| DIDAC: What is it? DIDAC: origin and development DIDAC: Materials and contents DIDAC: how can you get the materials? DIDAC: users guide DIDAC: workshops |
The DIDAC project started in 1994 at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of IUPAC, on the initiative of the National Committee for Chemistry in Belgium. It consists of about 320 specially prepared viewgraphs for teaching chemistry. Originally developed in Flanders by an editorial team of the Agfa - Gevaert industries and assisted by the Royal Flemish Chemical Society with an inter-university group of chemistry educators, the DIDAC project has proven extremely successful, as it is now already translated from the original Dutch into French, English, Arabic, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and other languages in progress. Presently more than 100 countries have been involved in the DIDAC program, evolved and coordinated through IUPAC (COCI :Committee on Chemistry and Industry, and CCE: Committee on Chemistry Education), with strong financial and technical support by UNESCO (Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences, Dir. A. Prokovsky).
DIDAC is a didactic communication tool that assists in making chemistry lessons more interesting and more understandable for students. DIDAC consists of 320 viewgraphs produced using four-color printing techniques. The sheets do not contain written comments and are therefore language-independent. DIDAC is also independent form local educational programs and based on international accepted concepts in teaching modern chemistry.
DIDAC originally consisted of five sets each of approximately sixty coloured transparencies, covering a number of chemical concepts as well as applications from everyday life: the periodical system of elements, water, air, colloids, thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, petroleum chemistry, electrochemistry, silver based photography, structure of atoms, polymers, bio polymers, chemical bonding, separation techniques, chemistry and health. In the original edition also technically high standard black-and-white versions of the viewgraphs were available for students, of which copies can be made.
DIDAC is one of the ways to build the much talked-of bridge between chemical education and industry in an easily understood way. It supports the visualization of chemical principles at the interface between phenomenological, corpuscular, symbolic and contextual patterns in the teaching and learning of chemistry.
Since march 2004 , DIDAC materials are also available in an electronic version on cd-rom (english, french, dutch), as a book (english, french) and as thematic booklets ( air and water) (english, french). Presently owing to the enormous promotional support of UNESCO, by means of his field officers and the UNESCO National Commissions, DIDAC-viewgraphs are already introduced in at least 120 UNESCO member states. DIDAC cd-roms and books are send to universities, teacher training institutions and well-equipped secondary schools in about 200 countries. About 2000 rural area schools in 50 developing countries received booklets and poster series about the subject “air and water. Since 2005 the DIDAC materials are also installed for free use on the worldwide internet.
In view of this unexpected success “DIDAC” may really be characterized as a basic modern worldwide teaching and learning tool for chemistry !
Since 1994 ......
DIDAC has been started up and developed in collaboration between several partners:
The Belgian National Committee for Chemistry at the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium)
Agfa-Gevaert Industries and partners
Royal Flemish Chemical Society – Division of chemical education
Federation of the Belgian Chemical Industries – Division of professional training
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Commission on chemical industries
Commission on chemical education
UNESCO Natural Sciences Sector
Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences
DIDAC was set up in 1994 at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of IUPAC, on the initiative of the National Committee for Chemistry in Belgium and of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the original Gevaert-photoproducts company.. It consists of about 320 specially prepared viewgraphs for teaching chemistry. Originally developed in Flanders by an editorial team of the Agfa - Gevaert industries and assisted by the Royal Flemish Chemical Society with an inter-university group of chemistry educators, the DIDAC project has proven extremely successful, as it is now already translated from the original Dutch into French, English, Arabic, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and other languages in progress. Presently more than 100 countries have been involved in the DIDAC program, evolved and coordinated through IUPAC (COCI :Committee on Chemistry and Industry, and CCE: Committee on Chemistry Education), with strong financial and technical support by UNESCO (Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences, Dir. A. Prokovsky).
Contents and lay-out of the DIDAC – viewgraphs were designed and worked out by an ad hoc working group of the KVCV with chemistry teachers and educators and staff members of Agfa-Gevaert N.V.
Technically the DIDAC materials have been realised by graphic specialists of Agfa-Gevaert.
