools are encouraged to acquire School Packs that will provide a class of 40 learners with the necessary materials to conduct all four activities of the Global Experiment. Each School Pack consists of one (1) School Resource Kit and ten (10) Global Water Kits.  The School Pack can be re-used by different classes and grades of students, making the kits more affordable to schools that do not have the resources to purchase large numbers of kits. Once a school has a School Pack, additional SRKs and GWKs can be purchased to supplement the School Pack.

THE SCHOOL PACK

Once the IYC has ended, schools can continue using the kits to carry out many primary science, chemistry and biology activities using locally found chemicals. These activities are freely available on the UNESCO website.

To find out more about the microscale water kits, please download and read the following document by clicking on the link below:

ANNEX 5 to the White Paper - info on small scale activities for the IYC Global Experiment.pdf
 

Where can I purchase the School Pack and How Much does it cost?

The School Pack, School Resource Kit and Global Water Kits are all directly available from RADMASTE. Click on the links below (images or text) to find out more about the contents of each kit, the costs of each kit and instructions for ordering these items from RADMASTE:

Where can I find the printable materials for the four activities of the
IYC Global Experiment?

The IYC Task Force for the Global Experiment has set up a website  (http://www.chemistry2011.org) where schools can register to participate in the Global Experiment, download the activities and log their results.

RADMASTE is also providing the full and abridged versions of the small scale activities as PDF documents on this website. Click on the images below to access the activities.

FULL VERSIONS OF THE ACTIVITIES

ABRIDGED VERSIONS OF THE ACTIVITIES

The abridged versions of the activities consist of an A4 booklet for teachers and an A5 booklet for learners. These booklets are ideal for use in the classroom and out in the field. Click on the images below to access the documents.