International Year of Chemistry, 2011

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Partners for the
International Year of Chemistry 2011

fun mosaic GWEposter3

See all news

The Global Experiment Continues

@ water.chemistry2011.org

Jan 18, 2012

The International Year of Chemistry 2011 might be over, but arrangements have been made to continue the Global Experiment, “Water: A Chemical Solution,” until 31 March 2012.

Recognizing the success of the initiative and acknowledging that many schools have participated but not yet shared results, the Global Experiment team decided to keep it running for a few more weeks. For those interested in taking part in the experiment, it is not too late. Teachers can still conduct the experiments in class and submit their results onto the website until 31 March.

Developed by IUPAC and UNESCO, the Global Experiment is a set of activities designed to entice students around the world to learn about how chemistry contributes to one of the most important resources in their daily lives: water. This central activity of IYC explores the chemistry of water and the importance of water in the environment. The Global Experiment website is available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. It includes state-of-the-art interactive tools, 2D and 3D maps showing the data, and pictures, videos, and news. The four activities of the Global Experiment are currently available in 11 languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Portuguese, Arabic, Catalan, Slovak, Polish, and Chinese.

As of the end of December 2011, 43,500 students from 82 countries on 5 continents have shared their results on the central website. It is anticipated that many more people will be registering their data in the coming weeks and months. It is believed that even more students and teachers have completed the global experiment on their own. For instance in Brazil, the Global Experiment was highlighted in the National Science and Technology week during October and integrated into the school science curriculum. The Global Experiment has been extensively featured on TV and radio shows, in news articles, and on blogs.

During the IYC closing event on 1 December 2011 in Brussels, representatives of the Global Experiment team manned a small booth to publicize the activity and its results. There was great interest in the data collected, the countries involved, and the use of internet and social media to reach young people. For the event, Javier Garcia (& Mr. Andrea Mosaic!) assembled a collection of lovely posters, which are available for download at the link below. For those who participated, these posters will serve as proud reminders of the success of this IYC activity. Download posters from water.chemistry2011.org or here below.

Sincerely yours,
From the Global Experiment team, Mark Cesa, Javier Garcia, Colin Humphris, Peter Mahaffy, Rovani Sigamoney, and Tony Wright