Chemical Education Group

Are you a teacher and interested in the RACI Schools Affiliate Program.
Click on this link for more information.
http://www.raci.org.au/membership/type/school-affiliate

Contact Details

Mr Ian McMahon
E. ian.mcmahon@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au
T. +61 (0)8 8352 5811
 

NEWS

RACI National Chemical Analysis Competition 2012

The SA section of the RACI National Chemical Analysis competition saw 18 teams compete at the Mawson Lakes Chemistry labs at national final level. 9 of these teams performed very well to gain an Excellent result or Highly Commended result. A really good all-round performance from South Australian chemistry students.

See: National results (pdf)

See: Item from Marryatville High School

RACI SA Branch SACE Merit Ceremony

Once again the RACI SA Branch hosted a ceremony to recognise the students who achieved a Merit in the SACE Level 2 Chemistry Exam.  For a summary of the event and some photos, please see this link.

NOTICES

SECONDARY/TERTIARY AWARD FOR CHEMISTRY EDUCATORS 2013

Nominations for the D R Stranks Medal for Chemical Education Award for chemistry educators are called for in the areas of excellence in professional practice in chemical education and / or outstanding innovation in chemical education.

Nomination forms and rules regarding the award are available from Ian McMahon.

Please contact ian.mcmahon@tsc.sa.edu.au to receive this information.

Nominators please communicate intention to nominate by Monday August 26th and submissions are due by Friday 7th September.

CRYSTAL GROWING FOR COMPETITIONS

This section is intended to provide information to students and parents, and to teachers involved in crystal growing for fun or for competitions such as the Oliphant Science Awards in South Australia or other crystal growing competitions in other Australian states or indeed overseas.

The majority of competitions require the crystal material to be potassium aluminium sulphate i.e. potash (common) alum. No other material is acceptable for prize consideration.

Students are expected to carry out all manipulations of the material with parent or teacher help where there is a safety issue e.g. hot water. The operations may be carried out at home or at school according to the supervising teacher’s discretion.  To ensure the crystal growing is the student’s own work, the required log book should be checked periodically and some questions asked about the most recent activity.

Other rules which apply to the competition that a participant wishes to enter should be located and read on the appropriate website –for example, the rules for the Oliphant crystal growing contest should be checked on the SASTA website (www.sasta.asn.au).
Packaging the finished crystal for the competition is important. The finished dry crystal should be placed in small airtight ziplock bag and placed in a Post Pak for posting. The accompanying logbook can be placed carefully folded into the Post Pak or sent separately. [Any crystals wrapped using sticky tape will not be judged]

JUDGING

Judging of the presented crystals is conducted by experienced members of the RACI Chemical Education Group in any state.
Crystals will be judged on the following criteria:

• regularity i.e. sharpness of edges,
• smoothness of faces 
• clarity - overall aesthetic appeal

Size is no longer a major criterion. This will reduce disadvantage to students, who for one reason or another, have less growing time. However, crystals whose largest dimension is less than 9 mm will not be considered for certificates of merit.

Where very similar crystals are difficult to rank for prizes or certificates then the logbooks and the hypotheses proposed will be considered to make a decision. The logbook should state dates from the start to the finish of the growing period and each entry dated and countersigned where possible.

Over recent years the best crystals grown have been smaller and clear with flat l, light-reflecting faces and sharp edges, usually suspended from a thread to achieve symmetrical growth.

Other articles for crystal growing available on this webpage include:

TEACHER NOTES

ADVICE TO STUDENTS

LOG BOOK MODEL

ALUM MSDS

HINTS FROM CANADA

ALUM CRYSTALS (David Katz)

SCIENCENET CRYSTAL GROWING

VARIOUS VIEWS OF ALUM CRYSTALS

NATIONAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS COMPETITION (TITRATION STAKES)

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SECTION

The RACI chemical analysis competition is available in each state and territory of Australia. Each state runs the stages prior to the national level competition in slightly different ways.

In South Australia there are 3 phases –firstly a school phase which runs in schools during term 2, and successful teams from this phase are invited to compete in the State final in August (early term 3) and maybe the National final (later term 3).

The national stage involves teams competing against each other while remaining in their own states.
Samples prepared centrally are analysed by these teams at their venues. All participants that reach the National final receive a gold or silver medallion, and the opportunity to be involved in an Excellent or Highly commended team for which the school receives a plaque and individuals receive a certificate.

To become involved in the SA competition teachers will need to talk with their year 12 (and year 11) Chemistry students to see if they wish to form teams of three to participate in the competition. The teacher or lab manager should oversee the school phase.

Once the number of teams is known, contact Ian McMahon via email or SMS (0402775517) with this number as the way of registering the school’s interest. This notification should occur by the beginning of May 2012.
It is possible that this first phase could be include in the teaching and learning program.

A set of oxalic acid samples both standard and unknown will be prepared and sent by post to the school along with an invoice – the cost will be a flat $5 per team.

Below are instructions for teachers/lab managers for the school phase competition, and also a set of instructions for participating students. These are downloadable as pdfs.

Completed and checked results sheets are required to Ian McMahon by end of week 9 term 2. The degree of error for each team will be calculated and notified to teachers/managers as will invitations to the next phase.
Dates for the State final and National final in SA will be notified during term 2.

Also available is a template for a certificate that could be used in school to acknowledge students who do not proceed to later stages.

SAMPLE DETAILS – SCHOOL PHASE

TEAM COVER SHEET – SCHOOL PHASE

INDIVIDUAL RESULT SHEET – SCHOOLPHASE

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEACHERS/MANAGERS

INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEAM MEMBERS

SCHOOL PHASE CERTIFICATE

STATE FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

NATIONAL FINAL INSTRUCTIONS