The daily guidance and supervision of the DIDAC team was performed by Dr. Eddy Michiels ( Agfa-Gevaert) and prof. Dr. Ludo Brandt ( Chemistry Teachers Training Centre , Catholic University of Leuven)
Promotion and distribution in Belgian secondary schools were supported and organised by the public relation department of the Federation of Belgian Chemical Industries.
International estimation and promotion have been initiated by the IUPAC committees on Chemical Industries and on Education and resulted in a close collaboration with the ‘Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences’ of Unesco’s Natural Sciences Sector for international distribution of DIDAC within the UNESCO networks for support to educational systems in development .
Some DIDAC - milestones :
· 1994 : Start of the DIDAC project
· 2000 : Completion of the five DIDAC sets with 320 viewgraphs and additional documentation
· 2001- 2004 : Worldwide estimation , promotion and distribution with support of IUPAC and UNESCO
· 2005 : Electronic versions of DIDAC on compact disc and the worldwide internet
· 2006 : Development and updating of users support in cooperation between the Royal Flemish Chemical Society , interested local chemical societies , IUPAC – CCE and UNESCO
Agfa-Gevaert
In June 1894 Lieven Gevaert founded the limited liability
partnership of L.Gevaert and Company, which over the last 100 years has
developed into two sturdy pillars of the Belgian economy: the financial
holding company
"Gevaert N.V.", and one of the world's leading producers of
photographic systems, "Agfa-Gevaert", which since the 1980's has been
wholly owned by Bayer A.G..
Over the years Agfa-Gevaert N.V. has also developed into an important
centre of "Advanced Chemistry". It was therefore an obvious step for
Agfa-Gevaert N.V. to join the "International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry" (IUPAC) when, in 1967, industrial chemical companies were so
invited. 1994 is both the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of
IUPAC and one hundred years since Lieven Gevaert's company was founded.
It is with great pleasure that we are able to celebrate these two
events by giving real support to chemistry education in schools.
With this project the company's long-term interest in
education is furthered both within and beyond the borders of Belgium.
We hope that secondary school teachers will find this set of teaching
aids of value in preparing and teaching their lessons.
January 1996
René Peeters
Former Director, Agfa-Gevaert N.V.
In 1994 Agfa-Gevaert N.V. launched the DIDAC project on the joint occasion of 75 years of IUPAC and the 100th birthday of the original Gevaert company. In the spirit of its founder Lieven Gevaert, Agfa-Gevaert N.V. aimed with this initiative at actively supporting the chemistry education in Belgium.
The first part was made available free of charge to all
Belgian chemistry teachers, both Dutch and French speaking, who
participated in the academic celebration of 75 years of IUPAC. The
action met with considerable success!
The following years the series was extended to 5 volumes and the
accompanying texts were translated into English.
A group of university staff members linked to the different didactic centres of the Flemish universities assisted the editorial group of the research department at Agfa-Gevaert N.V. in the completion of the volumes. Their contribution guaranteed the educational value of the whole.
Agfa-Gevaert N.V. took care of the development, co-ordination and realisation of the DIDAC volumes. This way our company concretised its support to chemistry education. The sets as from DIDAC-2 were put at the disposal of all interested teachers at cost price. The creative input of both external and Agfa-Gevaert N.V. internal editorial members was given on a fully voluntary and unpaid basis.
Thanks to the active co-operation of the KVCV (Royal Flemish Chemical Society), in a later stage Fedichem (Federation of the Belgian Chemical Industry) and the Funds for Professional Education of the Chemical Industry in Belgium, more than 1800 DIDAC volumes were distributed in Belgium. This corresponds with a penetration of more than 30% in Belgian secondary schools.
Simultaneously, the National Committee on Chemistry (an association with delegates from the chemical industry and chemistry departments of academic institutions) started promoting DIDAC. As the National Committee represents Belgium in IUPAC, this led to a sustained co-operation with IUPAC and UNESCO. In its turn, this resulted in the presentation of DIDAC in more than 50 different countries and the translation of the accompanying texts into a continuously growing number of languages.
The CD-ROM supplement was also realised thanks to the co-operation between Agfa-Gevaert N.V., UNESCO and IUPAC. Herewith Agfa-Gevaert N.V. wants to end its part in the DIDAC project. With this CD-ROM and its high-resolution version (usable for graphic quality reproductions, poster printing, etc.) we leave the further development of this project in the care of UNESCO and IUPAC.
