WMCTC PROGRAMME FOR SEPTEMBER 2024 TO JULY 2025

ALL THE EVENTS ARE SPONSORED BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY

Date	Title
Tuesday 17th September 2024	ABM 7pm Online, on Zoom	Details
Tuesday 24th September 2024	"POETRY, CHEMISTRY AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN: SIR HUMPHRY DAVY'S NOTEBOOKS" Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 8th October 2024	"THE VICTORIAN PHARMACY" Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 5th November 2024	"EXPLOSIVES: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE" Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 19th November 2024	"CHIRALITY, CHEMISTRY, APPLES AND DICE" Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 26th November 2024	"SHARING SKILLS AND RESOURCES" TEACHERS' CPD	Details
Tuesday 3rd December 2024	"WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY?" Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 28th January 2025	"INFLUENCING DRUG DELIVERY THROUGH CHEMICAL BIOLOGY" Sixth Form Lecture / Interactive Seminar	Details
Tuesday 25th February 2025	"LITHIUM ION BATTERIES: DRIVING AN ELECTRIC FUTURE" Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 25th March 2025	"ADVANCED LEVEL REVISION: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY " Sixth Form Lecture	Details
Tuesday 29th April 2025	"ADVANCED LEVEL REVISION: TRANSITION METAL CHEMISTRY"	Details

