Chemistry Taster at Nottingham Uni

Posting by Hilary Woodward, Curriculum leader for Chemistry

The Sixth Form College, Solihull has an excellent relationship with the University of Nottingham and for several years, our A level Chemistry students have been benefitting from that association.

Last week, this year’s Chemistry students got a taste of undergraduate Chemistry at this prestigious university, as they enjoyed an afternoon of talks and demonstrations.

The School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham hosted series of informative talks and chemical demonstrations. This included a session entitled “The Periodic Table of Videos” presented by Professor Martyn Poliakoff, a talk on how to become a chemist by Professor Chris Hayes, a presentation on nanoscience by Professor Neil Champness and a talk entitled “Exciting Chemistry!” by Dr. Jon McMaster and Dr. Darren Wal.

This was just a taster of what studying Chemistry at degree level is all about. Our A level Chemistry students are also being offered the chance to complete a project in association with the University of Nottingham. A full-day master class will take place on 4^th April 2012. This will involve practical exercises involving redox chemistry and quantifying the vitamin C content of food sources. Students will be introduced to advanced techniques such as infra red spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance.

The students who elect to complete this project will be required to follow up the work covered at Nottingham through further research on the investigation and the techniques used. Their findings will be recorded in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, which will be presented to an audience of academics at Nottingham University followed by visit to the University Open Day on 29^th June 2012.

This trip to Nottingham was an excellent opportunity for our A level Chemistry students to get a taste of what continuing their Chemistry studies after College would be like. They learnt that Chemistry at degree level is complex, but also a lot of fun.

We thank the University of Nottingham’s School of Chemistry for their time in hosting us. It was informative and enjoyable and many of the students are now looking at following it up by completing the project they have set.