Chemical Education Today
News from Online: Lights, Camera, Chemistry! by Lynn Diener Science Department, Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222-4597
[email protected] It is October and you know what that means: National Chemistry Week! This year's theme is Behind the Scenes with Chemistry and it focuses on the real science behind what we see and hear in movies, books, and television (Figure 1). What better way to get your students excited about chemistry than to bring their favorite movie into class and then teach them about the chemistry in that film? It is a great way to make the chemistry relevant to their lives and interests. Let me share some of the online resources I found to help you celebrate National Chemistry Week (NCW) this year: lights, camera, chemistry! Bad Science Movies are often big on spectacle, large explosions, big blood splatters, and gigantic scary monsters (Figure 2). How much of this spectacle reflects reality? Though you recognize this spectacle as mostly fantastical, your students may not be aware of how much science is fictionalized in their favorite shows. A bevy of Web sites examine just how fictional the science in your favorite movies is. I'll highlight a few here. The NSTA Web site hosts “Blick on Flicks”, penned by Jacob Clark Blickenstaff from the University of Southern Mississippi (1). On his site Blickenstaff writes reviews of the science in movies. He looks at everything from the biology to physics and, of course, the chemistry in various movies. His most recent review actually looks at a music album by They Might Be Giants. This Web site is a particularly good resource because it has a specific focus on using the bad science in movies to teach good science in the classroom. As part of the Intuitor Web site, you can find “Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics” (2). Created by a teacher, it is not surprising that this site also has a focus on using the bad science in movies to educate. It has the movie reviews you would expect, looking at what a movie did right with the science and what they did wrong. But it also has some generic bad movie physics, things that you see repeatedly in movies; for instance, flaming cars (cars that burst into flame when they collide with something). Your students are probably accustomed to seeing this and take it as fact. By reading this article, they can learn why it is not scientifically realistic. You cannot talk about bad science in the movies without talking about all of the myths that have been perpetuated by the industry. Fortunately, the MythBusters on the Discovery Channel tackle these myths on a weekly basis (3). You may have seen the television show on the Discovery Channel; they also have a Web presence that can be used in your classroom. You can stream clips from the show, with a variety that are freely available. The Web site has an assortment of games available: the Myth or Fact games are fun and feature an array of topics to choose from, some more science based and some less so. You may also enjoy the 1004
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Figure 1. Ink sketch with watercolor of a television set by student Katrin Sticha. Used with permission.
Behind the Science link on the Web site where the science behind the myths is explained by staff at HowStuffWorks. com (4). Your students can learn about a variety of topics from diamonds to popcorn. Chemistry in the Movies Chemistry on the Screen is an undergraduate project put together by Christopher Magee for a Web Project competition at the University of Bristol (5). In it he selected a variety of episodes from television programs and movies that have chemistry content, specifically chemical compounds referred to or used in the program. He places the compound in context from the movie or television show and then delves into the chemistry of that compound from its chemical structure to its mode of action. I find the site to be interesting but urge some caution if using it with your students. None of the information he relays is referenced and proper citations are something I always stress with my students. According to their Web site, the Chemistry Movies blog by Mark Griep and Marjorie Mikasen “investigates movies that are about chemists or that have storylines involving chemistry” (6). This blog is part of the same project that resulted in the publication of ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies by the same two authors, which has also been reviewed in this Journal (DOI: 10.1021/ed100783m). They focus on a variety of movies, mostly older films, with a few more recent additions. They generally look at chemistry in society and how that is reflected in movies. If you have a science-in-society component to your class, this might be a good place to look for resources.
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Chemical Education Today
I like this site because it shows your students what they can do if they put their minds to it, while giving them some education on the science in films. Makeup
Figure 2. Painting showing makeup, blood spatters, an explosion, and the structure of nitroglycerin by student Chelsea Hassi. Used with permission.
