From: Robina Suwol
Date: 26 Mar 2004
Time: 15:33:12
Remote Name: 66.190.70.174
Chemistry classes 'green' Schools follow industry trend of experimenting with
gentler compounds.
By Keith Uhlig, Wausau (WI) Daily Herald
kuhlig@wdhprint.com
Mercury thermometers are gone, and you won't find students experimenting with
arsenic in high school chemistry classrooms anymore.
It's all part of the "greening" of chemistry classes, and it's a reflection of a
greater awareness of what some of the harsher chemicals historically used in
labs can do to the environment. Educators also say the recent change in the way
chemistry is taught is a trend started by businesses that already have struggled
with chemical disposal difficulties - and are looking for new ways of recycling
chemicals for reuse.
"Fifteen years ago, you wouldn't have thought twice about working with arsenic
compounds," said D.J. Huddleston, a chemistry teacher at D.C. Everest High
School.
Experiments at D.C. Everest are now conducted on a smaller scale - and that
means less waste. And gentler compounds are used: For example, specimens now are
stored in an alcohol-based preservative instead of formaldehyde, he said.
Tom Erdman, a chemistry teacher at Wausau East High School, said experiments
with cyanide and heavy metals are a thing of the past, and so are old methods of
disposing of them.
"I remember when everything went down the drain or in the wastebasket," he said.
"We can't do that anymore."
Erdman said his students still do an experiment that uses lead, but like
Everest's experiments, it's done on a smaller scale, and the waste is bagged and
taken to a landfill.
He thinks many older chemicals will be slated for special disposal when teachers
and students move out of the old Wausau East High School and into the new
building.
"Things tend to sit around if you don't need them, if you don't use them," he
said.
More high schools and colleges around the world are beginning to take the clean
approach to chemistry even further, said Paul Jackson, a chemistry professor at
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and a proponent of the trend.
Just because the work is becoming environmentally friendly doesn't mean that
lessons are diluted, Jackson said. "It's the best chemistry possible." Green
chemistry has its roots in industry, Jackson said. For instance, 3M has been
working for years to reduce the amount of chemicals it uses to produce its
products and to recycle what it does use.
"It hasn't gained a lot of momentum in the academic world until the last year or
two," he said. "It's really about stewardship of resources." Jackson said
chemistry experiments can be completely revamped using cleaner materials and
still teach the same lesson.
In the past, Jackson's students conducted an experiment that precipitated, or
separated out, lead with chromate. Lead is a poisonous heavy metal, and chromate
is a hazardous material, he said. Now his students precipitate calcium using a
different process. The overall lesson remains the same.
"Instead of limiting exposure, you're eliminating the hazard," he said.