We wish IUPAC, UNESCO and the DIDAC volumes a prosperous future!
Dr. Christian C. Van de Sande
Sr. VP R&D Materials
Agfa-Gevaert N.V.
IUPAC
Message from the IUPAC President
“IUPAC’s mission is to advance the worldwide aspects of the chemical sciences and to contribute to the application of chemistry in the service of mankind.” One of the ways in which IUPAC strives to fulfill this mission is to contribute to chemistry education. Nobody doubts the importance of chemistry education that promotes public understanding, fosters scientific literacy and encourages young people to study the chemical sciences and follow a career in them. Chemistry is unique among the sciences in having an entire industry devoted to its applications with substantial opportunities for wealth creation. However, education is a sensitive matter. It is a national responsibility and is a vehicle for many goals, including the development of cultural and ethical values and national pride. Woe betide the outsider who attempts to interfere!
The DIDAC resources for teachers present an excellent opportunity for IUPAC to fulfill its mission. Firstly, these are resources for teachers, not a curriculum for students. Their central component is a set of very high quality, colored overhead projector transparencies, which are free of any written language. Of course, there is chemical language, but that is truly universal – the symbol for hydrogen is H, whether you write in English, Russian, Chinese or Arabic! The transparencies are supported by printed text for the teacher, explaining what the transparency can be used to teach - but not how to teach it. This of course needs to be made available to teachers in their national language; recognizing how essential this is for DIDAC to be widely used, translations into several languages have already been completed. But again, this printed text is not a curriculum: it simply provides explanation and extension of what the transparency shows. Teachers can choose which transparencies to use; they can choose whether or not they want or need to read the printed text. They are free. They can also be confident that the transparencies, and supporting text, have been constructed by highly reputable chemistry educators. The DIDAC materials are the product of an investment in chemistry education made by Agfa-Gevaert N.V. to mark their centenary and the 75th anniversary of IUPAC. They enlisted some of the best chemistry educators in Belgium and endeavored technically to produce the best quality product they could.
Since their original publication in Belgium (with supporting
text in French and Flemish) the high quality of the DIDAC resources has
been brought to the attention of IUPAC. Largely through the efforts of
IUPAC’s Committee on Chemical Industry and Committee on
Teaching of Chemistry (now Committee for Chemistry Education), the
potential global interest of this resource has been recognized and a
program of close cooperation with UNESCO established.
A shared vision has developed between IUPAC and UNESCO as a result of
strenuous efforts in the last four years to bring this resource
directly to the attention of educators in some 50 countries. Many of
these are developing countries where overhead projectors and
electricity cannot be taken for granted in classrooms. Selected posters
will be printed for classroom display in such circumstances. At the
same time, the universality of the images obviously lends itself to
electronic dissemination. This explains the preparation of this CD: it
brings to global maturity an idea conceived in Belgium six years ago.
In the spirit that has driven this project all along, the resource is being made freely available. Please examine it and take from it what you need. If it helps to teach chemistry, IUPAC will be well satisfied.
Pieter Steyn
President IUPAC 2002 - 2003
UNESCO
Long-term cooperation between UNESCO and the International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) made it possible to produce a
variety of teaching and learning materials on chemical education for
the different levels.
Today the Agfa-Gevaert N.V./ UNESCO/ IUPAC partnership is giving a chance to make available for free distribution throughout the world a new and most interesting set of teaching materials called DIDAC. DIDAC is a teaching aid based on modules which can be used very easily for secondary teaching, in part also for higher education, and - of course - for the popularisation of chemical and scientific knowledge in the different educational systems.
The teachers who will use, or are using, DIDAC are absolutely free to make their choice of the modules - whatever the level they use them for in the educational process.
The different forms of DIDAC materials : CD-ROMs, future books as well as posters from the transparencies, are not for sale. They are to be freely distributed through our existing and future partners in UNESCO Member States.
In accordance with the Agfa-Gevaert N.V. / UNESCO agreement, different language versions of DIDAC can be produced and we are working on the implementation of these facilities.
