Chemistry education
In chemistry education and dissemination one studies chemistry from a more overall perspective than in ordinary research within chemistry. That means one looks at chemistry as a research discipline, as a teaching subject, and as a subject for dissemination in a historical and societal context. This will include study of the history of chemical ideas, the development of chemistry as a research and teaching subject, the legitimising of chemistry today as a teaching subject and a topic for dissemination, and, last but not the least, studies of methodological aspects of chemistry. At the Department of chemistry at NTNU we have chosen two aspects within this conglomerate of topics, namely the history of chemistry and studies and development of experiments for the teaching of chemistry.
Some on-going projects:
Experimental projects:
- Small scale and low-cost electrochemistry experiments in education.
- Bridging Chemistry and Art: Identification of chemical components of art objects in a contextual frame (collaboration with analytical chemistry and Museum of Natural History and Archeology).
- Reconstruction of historic experiments, particular iconic ones (see also History of chemistry projects).
Class-room investigations:
"Writing as a basic skill in science/chemistry." This project is part of a interdisciplinary research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council aiming at analyzing current practices in school and preparing teachers for developing writing skills in all school subjects (www.skriving.no)
History of chemistry projects:
- Ida Noddack-Tacke: Woman in chemistry and wife of a chemist
- 100 years of chemistry training in Trondheim
- A history of the development of column chromatography: From Tswett to HPLC
- The reception of the periodic system in Norway
Areas of interest: 19th & 20th century chemistry, chemical instrumentation & collections, re-staging classical experiments in chemistry, women in science, textbooks in the history of chemistry.
