Bringing the Why and Who into the Chemistry Class
From Anique Olivier-Mason
MIT is offering a new chemistry and biochemistry online resource for college and high school classes called “Behind the Scenes at MIT." This online resource from HHMI Professor and Investigator Catherine Drennan is a series of two-minute science videos that illuminates the why and the who of chemistry by featuring MIT scientists explaining how a general chemistry concept is essential to their research. Each science video is accompanied by the personal story of the scientist’s career path.

This resource aims to motivate students to learn chemistry; inspire students to tackle important scientific problems in their future careers; and expose all students to examples of high performing young, female, and minority scientists. The series was designed for high school and college educators seeking examples that demonstrate why the principles of general chemistry are relevant to students’ lives. They are meant to be incorporated into existing courses and require minimal instructor and class time.

These science videos are currently being used in both Fall and Spring iterations of MIT general chemistry course 5.111. For additional materials from MIT chemistry course 5.111, Principles of Chemical Science, educators can access the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) home page, which contains complete video lectures, lecture notes, and exams.

Please contact me if you have any questions: aniqueom@MIT.EDU.

Anique Olivier-Mason is Outreach Coordinator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Drennan Education Laboratory at MIT.

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