Following the Resolution “DR 12” of UNESCO’s XXXIst General Conference to develop African teaching materials, DIDAC materials will be disseminated in different forms, especially in all African countries through the universities and teacher training colleges.
There are five different steps for the dissemination of DIDAC to the world community :
- DIDAC as a full set of 5 volumes, with text in English,
French and Dutch, color transparencies and black-and-white version of
the color transparencies. During the last several years, these
materials have already been disseminated in about 50 countries.
- DIDAC in its CD-ROM version.
- DIDAC as a book which will be printed before the end of 2003.
- DIDAC color posters, which can be used in rural area schools.
- Finally, in November – December 2003, the installation
of different language versions of DIDAC on the Internet for free
distribution.
We are able to disseminate DIDAC in different forms to the world community, mostly by using extra-budgetary resources received by UNESCO from the different donors, including IUPAC and Agfa-Gevaert N.V., as well as partly under UNESCO Regular Program funds.
After installation of DIDAC on the Internet for free use, we can say that it is very unusual that materials which were very costly to produce can be used completely freely.
We would be highly satisfied if all users of DIDAC will find
the materials easy to use,
with the teachers’ own personal imagination within your
national curricula.
A. Pokrovsky
Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences
UNESCO Natural Sciences Sector
KONINKLIJKE VLAAMSE CHEMISCHE VERENIGING
ROYAL FLEMISH CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF BELGIUM
DIDAC :
an unexpected success story
from a regional chemical society !
On worldscale the Royal Flemish Chemical Society / Koninklijke Vlaamse Chemische Vereniging / (KVCV) is only a small society in a small region. Indeed Flanders is a region of Belgium ( inhabitants 11 million , area 30.500 km2 ) with about 60% of the Belgian area and population. Nevertheless it houses one of the biggest petrochemical industries in Europe in the Antwerp harbour region and also the high-tech pharmaceutical research laboratories of Janssen Pharmaceuticals and the high standard of science education in secondary schools in Flanders has been recognized by international evaluation systems as e.g. Pisa and Timms.
The KVCV was founded in 1939 and its educational division started only since 1965. However chemical education in Flander’s secondary schools has been improved in many ways, due to the support and stimulating activities of the KVCV.
The KVCV plays an important part in the in-service training of chemistry teachers , especially in the field of applied chemistry , and the methodology of visualisation techniques for chemistry. Above its advisory role for adaptations of the chemistry curricula, the KVCV cares for the implementation of IUPAC rules for chemical nomenclature, signs and symbols and conceptual definitions in chemistry teaching and looks also for the safety rules and environmental care in school laboratories.
KVCV has always promoted chemical didactics as a close connexion between stimulating curiosity, interest , imagination, visualisation and comprehension . This was also the heart of the ‘DIDAC – philosophy’ and the motive to perform the DIDAC- project.
The international estimation and support for the DIDAC-project , from the side of IUPAC and UNESCO , was an unexpected but very agreeable result of the performed work. It means for the educational division of the KVCV a great relief and stimulant to continue improving chemistry teaching from viewpoint of the successful DIDAC- philosophy
Prof. Ludo Brandt
Chairman of the educational division
of the Royal Flemish Chemial Society ,
1988 - 1998
Materials
Originally DIDAC was offered as a series of transparencies, composed of five sets. Each DIDAC set comprised a series of approximately sixty colour tranparencies.
Each set of transparencies presents a number of chemical concepts and end applications from everyday life in an easy-to-understand, and sometimes humorous, way. The accompanying texts with additional information about the chemistry on the viewgraphs are available in Dutch , English and French. Each set contains also a high quality black-and white version of the viewgraphs from which easily copies can be made for distribution among the learners.
There exists also a DIDAC - book ( French and English) with a complete survey of all the viewgraphs and accompanying texts.
Later on some topics (e.g. air and water) were also available with a separate thematic booklet and posters at wall chart format.
More recently the DIDAC-viewgraphs are stored electronically on compact
discs and on the worldwide internet, with
the accompanying texts at choice in English and
French , the official UNESCO languages , and in Dutch , the home
language of the DIDAC editorial team.
