Environmental chemistry education for the 21st Century

Chemistry. Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Hiroshima University, 1-1-1, Kagamiyama,

Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8524, Japan

Manuscript received 10 July 2000

Education plays a critical role in realizing sustainable development and promoting the capability of the people to address environmental/developmental issues. On the verge of the 21st Century, educational reforms and development are placed at a high priority in many countries. In the Asia-Pacific region, a project called "Learning for a Sustainable Environment —Innovations in Teacher Education through Environmental Education" initiated by UNESCO-ACEID has contributed towards the promotion of environmental education, specifically comprehensive one in school. It is also evident that science/chemis­try is one of the most important subjects in dealing with environmental education. The relationship between human life and the environment can logically be explained through scientific/chemical skills and knowledge. Accordingly it is required that some chemistry-oriented teaching materials on comprehensive environmental education be effectively implemented in school.

Chemical treatment of waste material and wastewater generated in school laboratories can be the appropriate teaching material for environmental chemistry education, because the treatment involves some typically important chemical reactions such as precipitation, neutralization, oxidation-reduction, and so on. Sonic reaction cycles for recovering several chemical compounds from wastewater involving iron, manganese, copper and so on arc useful to secondary school chemistry as well as introductory general chemistry at colleges and universities. It is important to develop chemical recycling systems for such metallic ions in school laboratories and to introduce the principle of recycling as a practice of environmental protection by students themselves. Such an approach enables students to understand chemical reactions involved and the role of chemis­try in preserving our environment, which may in turn lead to environmentally responsible attitudes and actions in their daily lives.