New media for teaching and communicating inorganic chemistry: The projects CCN and CCI at the department of chemistry and applied biosciences, ETH Zürich

Abstract

Chemistry teaching is traditionally a difficult task as it comes alive only through experiments. Secondly, extreme reductionism does not apply to chemical understanding because chemical ensembles by definition constitute very large sets of mobile particles. Teaching and learning of chemistry has to provide a feeling for the complexity of interactions, which is hidden behind the chemical symbolism. As safety requirements and reduction of costs have become important factors, experiments very often are the first to be cancelled in chemical courses. We present here an internet-based system for teaching chemistry and narrowing the gap between research and teaching in this field.