Greening Across the Chemistry Curriculum English | Versión en Español | Versão em Português (Brasil)
A Project with major funding from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences. Additional funding was provided by the ACS/EPA Green Chemistry Educational Materials Development Project and the University of Scranton.
At the University of Scranton we have been awarded a grant from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences to develop modules in green chemistry to insert into existing courses across the college chemistry curriculum.
On June 26, 2000 Daryle Busch, president of the American Chemical Society said "Green chemistry represents the pillars that hold up our sustainable future. It is imperative to teach the value of green chemistry to tomorrow's chemists." 1
We believe that it is very important that university students be exposed to real-world, state-of-art examples of green chemistry (environmentally benign chemistry) in the mainstream courses that they encounter in a typical college chemistry curriculum. Many industries are now practicing green chemical principles. Those students who are versed in green chemistry will be most attractive to these industries, and will be able to foster the practice of green chemistry in these industries, and initiate the practice and discussion of green chemistry throughout industry and academia.
It is our hope that these modules will make it simple, attractive and easy for other instructors to infuse green chemistry into the courses they teach. Each of the modules will have three parts:
- “The module” - this is where the green chemistry topic is di scussed and the instructor will have her students go to the web page to read and study the material.
- “Notes to Instructors” -suggests how and where the particular module could be used in a particular course, and other courses in which the module might also be used.
- “PowerPoint Presentation” -this can be downloaded by the instructor and the students. This can then be used by the instructor to present the material, and by the stu dents to take notes.
We have developed and placed on the web an introduction to green chemistry and nine green chemistry teaching modules. Over the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 academic years we will insert these modules into the courses that we teach in order to green the chemistry curriculum at the University of Scranton. We encourage instructors to copy, use and modify the introduction and modules acc ording to their needs for educational purposes. However any commercial use is prohibited unless permission of the authors is granted. We ask that you let us know when and how you use them (email@example.com), and comments, suggestions and criticisms are most welcome. This will aid us in the assessment of the outcomes of this project. Along with an An Introduction to Green Chemistry, Modules are posted for the following courses:
- General Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Environmental Chemistry
- Polymer Chemistry
- Advanced Organic Chemistry
- Chemical Toxicology
- Industrial Chemistry
The following University of Scranton, Chemistry Department faculty members are participants in this grant:
- Michael C. Cann (Principal Investigator)
- Trudy Dickneider
- Timothy Foley
- David Marx
- Donna Narsavage-Heald
- Joan Wasilewski
We are grateful to The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for major support of this work. Additional support of this work by the ACS/EPA Green Chemistry Educational Materials Development Project, a University of Scranton Faculty Development Grant and the University of Scranton Chemistry Department is also gratefully acknowledged.
1. Color Me Green. Chem. Eng. News 2000, 78 (28) 49-55.