Young Ambassadors for Chemistry in Cyprus

The course for the global project Young Ambassadors for Chemistry was successfully held in Nicosia, Cyprus, from the 8th to the 11th April 2009.
The initiative to host YAC in Cyprus was expressed by the Inspector of Chemistry in Cyprus Loukia Anastasiadou and was welcomed by the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, who also financed the event.
A small group of chemistry teachers guided by Valia Angeli-Partassidou and Tasoula Karamichali, under the direction of the Inspector of Chemistry, organised the YAC course at the Paedagogical Institute and the event at Eleftheria Square in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus.
45 teachers and 37 students from secondary schools from all over Cyprus, participated in the YAC programme. SAW played an important role in the course with 'Chemistry in our lives' and 'Climate change'.

YAC course: April 8-10, 2009

45 Participants signed up for the course, which was held  in the afternoon. Course leaders Erica Steenberg (South Africa) and Lida Schoen (Netherlands) familiarised the teachers with the YAC project (of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry: IUPAC) and the Science Across the World programme.
On the second part of the course we worked on the SAW website with emphasis on 'Climate change' and 'Chemistry in our lives' (computer and group work). We ended the course with a hands-on demonstration to investigate students ideas on 'Dangers of climate change'.
During the third afternoon we prepared for the YAC event in a session that included organization of the event and the practical work. The teachers' group (Theodoros Anaxagorou and others) that hasd quite a lot of expertise on formulating cosmetics, helped with the practical work. With so many cooperative teachers the preparation was an easy job!

During the course we visited the Science Fair in the large International Trade Fair.  Students and teachers from many schools showed their achievements in Science education. 

YAC event: April 11, 2009

On Saturday April 11, 2009 the teachers gathered for the final preparations, while Tasoula and Valia prepared the event in Eleftheria square (the Square of Freedom), right in the centre of Nicosia.  The Municipality of the capital Nicosia was extremely helpful: they set up a tent (in case of rain) and provided the benches for students to work on. All teachers and students wore a nice white cap with the YAC logo and date of the event. The public experienced 'chemistry' everywhere: a beautiful banner, a stand with chemistry posters, YAC stickers and a Periodic Table of the elements decorated the area of the event, accompanied by the sounds of 'chemical' music playing from a CD player via the loudspeakers.
But most important was, students working enthusiastically on a new Cypriot cosmetic line, consisting of bath salts, hair gel, shampoo and cream. While working, half of each group of 4 students interviewed the public about their ideas on chemistry. An evaluation report will be published later.
The organisers invited, apart from a national TV channel, national newspapers, radio channels and many VIPs: The Mayor of Nicosia Eleni Mavrou, the president of the Cyprus Chemical Society Epameinondas Leontidis, the president of the Chemistry Teachers Union Nicos Avgoustu, the Dean of the Chemistry Faculty of Cyprus University Anastasios Keramidas and Michalis Nicolaou from the Ministry of Education and Culture. The same evening the national TV station Sigma showed a 2-minutes video spot about the YAC event at prime time!

Prizes

Mayor Eleni Mavrou chaired a distinguished jury with members the Dean of the Chemistry Department of the University of Cyprus Anastasios Keramidas and Michalis Nicolaou from the Ministry of Education and Culture. Choosing the best team, was a difficult job as all students worked creatively and performed well!
This was the end of a glorious day with students and teachers promoting chemistry fantastically!
To thank everybody, we presented teacher Theodora Stasi, with the prize (Bio-Rad 'Genes in a bottle' classroom kit) for best actor in the TV commercial.

Acknowledgements

• Cypriot Ministry of Education and Culture for facilitating and financing  the course and event;
• IUPAC for facilitating travel expenses for Erica Steenberg and Lida Schoen;
• Loukia Anastasiadou, Valia Angeli-Partassidou and Tasoula Karamichali for perfect organisation;
• Total Pack Trading Cyprus Ltd. for donating ingredients from R&D lab to produce cosmetics (Th.Anaxagorou);
• Bio-Rad for donating a 'Genes in a bottle' classroom kit;
• SASOL Germany for donating the surfactant for shampoo;
• Seppic for donating the emulsifier for the production of a cream
• Roche Switzerland for donating educational cd-roms: Roche Genetics (very useful with SAW's 'Talking about genetics') in Greek;
• GlaxoSmithKline for providing all teachers and students with a Periodical System bag with many goodies.

Text and pictures: Erica Steenberg (SAW coordinator for South Africa) and Lida Schoen (SAW coordinator for the Netherlands), with thanks to Inspector Loukia Anastasiou for information and corrections

June 2009