14/02/2015 | Alen Bjelopetrović In light of MARKING the year 2014 as World crystallography year, Croatian Association of Crystallographers in cooperation with PLIVA and Chemistry department od Faculty of science in Zagreb has devised and organized the first Croatian contest in growing single crystals for students of elementary and secondary school titled „The beauty of crystal faces“. Important thing was to ensure that students have some elementary chemistry knowledge. Therefore the contest was intended for students of 7th and 8th grade of elementary school, and all four grades of secondary school. The main goal of the contest was the preparation of single crystal as big as possible in one of three categories: a) inorganic salt (blue vitriol) b) orgaic compound (citric acid) c) mixed crystals (chromium and aluminium alum) Time of experiment was limited to two months. For the experiment were chosen substances which students met during their education. The main goal of the contest was to bring closer the world of science to students and interest them about crystals and crystal growth. Through the contest, students had to adopt fundamental techniques used in the chemical laboratory such as discernment of unsaturated and saturated solution, filtration and using laboratory dishes and chemicals. Students were also stimulated to write laboratory notebook which is an important component of every experimental work. The response to the content was unexpectedly good: there were more than 100 schools applied with more than 460 students grouped in more than 150 teams. This is a good indicator that students already have great interest in chemistry, science in general and experimental work.