Using the Arts To Make Chemistry Accessible to Everybody. 2002 James Flack Norris Award, sponsored by ACS Northeast Section

Abstract

Although all chemists know the importance of chemistry in daily life, the rest of the population somehow does not seem to share this view. Each of us believes that we must teach chemistry to everyone, yet we have not succeeded in persuading everyone that they must study chemistry. The reason is often the methods used to communicate chemistry to the public. The arts (music, dance, drama, fine arts, etc.) are excellent vehicles to enhance understanding. For eample, most people are not interested in the concept of the ionic bond, but when presented like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (with a love story between Sodium and Chlorine) everyone enjoys learning about the bonding relationship. In addition, the drama students who write and act out the script remember the concept far longer than would be expected through more conventional teaching methods. The same is true for the students who wrote and acted The Bondfather, and for the students who danced The Three States of Matter. (Our hero falls in love with Soli...