Home:
Introduction

Assignment 1:
Abstract

Assignment 2:
Structures & Models

Assignment 3:
CIITN Group Project

CITTN WebTool
(for project creation, Intra-Group and Intergroup Peer Review)

Metropolitan State College of Denver CIITN

INTRODUCTION

Learning & Writing,
Collaboration & Peer Review

The "Chemistry is in the News" Project

Current Courses

Philosophical Background

Chemistry is the Central Science says the American Chemical Society. Chemistry is central indeed and in several ways. Chemistry is central among the sciences and chemistry also is central to the most pertinent issues of modern society.

When thinking about Society and Chemistry, you might reflect on the agricultural growth due to fertilizers and herbicides, you might remember your last bacterial infection and thankfully reflect on the progress chemistry has brought to pharmaceuticals, you might be a space travel enthusiast and contemplate that no shuttle would ever make it back without the new materials developed for the heat shields. On the other hand, you become aware and concerned about the damage caused by chemistry in war and peacetime. Chemical warfare has been used in the last century causing unimaginable and extraordinary pain to millions of people. Accidents in chemical plants pose a threat and have exposed many people to potential long-term harm. The ozone hole keeps reminding us that atmospheric chemistry might have consequences that we might not even realize.

Newspapers mirror society and newspaper articles allow to construct the important relations between society and chemistry. This is the basic premise of the Chemistry is in the News Project. You begin recognizing these connections first by studying the existing CIITN items. Next, you create new CIITN items yourself. Moreover, your creations will be evaluated not by your teacher but by other students instead. This peer review adds a new layer of complexity as you need to consider the perspectives of others on any given issue.

This collaborative group project includes the identification of an important newspaper article, the writing of editorial comments, the location of pertinent references in a textbook, and the creation of questions with suggested answers. The project also includes the peer-evaluation of news items created by three other groups. The first two writing assignments are preparations for the main project.