8/8/03

CANADIAN BIKED 2,300 MILES TO CHEMED CONFERENCE AT AU

AUBURN -- Don Cameron was so enthusiastic about attending the biennial ChemEd Conference at Auburn University that he rode his bicycle 2,300 miles from Alberta, Canada, to Auburn.

The bike trip took Cameron 23 days, but he said he was worth attending the conference that was staged in the South for the first time in its 30-year history.

"I've done this before," said Cameron, an avid biker. "I rode my bike to ChemEd in Toronto and in Connecticut. I enjoy cycling and taking trips with my wife and children. We even get the school children involved."

Cameron, a high school principal in Alberta, said he enjoys participating in ChemEd.

"ChemEds are great. They are probably the best conferences that I have ever participated in," he said. "I learn a lot and meet a lot of interesting people. It is just a lot of fun."

The conference at AU last week attracted nearly 900 chemistry teachers from around the world looking to learn exciting new ways to develop their student's interest in science.

The five-day conference was jointly sponsored by the AU College of Sciences and Mathematics and Alabama Science-in-Motion.

"ChemEd was an incredible opportunity for Auburn University to demonstrate its commitment to improving K-12 science education both in Alabama and nationwide," said Mary Lou Howard, director of Outreach for the College of Sciences and Mathematics and co-chair of ChemEd 2003. "Our goal was to create a truly meaningful experience for chemistry teachers while at the same time showcasing Auburn University as a quality institutional choice for the participantąs students."

ChemEd is the premier conference for chemistry educators from around the world to gather and exchange ideas related to classroom and laboratory instruction. The international conference, which began in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, is designed to give high school and two-year college chemistry teachers the opportunity to share as many classroom and laboratory ideas as possible. Today it has grown to attract hundreds of chemistry teachers from every province in Canada, every state in the United States and many other countries around the world such as Jamaica, Africa and Asia.

"I have made it to all but two ChemEds," said Eugene Overton of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. "I like ChemEd because of all the ideas that I gather. During each session I learn something new, and I never go away without several ideas for my classroom."

Those who travel to the conferences are referred to as participants instead of attendees because everyone gets in on the action as well-known chemistry educators from high schools and colleges across the country present workshops, demonstrations and hands-on activities.

Some of the exciting hands-on workshops included:

** Basic Tie-Dyeing -- a class in which participants learned how to prepare the dyes and other chemicals needed for tie-dyeing. The dyes are fiber-reactive dyes that actually bond with the fabric so this activity fits in well in the classroom as students study units on bonding.

** Scientific Glass Blowing -- a hands-on glass blowing experience for high school chemistry teachers. Participants observed classic techniques and equipment commonly used by professional glass blowers before learning techniques applicable to the high school setting.

** Experiments with the Fizz-Keeper -- Fizz-Keeper is a pump cap originally designed to keep the fizz in 2-L bottles of soda after they have been opened. Many topics touched upon in the class included: density, pressure, gas laws, air pressure, buoyancy, equilibrium and kinetics.

In addition to the workshops, ChemEd participants were also treated to traditional southern delicacies during an Ice Cream Social and a BBQ and a Bluegrass Festival.

The events wrapped-up on Thursday with a special Chemistry in Space lecture series, which included presentations by NASA astronauts Jim Voss and Larry DeLucas.

The next ChemEd is scheduled for Vancouver, Canada, during the summer of 2005.

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aug03:AU-chemed