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Comment: Let’s create an image of the future

by Lori R. Stepan, chair, ACS Committee on Community Activities
October 13, 2024 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 102, Issue 32

 

Photo of Lori Stepan.
Credit: Courtesy of Lori Stepan
Lori Stepan

This year, the theme for National Chemistry Week (NCW) is “Picture Perfect Chemistry,” which celebrates the science of imaging. An image is a representation of something. Scientists use imaging to tell a story about an object or situation, and imaging is especially valuable when describing details that the eye cannot see. We use medical imaging to discern details about the human body, scanning electron microscopes to image surfaces at the atomic level, and telescopes to gather data about objects light-years away. We try to imagine how a molecule might look and act on the microscale, and we use this image to explain its behavior on the macroscale.

In today’s world, everyone seems to have a camera in their pocket, and the pictures they capture create a visual record of things people want to remember. The mind also creates images; imagination can create an image of something we’ve only dreamed about. We all have memories from our lives that we cherish. These mental pictures are full of color, emotion, and physical sensations. Images are very important in our lives.

Let’s give children mental images of science that intrigue and amaze them—and ones they will never forget.

Positive experiences create remembered images that can help shape us and encourage us to seek out more of the same experiences. Children learn by doing, and they base their worldview on the experiences they have especially enjoyed. They have mental images of themselves doing those things in the future. They believe they can do them; they are excited by them and want to learn more. Sharing our passion for science with young people is one of the great values of scientific outreach.Let’s give children mental images of science that intrigue and amaze them—and ones they will never forget. Let’s help them imagine themselves as scientists and show them that they can trust science and scientists. Let’s help them imagine a wonderful future!

Wherever you live, you can become involved in sharing science with young people and families during NCW, which takes place Oct. 20–26. Local American Chemical Society sections and student affiliates are preparing to celebrate NCW all over the world by planning outreach events, poetry contests, and a nanoscale image contest. You can locate your ACS local section at lslookup.acs.org/lslookup/local_search to find out what your local group may be planning and contact them to get involved.

The ACS Committee on Community Activities has designed numerous resources for NCW that are appropriate for various age groups. You can find these resources on our website at cenm.ag/ncw-resources. Through the website, you can plan an event or find an event. You can also download electronic versions of the “Picture Perfect Chemistry” issue of Celebrating Chemistry—our publication designed for grades 4–6—available for download in English or Spanish. The current issue has articles on medical imaging, the chemistry of photography, invisible ink, digital imaging, art conservation, and telescopes.Your local section can help you obtain hard copies of the publication as well as temporary tattoos, stickers, pencils, balloons, and other items from the ACS store. You can access a design tool kit appropriate for social media or download mole artwork. You can watch and share videos, experiments, and lesson plans. You can help someone enter the poetry contest or the nanoscale image contest. Make sure to visit the website to learn more.

A group of children stand at a table looking through spectroscopes made of cardboard tubes.
Credit: Sara Cottle
Kids look through cardboard spectroscopes at the “Rainbow Spectroscope” experiment station at the ACS Fall 2024 hybrid meeting in Denver.

Would you like to be involved in designing the next ACS outreach campaign? Any ACS member is welcome to join a theme team for an upcoming Chemists Celebrate Earth Week or NCW campaign. You can contribute articles and activities for the Celebrating Chemistry publication or design other resources for children around the world—maybe you would like to be interviewed by Meg A. Mole, or perhaps you would like to share your own resources and ideas.Let us know how you want to be involved. ACS members can request to join the Committee on Community Activities by completing a committee preference form at cenm.ag/acs-committee-preferences. Come and join us in sharing our love of chemistry! Contact us at outreach@acs.org to find out how you can participate.

I hope we can all imagine a wonderful future for science together!

Views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.

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