My top 5 reasons for using Green Chemistry in my classroom along with a few examples of replacement labs that follow Green Chemistry principles.
A greener procedure that you might consider to replace the traditional "formula of a hydrate lab" that has typically used copper II sulfate.
Beyond Benign, a national nonprofit, established in 2007 to equip educators, scientists, and citizens with the tools to teach and practice green chemistry to achieve a sustainable society, just announced a strategic partnership with Flinn Scientific.
It is really hard to get to know THAT kid especially when I have classes of other kids who are important and have needs also. Stack on top of this teenage hormones, spring, nice weather, prom, AP tests, state testing and trying to sell as hard as I can how fun "stoichiometry" is....I now run the risk of turning a bunch of other kids into THAT kid pretty quickly.
I am a safety conscience science teacher. I am embarrassed about some of the things that I did in my classes early in my career that I did not realize were unsafe. I saw the demonstrations and activities done at professional development venues and assumed that if my mentors were using the activity, it was safe.
This past summer, I took part in an online professional development offered by Beyond Benign. According to the Web site, “Beyond Benign was created by Dr. John Warner, a founder of the field of Green Chemistry, to provide an approach and means for scientists, particularly those involved in green chemistry and sustainable science, to reach out to the public.” I learned a great deal from the training. I was exposed to many resources that I did not know existed. I found lessons that I can easily incorporate into my curriculum that make a connection between the student and the chemistry content. Nothing is more powerful in a chemistry classroom than when a student can identify how the course content affects their everyday life and their future.
Beyond Benign - http://www.beyondbenign.org/greenchemistry/greenchem.html
Greening Across the Curriculum at University of Scranton - http://cann.scrantonfaculty.com/dreyfusmodules.html
