Organic Chemistry in Our Everyday Lives
Learning Target: 2.2.5: I can describe the benefits chemicals have on society and also describe problems these chemicals can have on human health or the environment.
Goal 2.2.5.a: I can describe the benefits and problems associated with chemicals in our society.
“Chemistry is a Human Endeavor” is often quoted by many scientists. What does this mean? It is easy to consider Chemistry has a set of facts and figures to memorize or a rote set of steps to follow procedures. Science is more than that.
Science is an intrinsically human endeavor. It takes human curiosity to ask the questions, human logic to design the experiments, human ingenuity to incorporate the results into an evolving model. Despite tropes portraying science as a purely logical enterprise executed by cold automatons, it is wonderfully, woefully, beautifully, messily human.[1]
Society has benefited from the discovery of many organic chemical such as pharmaceuticals, synthetic oils, nylon, and teflon to name a few. We have benefited from the advancement of refining our crude oil and developing plastics for saving lives and for human convenience. Yet, science is not perfect and there are risks associated with the manufacturing of organic compounds for both human health and the environment.
You will need to construct a Google presentation/Powerpoint describing a chemical or chemical product used in society. Your presentation must include: historical background of the chemical product, the benefits to society your chemical product has afforded, as well as concerns and/or risks to humans or the environment.
Possible Topics could include….
[1] "Science, the human endeavor | Ever on & on." 2014. 17 Jul. 2014 <http://biochembelle.com/2013/02/06/science-the-human-endeavor/>
Organic Chemistry in Our Everyday Lives by MN Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. CC-BY-NC