TY - JOUR
T1 - From Super Jelly to Hydrogel
T2 - Delivering Hydrogel Chemistry into Middle School Classrooms by Undergraduates as the Bridge between Professors and Students
AU - Liu, Xiaoli
AU - Liu, Sirui
AU - Yao, Yichang
AU - Ye, Zimeng
AU - Wang, Hang
AU - Chai, Zhihao
AU - Song, Yanhua
AU - Xu, Xingyan
AU - Liu, Jiajia
AU - Shi, Jianbing
AU - Zhong, Haizheng
AU - Ye, Lin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
PY - 2023/12/12
Y1 - 2023/12/12
N2 - Hydrogel is an interesting topic in polymer chemistry, which is closely related to daily life and advanced technology. In this paper, we report an activity to deliver hydrogel chemistry into middle school classrooms by undergraduates as a bridge between professors and students. During the activity, undergraduates act as a bridge to receive knowledge from professors, reprocess it, and finally deliver it to middle school students. The activity comprises a 60 min lecture and a 30 min hands-on experiment and aims to provide a deep understanding of hydrogel. The lecture starts from the jelly, a popular snack for students, in order to introduce hydrogels. Then, the various applications of hydrogels are mentioned to indicate why hydrogel materials are interesting and how hydrogel materials help doctors treat various diseases. Moreover, middle school students expand their minds from everyday applications to advanced technologies by engaging in discussions as well as a hands-on experiment. The survey before and after the activity shows it can play an important role in helping middle school students understand hydrogels and sprout their interest in chemistry. The activity has been successfully held in four local middle schools and more sessions are planned to be held in more middle schools in the near future. Undergraduates also deepened their understanding of hydrogel chemistry and sprouted their interest in scientific research in this activity.
AB - Hydrogel is an interesting topic in polymer chemistry, which is closely related to daily life and advanced technology. In this paper, we report an activity to deliver hydrogel chemistry into middle school classrooms by undergraduates as a bridge between professors and students. During the activity, undergraduates act as a bridge to receive knowledge from professors, reprocess it, and finally deliver it to middle school students. The activity comprises a 60 min lecture and a 30 min hands-on experiment and aims to provide a deep understanding of hydrogel. The lecture starts from the jelly, a popular snack for students, in order to introduce hydrogels. Then, the various applications of hydrogels are mentioned to indicate why hydrogel materials are interesting and how hydrogel materials help doctors treat various diseases. Moreover, middle school students expand their minds from everyday applications to advanced technologies by engaging in discussions as well as a hands-on experiment. The survey before and after the activity shows it can play an important role in helping middle school students understand hydrogels and sprout their interest in chemistry. The activity has been successfully held in four local middle schools and more sessions are planned to be held in more middle schools in the near future. Undergraduates also deepened their understanding of hydrogel chemistry and sprouted their interest in scientific research in this activity.
KW - biomedical application
KW - cross-linked network
KW - general public
KW - hands-on learning/manipulatives
KW - hydrogel
KW - middle school/introductory chemistry
KW - public understanding/outreach
KW - undergraduate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178326847&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00490
DO - 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00490
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85178326847
SN - 0021-9584
VL - 100
SP - 4909
EP - 4916
JO - Journal of Chemical Education
JF - Journal of Chemical Education
IS - 12
ER -