Edited by: HARRIET FRIEDSTEIN Nazareth College 4245 East Avenue Rochester. NY 14610
RV review Television's I'uhlic Rruadrasting System offers a unique experience with the NOVA serles. I cannot give you the exnn times and dates for your particular region and station, h u t I recommend the series very highly, so he on the look-out for the NOVA snecials in vour localitv. Sometimes. the . programs . are aired several times during the week so call your lural I'HS station for this information. The NOVA series is produced by WGBH-Boston, and they offer a free Teacher's Guide. w r i t e to: WGBH Educational Foundation, 125 Western Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02134. Program transcripts are three dollars per copy ($1.50 for 20 copies or more). Each week, a different topic dealing with scientific research and technology is examined. T h e topics fit within the disciplines of phy&s, chemistry, biology, oceanography, ecology, economics, political science, medicine, etc. T h e Teacher's Guide offers-some suggested activities, along with discussion topics, vocabulary list, a synopsis, and some comments for the teacher. During the week of April 1, "The Keys of Paradise7'will he shown. It deals with the hrain and its effects upon the manufacture of "drugs" and the drugs and their effects upon the brain. ~~
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The most fascinating and promising drugs discovered in the 20th century are manufactured in our own brains. Their existence first came to light through research on the causes and cures of addiction to substances such as morphine and its derivatives. Morphine affects the chemical messages between brain cells, and the search for its site of action turned up something startling: a "natural morphine" produced in the hrain and acting at the same sites. The newly discovered substance, named enkepholin ("in the brain"), could be rendered ineffective by the morphine antagonist, naloxone. Naloaone also blocks the painkilling effects of electrical hrain stimulation and acupuncture, suggesting that these effects must-also involve the produrtiunof natural painkillers. Enkephnlm was extractrd from p ~ gbrains and trstcd t'or its mor~hine-mimickingeffects. Soon tw,, vcrsiuni of ita pept~desequence kere found; then, by happy accident,the same sequences were found to be part of a much larger molecule in the pituitary. Research in different laboratories soon identified a whole series of enkeohalins. This teatwe will serve as a clearinaharse fa the latest audiwiml materials av&bie
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to chemishy teachers. h will include reviews by users resulting from actual experiences in the classmom. If you are interested in assisting in this process, send your name and address to the feature editor: Harriet G. Friedstein received her BS in Chemishy from Q-ns College and her MS in Science Education from the State University College at Brockport. Recently, she received her Certificate of Advanced W i e s In Educational Administration. MS. Friedstein is presentiy on the faculty of Nazareth College; prior tothis she was a chemishy and scienceteacher at MonrDe High School. Rochester, New Yark. She was also a Program Development Specialist forthe Nazareth College/Rochester City Schwl District Teacher Corps Project. Ms. Friedstein has also worked as a chemist for the Charles Pfizer Company. She was edita far PRISZM(-am in Rochester to Interest Students in Science and Math) in the development of science materials. In the summer of 1979, she was one of fivewinners nationwide in the NSTA comoetition for ExemDlaw . . Career Activities in the Science Classrmm b Novemoer of 1979, she was selected hom a MI mI leu to oe pan of me Teacner Corps Asrocoate Program along w In 24 other proferscones across me m-nm to slwv at the Unwrr ty ol W8scons n. Madison for the year 197911980
some of which came to he called endorphins to distinguish their properties and locations. Early enkephalin researchers were primarily interested in the analgesic effects Pain messages transmitted in the central nervous system can apparently be blocked by enkephalinslendorphinsso that felt pain is reduced. In the past few years, research has begun seriously on other important effects of the natural brain drugs, in particular, mood alteration. Evidence is mounting that endorphins relieve depression and schizophrenia. from a Teacher's Guide to NOVA, Spring 1980. During the week of April 22, "A Whisper From Space" will he shown. It deals with the relationships of light, microwaves and radiowaves, building upon your unit of the electromagnetic spectrum. The farther away a source of light or other radiation is, the longer it has taken that radiation to reach us, and the older the source must he. Looking far out in space, and back in time, for example, astronomers have found the primeval galaxies called quasars 10 hillionlight years away. In this program, Professor Philip Morrison and other scientists tell the story of the mast ancient radiation ever detected. Coming from every direction, it is a uniform glow of invisible microwave radiation that fills the space between cosmicohjects. At first it was thought to he instrument "noise" or a local cosmic "mist." Many observations since 1965 indicate its source as the pregalactic cloud of gas from which the universe as we know it was born. Even now, this particular radiation comprises 99%of all the radiation in the universe, suggesting that all else--including all matter-may be no more than an impurity in the total picture. To explain the nature of invisible "black body radiation," the program uses familiar examples of related phenomena. For example, the uniform temperature inside an active potter's kiln demonstrates black body radiation at higher temperatures. Graphics and the analogy ofmusical scales ill6trate pr&rties of the electromagnetic spectrum as a whole and help the viewer to image "characteristic simntores" of radiation curves at different temoeratures. The ohenomenon of red shift in the radiation spectrum, critical in dating cosmic sources, is clarified by analogy with the Doppler effect on sound waves. from a Teacher's Guide to NOVA, Spring 1980 ~
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After you have viewed these or any others in t h e NOVA series, why don't you take a few minutes t o write t o us with your opinions so t h a t we can share them with your colleagues.
Chemistry: A Basic Approach Bob Atkins Bayside High Schwl Bayside. NY 11361 8 to 20 minutes per filmstrip 4 Filmstrips, Color, Sound: Teacher Guide. Classroom Ditto Masters Cat. No.: FSC 480 Price: $76 Supplier: Educational Activities, Inc. Freepost. N.Y. 11520 This series of filmstrips are useful for modified, non-college preparatory chemistry classes or General Chemistry classes. T h e approach here is one of relevance: achemical formula or chemical reaction is related to a real situation, product, or area otherwise familiar to the students. They love it and learn from it.
Tlme: Format:
Volume 58
Number 3
March 1981
277
Student Molecular Model Kit A Student Molecular Model Kit might prove to be useful
to vour students in develonine . .. an understanding of chemical bonding.'l'he kit nmmins twtr sizes 01 wltgred styrofoam balk. toothpirks, and pipecleaners and a booklet to help the student 1,uild models of simple hydrogen through ethane to ethyne. A rhemistrv hookawer is included that depicts the simplest atomic str&ures (hydrogen to neon.) he price is fouLdollars. Format: Styrofoam balls Toothpicks Pipecleaners Instructional Booklet for Student Use Cat. No.: FOM-303 Price: $4 Supplier: Flex-0-Models 64 Prescott Avenue Chelsea, Massachusetts 02150 (617) 684-7643
Errata In the October 1980 issue of THIS JOURNAL (Vol. 57), an error was found on page 731. Under Number 6-Crystallization, the formula should read: (NHa)2SOcA1~(S033.24H20copper sulfate, nickel ammonium sulfate.. .
278
Journal of Chemical Education
Your Turn Now it is your turn. Do you have a favorite film, filmstrip, slide-set that you find helpful in your chemistry class? Would you share this with us? Please put information in the format shown below, and send it to me, and we will print your comment in future issues. Format for Reviews Title: Time: Format: Catalog No: Price: Supplier: Comments:
