Wacker Chemie : World Teachers' Day: WACKER Releases a New Edition of Its CHEM2DO Experiment Kit

We want chemistry to be an exciting subject for pupils. The CHEM₂DO kit is designed to awaken their pioneering spirit,' says WACKER Executive Board member Dr. Tobias Ohler. 'Innovative strength is fundamental to our business. That's why young people's education in the natural sciences is so important to us.'

More than 1,400 teachers have used the previous edition of the CHEM₂DO kit in their lessons, introducing around 13,000 pupils to the experiments. WACKER has taken the teachers' feedback into account for the revised edition of the experiment kit - with many elements now being even better tailored to pupils and school laboratories. The eight experiments are easy to do and encourage pupils to become actively involved - for example in producing their own silicone molds.

The experiments are in line with Germany's national educational standards, which form the basis for school curricula in the federal states. A key advantage of the experiments is their strong focus on chemistry in everyday life. One silicone experiment, for example, shows how buildings and textiles are rendered hydrophobic (water repellent). Another explains how defoaming agents work in detergents. The cyclodextrin experiments illustrate how active ingredients are encapsulated in cosmetics and medicines.

The experiment kit was designed and developed by WACKER and chemistry education experts from Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University, the University of Wuppertal and the University of Münster. CHEM₂DO is suitable for use in German high schools and vocational colleges. Working together in small groups, the students carry out the experiments themselves.

Across Germany, chemistry teachers are offered free training for the CHEM₂DO experiments at teacher-training centers run by the German Chemical Society. Schools receive the kit for free and can reorder depleted chemicals, also free of charge.

Twenty-five course dates have already been fixed. Detailed information about CHEM₂DO and the training courses for teachers can be found at: www.wacker.com/schulversuchskoffer .