URL : http://www.iupac.org/didac
Depending on local sponsorships, and on support of UNESCO, some DIDAC materials are also available in other languages, besides English , French and Dutch
However the original English and French volumes with DIDAC - transparencies, the DIDAC- survey book , and the thematic posters and booklets about Air and water are actually only available through UNESCO services. For information about the available languages and distribution conditions, contact the authorised programme specialist at the UNESCO head quarter at Paris .
Content
The 320 DIDAC viewgraphs are spread over the following topics of general and applied chemistry and are progressively edited in five volumes as indicated below :
Conceptual approach :
• The periodic table of chemical elements
• Atomic model
• The chemical bond
• Chemical equilibria
• Watery solutions and pH
• Thermodynamics
• Electrochemistry
• Polymers and biopolymers
Applied and contextual approach :
• The role of chemistry in our daily lives
• Air and water
• Petrochemistry
• Silverhalide chemistry
• Colloidal systems
• Separation techniques of mixtures
• Chemistry and health
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Volume 1
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Volume 2
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Volume 3
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Volume 4
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Volume 5
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KVCV
The compact disc with the DIDAC - viewgraphs can be obtained from the
Koninklijke Vlaamse Chemische Vereniging
Royal Flemish Chemical Society
Celestijnenlaan 200 F
3001 Heverlee – Leuven
Tel. 016 29 32 14
Fax 016 22 68 92
The compact discs can be obtained at cost price + transmission costs.
Look at www.KVCV.be for more information .
It is also advisable to contact your local chemical society, to get informed if you can get the DIDAC materials by that way probably with no or cheaper transmission costs.
Chemical Societies
Some chemical societies get any DIDAC materials to distribute among their members as a result from their contacts with KVCV or IUPAC or UNESCO.
Therefore it is advisable to contact the local chemical societies to get informed if they know the DIDAC materials and have some exemplars to offer to their interested members.
UNESCO
To receive information about the distribution policy of DIDAC materials within the UNESCO worldwide educational network contact your local UNESCO representatives or the authorised programme specialist at the UNESCO head quarter at Paris .
The original volumes with DIDAC –transparencies, the DIDAC- survey book , and the thematic posters and booklets about ‘Air and water’ are actually only available through UNESCO services.
Julia
Hasler, PhD
Programme Specialist
Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences
Natural Sciences Sector, UNESCO
1 rue Miollis
75015 Paris
Tel: (33 1) 45 68 38 97
Fax: (33 1) 45 68 58 16
The DIDAC viewgraph series are composed on a modular base. That means that they can be used independently of any local curriculum framework, but also that teachers has to select themselves the interesting viewgraphs in view of local chemistry curriculum and lessons content.
The DIDAC transparencies are produced using four-colour printing techniques. No comments are written on the sheets. So they can be used in any language. If you wish you can write on the sheets before or while explaining the theory. This makes it also easy to jot down your own comments or more permanent additional information and then project them. If water-soluble ink is used , the transparencies can easily be restored to their original condition.
It is also possible to complete the viewgraphs on electronic carriers with own additional information. Suitable techniques can be demonstrated and exercised in the DIDAC- workshops.
It is very easy to insert DIDAC viewgraphs in text files or presentation programmes as e.a. microsoft power point . If suitable copying and printing apparatus are available they also can be inserted in poster materials.
It is very advisable to provide the learners at least with black and white copies of the viewgraphs for their own study material, as only projected viewgraphs disappear very fast from their memory.
The Roylal Flemish Chemical Society is willing to organize on demand workshops about DIDAC. The following themes can be treated in accordance with the applicants and expected audience :
· DIDAC : origin , development and teaching philosophy
· Presentation and discussion of structure , lay-out and contents
· Selection of viewgraphs as a function of curriculum and lesson demands.
· Adaptation and completion of viewgraphs for own local needs
o Transparencies
o Electronic carriers
· Uses of DIDAC materials in chemistry teaching for group learning or individual study
Demands for DIDAC – workshops have to be introduced to the Royal Flemish Chemical Society.
Conditions and possibilities will be discussed with authorised members of the DIDAC- workgroup of the KVCV.
Koninklijke Vlaamse Chemische Vereniging
Royal Flemish Chemical Society
Celestijnenlaan 200 F
3001 Heverlee – Leuven
Tel. 016 29 32 14
Fax 016 22 68 92