Environmental catalysis in novel strategies for chemistry popularization

MASSA, PAOLA

San Pablo

Congreso; 46th World Chemistry Congress IUPAC 2017; 2017

IUPAC

Environmental issues have great potential to bring on public understanding and appreciation of Chemistry activities. The topic usually becomes complicated, due to the image of chemists,chemicals and related suspicious subjects, frequently associated to risks and dangers.However, this negative view could also act as a trigger to begin to exchange ideas, information and reflections.In Argentina (and probably in many countries), Chemistry curricula are still harsh and distant from daily problems. Therefore, it is valuable to reinforce formal education activities and also bring Chemistry popularization actions to the general audience, through an environmentalapproach. As the use of auto-biographic elements and guidelines could be very enriching, the communication strategies concentrated on topics of Environmental Catalysis (a theme that is poorly explored in popular science and the author?s field of research). The design of the presentations focused on fostering the students? awareness to environmental problems, the strategic position of Chemistry in making sustainable decisions, and the work of CONICET (Argentinian counsel of scientific investigations) in the local context.This series of small scale actions for public communication of Chemistry was carried out since 2012, reaching a promissory number of more than 800 persons, mostly students and teachers from different educational institutions from the city of Mar del Plata and its region. Thesepresentations consisted of interactive lectures supported by simple but non-conventional audiovisual aids: cartoon-type graphic sequences, drama, autobiographical narrative. The work has had a very positive reception among participants. The project remains active, with permanent adjustments arising from the interaction with the public.