Special Effects A collaboration by NOVA, WGBH Boston, and the California Museum of Science and Industry resulted in the production of the IMAX movie Special Effects released in 1996 (7). Though the Web site focuses mainly on promoting the movie, a linked site does have some resources for teachers (8), including activities suitable for upper elementary and middle school students. The middle school activities are fairly basic yet could be adapted for use in a high school classroom. Look under the Mysterious Makeup and Preposterous Props link for two chemistry-related activities in the mix. The elementary activities are even more basic, yet definitely worth checking out. HowStuffWorks has a selection of video clips on special effects available (9). You might have to sift through the videos to find something you would like to use, although you can choose from a variety. Your students can learn about everything from fire-resistant gels and fabrics that are used to create fire effects in movies (see also a related activity on fire-resistant gel in this Journal, DOI: 10.1021/ed900013z) to computer animation and creating rainy days when the sky is cloudless and sunny. ThinkQuest has resulted in the development of a plethora of learning resources for students by students (10). Ever since 1996, their yearly competition challenges students to solve realworld problems using digital media tools. ThinkQuest has resources covering a variety of topics, including science, arts, and entertainment. A handful of these sites look at movies and special effects; I'll highlight one of them. Lights, Camera, Action! by Team C0130169 has a whole section on the science of movies (11). Your students can learn about the science behind cameras, lighting, film, and even a section on special effects.
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Makeup is a big part of what makes the actors on the screen look the role; makeup also very much involves chemistry. Published by the Australian Academy of Science, the following Web site has information on the chemistry of makeup (12). The authors describe what a cosmetic is and what components go into the making of a cosmetic. My favorite part of this resource is the link to activities. This site links to eight activities that are all chemistry related and fun! In one of the activities, students investigate scientific claims about certain cosmetic products and then film an advertisement for that product. What better way to tie film into the chemistry of makeup? Chemical and Engineering News, a publication of the American Chemical Society (ACS), publishes its What's That Stuff? column online for anyone to access (13). Looking back over the list of topics (available from present to 1998), you can see a range of topics that are related to makeup: nail polish, lipstick, teeth whiteners, self-tanners, hair coloring, henna, and even contact lenses. These are great resources for your students, easy to read and informative. If your students are at all interested in learning more about how cosmetics are regulated, direct them to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration site (14). Your students can learn about both the regulation of chemicals in cosmetics and about the chemicals themselves. The site's focus on toxic or potentially toxic chemicals may get your students more excited. Your students may also be surprised to learn that lead, a heavy metal, has been found in lipsticks, probably even brands they or their friends have purchased. For younger students, elementary through middle school, the following Web sites are good options. Science News for Kids has an article entitled Makeup Science (15). This basic and easyto-read article contains some interesting information about cosmetics that students may not have heard before; for instance, they may not know that ancient Egyptians used cosmetics. The next site hosts a video and activity from Dragonfly Television (16). In the video, Jazi and Danielle perform a scientific experiment to create the “best” lip gloss possible. They talk about the various chemicals they add to their gloss and why they are adding them. Finally, they do consumer testing to see which gloss the general public likes best. On the site, there are ideas for activities and further explorations that students can do in class or on their own. Forensics Forensics has become quite popular on television and in the movies. Many of your students probably watch television shows like CSI or Bones and find them fascinating. As a real scientific field that integrates chemistry, physics, and biology into one, you can take advantage of their excitement about such shows to teach them a little science. We all know that one of the best ways of learning about something is actually doing it yourself. With the following lab manual, you can teach your students about forensic chemistry by having them do chemical investigations of simulated forensic cases (17). Robert Thompson at Oberlin College wrote this lab
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manual, which covers topics such as arson, alcohol, and drugs, in addition to other topics your students will no doubt find interesting. He gives you, as the instructor, everything you would need to set up and perform the lab (other than the supplies and equipment). He has a preparation guide for teachers and a guide for students as well. He also provides stories to go along with the laboratories placing the laboratories in a context that will better engage your students in the process. In an article on HowStuffWorks by Julia Layton, the realities of forensics work are compared to its portrayal on television and in the movies (18). She goes through the whole process a crime scene investigator would complete during the course of a crime scene investigation. She describes the steps of detecting a crime, isolating the crime scene, collecting evidence, and finally analyzing the evidence. Often in crime dramas, blood spatters seem to be the key to solving a crime. But how do they do it? What can you really learn from a blood spatter at a crime scene? This Web site from the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) shows just how much forensic scientists can learn from blood spatters (19). It summarizes what happens in the formation of a blood drop, the phases of impact once that blood drop falls, and also illustrates how different a spatter will look depending on the angle of impact. All of these are important to a forensic scientist at the scene of a crime. I cannot talk about forensic chemistry and movies without directing you to the Web site Mixed Reception (20). A resource created by the ChemCollective at Carnegie Mellon and also a part of the Chemical Education Digital Library, Mixed Reception gives your students the chance to solve a murder mystery using their chemistry know-how. It consists of a series of small movies and interviews that give your students some of the background they need to solve the mystery. Students collect evidence and analyze it, using what they know about chemistry to figure out whether this is an accidental death or a murder. This is a very fun, interactive, learning activity and I highly recommend that you introduce your students to it. If any of your students look through all of this material and find that their interest has been piqued, you can send them over to the ACS to peruse a Web page on Careers in Chemistry as a Forensic Chemist (21). This site gives a thorough overview of the career from what a forensic chemist does to what type of training is necessary and even what types of places they might be employed. There are so many different ways that you can approach this year's National Chemistry Week. I hope that this column has given you some different ideas about how to incorporate the theme Behind the Scenes with Chemistry into your classroom. Movies are such a great way to get your students excited about chemistry, take advantage! Literature Cited 1. Blickenstaff, J. C. Blick on Flicks. http://www.nsta.org/publications/blickonflicks.aspx?lid=hs (accessed Jul 2010).
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2. Rogers, T. K. Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. http://www.intuitor. com/moviephysics/ (accessed Jul 2010). 3. MythBusters. The Discovery Channel Online. http://dsc.discovery. com/tv/mythbusters/(accessed Jul 2010). 4. MythBusters. The Science Behind the Myths. Discovery Channel Online. http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/articles/hswindex.html (accessed Jul 2010). 5. Magee, C. Chemistry on the Screen. http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/ webprojects2006/Macgee/Web%20Project/home_page.htm (accessed Jul 2010). 6. Griep, M.; Mikasen, M. Chemistry Movies Blog. http://www.oup.com/ us/companion.websites/9780195326925/blog/?view=usa (accessed Jul 2010). 7. Public Broadcasting System. NOVA/WGBH Boston. Special Effects. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx/(accessed Jul 2010). 8. Public Broadcasting System. NOVA/WGBH Boston. Special Effects Activities. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx/fxguide/ (accessed Jul 2010). 9. HowStuffWorks. Special Effects Videos. http://videos.howstuffworks. com/entertainment/special-effects-technology-videos.htm (accessed Jul 2010). 10. ThinkQuest: Library. http://thinkquest.org/pls/html/think.library (accessed Jul 2010). 11. ThinkQuest: Library. Lights, Camera, Action! http://library.thinkquest.org/C0130169/science6.htm (accessed Jul 2010). 12. Australian Academy of Science. Putting on a good face: the chemistry of cosmetics. http://www.science.org.au/nova/083/083print.htm (accessed Jul 2010). 13. American Chemical Society. Chemical and Engineering News. What's that stuff? http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff.html (accessed Jul 2010). 14. US Food and Drug Administration. Cosmetics. http://www.fda. gov/Cosmetics/default.htm (accessed Jul 2010). 15. Science for Kids. Makeup Science. http://www.sciencenewsforkids. org/articles/20050316/Feature1.asp (accessed Jul 2010). 16. Dragonfly Television, Episodes. Makeup by Jazi and Danielle. http:// pbskids.org/dragonflytv/show/makeup.html (accessed Jul 2010). 17. Thompson, R. Q. Forensic Chemistry Lab Manual. http://www.asdlib. org/onlineArticles/elabware/thompson/Home1.html (accessed Jul 2010). 18. Layton, J. How Crime Scene Investigation Works. http://science. howstuffworks.com/csi.htm (accessed Jul 2010). 19. National Forensic Science Technology Center. Blood Spatters. http:// projects.nfstc.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3857 (accessed Jul 2010). 20. ChemCollective. Mixed Reception. http://www.chemcollective. org/mr/index.php (accessed Jul 2010). 21. American Chemical Society. Careers in Chemistry. Forensic Chemist. http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel= PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=1188&content_id=CTP_003390 &use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=9155d6ac-558e-4b339fbd-12af1b3accca (accessed Jul 2010).
Lynn Diener is in the Science Department, Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222-4597;
[email protected].
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