Tuesday 17th September 2024 WMCTC Annual Business Meeting 7pm on Zoom The Annual Business Meeting of the West Midlands Chemistry Teachers' Centre will take place at 7pm on Zoom. The agenda includes the election of teacher representatives to serve on the committee, which is an excellent CPD opportunity for teachers at all stages of their career. All teacher input is very welcome and appreciated. If you have any questions or suggestions for future events this will be an excellent means of passing them on. If you would like to attend this meeting please email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school. and the zoom link will be emailed to you. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 24th September 2024 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "POETRY, CHEMISTRY AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN: SIR HUMPHRY DAVY'S NOTEBOOKS" Professor Sharon Ruston, Lancaster University. For the past four years, over 3500 volunteers from around the world have been transcribing the notebooks of Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829). Best known for his miners' safety lamp, the 'Davy lamp, Davy also isolated a number of chemical elements and was the first person to inhale nitrous oxide. The transcription of 11,416 pages of his notebooks reveals evidence of these chemical experiments and much more besides. Davy also wrote poetry throughout his life, even while in his laboratory, on notebook pages burned and torn with the corrosive chemicals he was working with. He was the friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who wrote 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and of Lord Byron. Davy's chemistry influenced the poetry of these and others, as well as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This talk will follow Davy's career using illustrations from the notebooks themselves. Professor Sharon Ruston is Chair in Romanticism in the English Literature and Creative Writing department at Lancaster University. She has published a number of books including: The Science of Life and Death in Frankenstein (2021), Creating Romanticism (2013), Romanticism: An Introduction (2010), and Shelley and Vitality (2005). She co-edited The Collected Letters of Sir Humphry Davy for Oxford University Press (2020) and currently leads the Arts and Humanities funded Davy Notebooks Project: https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/davynotebooks/. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 8th October 2024 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "THE VICTORIAN PHARMACY" Dr Jane Essex, University of Strathclyde (The speaker outside the Victorian Pharmacy at Blists Hill) The Victorian Pharmacy. Sounds Dickensian. Not a Workhouse nor Bleak House, more like the Old Curiosity Shop? What will we find lurking on the dusty shelves? What chemicals are in those cobwebbed jars? Dr J.Collis Browne's original and only genuine Chlorodyne perhaps? Are they safe? Let's clear them out, bin the lot, throw 'em away, down to landfill and out of harms way? Or perhaps we should contact CLEAPSS and Uncle Bob? And while we're at it, let's get rid of the Shop, knock it down, clear the site, away with the old, replace with a multi-story, a Tale of Two Cities? Let's not Quilp or be Cratchity about it. Is there a Twist to the story? Shall we be asking for more? Time to take our medicine and see how Chemistry saved the day? We have Great Expectations in these Hard Times? Perhaps it's time for you to join us at the Pharmacy. Jane is a reader in chemistry education, with teaching and supervision responsibilities on the PGDE chemistry. She also contributes to the teaching on BA routes and MA programme. She moved to the University of Strathclyde from Brunel University (London) and prior to that she had been an Initial Teacher Education tutor at Keele University (Staffordshire). She taught science in schools in various parts of England before moving to Higher Education and retains a keen interest in all aspects of school science. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 5th November 2024 (Sixth Form Lecture) "EXPLOSIVES: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE" Professor Jackie Akhavan, Cranfield University. Explosives have been part of our lives for many years with the first recording of an explosive powder being used in China in 220BC. In the 13th Century Roger Bacon experimented with explosives by making black powder and by the end of the 13th Century explosives were being used by many European countries. Nowadays explosives are part of our everyday life; they are in airbags, ejector seats and fireworks as well as propulsion for space shuttles, demolition aids and under water cutting charges for off-shore gas lines. Professor Jackie Akhavan introduces the various types of explosions and explains the conditions under which a chemical reaction becomes an explosive. She explores the inputs to initiate the explosive and the subsequent outputs. In looking at the past she covers explosive mixtures and then introduces the concept of molecular explosives which are used today. Looking into the future she highlights current research activities. Her expertise is in high explosives which includes polymer bonded explosives and pastes, synthesis of energetic polymers by flow nitration and synthesis of smart polymers for detection of explosives, and control of particle size by spray drying. The unique facilities at Cranfield University allows Professor Akhavan and her team to manufacture up to ½kg of explosives, carry out safety and hazards tests as well as performance trials. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 19th November 2024 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "CHIRALITY, CHEMISTRY, APPLES AND DICE" Professor Jonathan Burton, University of Oxford In this talk we will be taking a look at chemistry in three dimensions (stereochemistry). We will use apples, dice, gloves and paperclips to illustrate various aspects of stereochemistry with regard to molecules with one or more chiral centres. There will opportunities for audience participation. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 26th November 2024 6pm. Haworth Building, University of Birmingham "Sharing Skills and Resources" As well as the regular lectures for sixth formers, The West Midlands Chemistry Teachers Centre endeavours to be a place where teachers can get together and share professional development either with each other or with experts in the field. This year, given the fact that teachers have so few opportunities to get together with teachers from other institutions, come to this event and access tried and tested resources used by other teachers. Question and discuss teaching approaches and resources and network with others. Why not bring some resources of your own for a potluck resource festival of Chemistry? If your institution has resources you no longer use, why not bring them along to offer to others? We hope to have: * A wide range of activities to share, including instructions for experiments. * Equipment to share *Text books on a trolley *Details of upcoming Quizzes and Competitions *Refreshments Come and share your own skills and ideas. If you wish to attend this event, please let Jill Oldfield know at (wmctcchair@gmail.com) TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY?" Dr Stephen Fielden, University of Birmingham As we look around us, some things are living and others not. For example, my dog is alive but the table with my computer on isn't. Why is this the case? It is because my dog is able to obtain energy from food, convert it to waste (poo!) and use it to perform tasks. As chemists, we are starting to learn how to make materials that show life-like properties and perform tasks. Whilst these systems are much less sophisticated than my dog, their development should usher in a new era of smart materials. This is enabled by cutting edge chemistry research into molecular machines and nanotechnology. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 28th January 2025 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "INFLUENCING DRUG DELIVERY THROUGH CHEMICAL BIOLOGY" Professor Andrew Wilson, University of Birmingham Biomedical discovery is key to improving life quality, and the pharmaceutical sector plays a leading role in translating discoveries into new drugs. However, the cost of a new drug is >£2B which in part arises due to failure in clinical trials that largely stem from insufficient understanding of disease biology. Chemical Biology - the art of using chemistry to understand biological process provides tools that can accelerate the discovery of new medicines. These physical science tools are needed to understand and modulate dynamic biological processes; they can lead to development of treatments for diseases with huge societal burdens e.g. cancer (130k UK deaths p.a.) and cardiovascular disease (leading global cause of death for over 65s). This interactive seminar, will highlight the role of chemical biology in drug discovery alongside careers in academia and industry. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 25th February 2025 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "LITHIUM ION BATTERIES: DRIVING AN ELECTRIC FUTURE" Professor Peter Slater, University of Birmingham Lithium ion batteries represent one of the major success stories in solid state chemistry (illustrated by the award of the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize to Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino), with applications from portable devices (mobile phones, laptops) to electric vehicles and large scale energy storage (to complement renewable energy expansion). In this talk I will explain how Li ion batteries work, and describe the materials that are commonly employed in the battery in your phone. I will then move on to describe the opportunities and challenges associated with the transition to electric vehicles, discussing the growth in battery production and the recycling strategies being developed for these batteries at the end of their usable life. Professor Peter Slater is Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. His research group has a wide range of projects on Li ion batteries, including recycling strategies and developing new improved battery materials. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) ( wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 25th March 2025 7pm (Sixth Form Lecture) "ADVANCED LEVEL REVISION: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY " Professor Andrew Wilson, University of Birmingham Worried about this so called 'difficult' area of Advanced Level Chemistry? Do you understand reaction mechanisms? Not sure about those curly arrows? This revision lecture will help students prepare for their A-Level Summer Examinations. The main reaction mechanisms will be encountered, with structural representation, naming of organic molecules and terminology reinforced as well. The lecture will include Organic Chemistry from both Year 1 and Year 2 material. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) ( wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE

Tuesday 29 April 2025 7.00pm (Sixth Form Revision lecture) "ADVANCED LEVEL REVISION: TRANSITION METAL CHEMISTRY" This presentation will focus on revising some of the key properties and reactions of the Transition Metals as required for most of the major Advanced level Chemistry specifications, e.g. electron arrangements, multiple oxidation states, redox reactions, formation of complex ions and catalytic properties. It will be an interactive presentation, using mobile phone apps to allow the audience to answer questions about transition metals throughout the lecture, chosen to illustrate key points and student misconceptions based on the speaker's extensive experience of teaching and examining this topic over two decades. The speaker, Dr Peter Hoare, is the Chemistry Outreach Officer in the School of Chemistry at Newcastle University, but prior to his appointment, was a Chemistry teacher for 20 years in a high achieving Northumberland High School. He is also an A-level Chemistry marker for one of the major UK examining boards. Tickets needed - Teachers should email the WMCTC Chair (Jill Oldfield) (wmctcchair@gmail.com) giving your name and school and the number of tickets required. TOP of PAGE