ConfChem Conference on A Virtual Colloquium to Sustain and Celebrate IYC 2011 Initiatives in Global Chemical Education: Chemistry Cartoon Competition from IUPAC Physical Chemistry Division

Abstract

This communication summarizes one of the invited papers to the ConfChem online conference A Virtual Colloquium to Sustain and Celebrate IYC 2011 Initiatives in Global Chemical education, held from May 18 to June 28, 2012, and jointly hosted by the ACS DivCHED Committee on Computers in Chemical Education and the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education. During the UNESCO–IUPAC sponsored International Year of Chemistry 2011, the Physical and Biophysical Chemistry Division of IUPAC ran physical chemistry video and chemistry cartoon international competitions for secondary and tertiary students. The cartoon competition was more successful attracting over 60 entries from 8 countries with the bulk of the entries coming from secondary students, partly due to utilization of the competition by secondary teachers as an assigned classroom activity. This utilization trend may indicate the perceived value by teachers of cartoons in the teaching of chemistry. The success of the cartoon competition has prompted the Physic...