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Chemical
Education International, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 14-17, Published in August
3, 2001
16th International Conference on Chemical Education and
19th Conference of Hungarian Teachers in Chemistry Budapest, 5-10
August 2000
Gyrgy,Vrnai ,Chairman of the Org. Comm.
[email protected]
The
IUPAC CTC assign the organizer of the international conference every
two years. In 1996 the Hungarian Chemical Society Section of Teachers
in Chemistry submitted its detailed application and in 1998 was
granted with organizing the 2000th annual conference.
The
Conference was opened on 5th August under ideal circumstances in
a building of Etvs Lornd University (ELTE) situated on the bank
of river Danube. This building simultaneously accommodated the Conference
of Hungarian Teachers in Chemistry which takes place also in every
second year. The closing ceremony of the six days running programme
happened around noon on 10th August. The organizing office of ELTE
continuously provided conditions meeting every requirement, technique
and exemplary cleanness. The restaurant established at the place,
the globular assembly hall for the receptions and the politeness
of the staff- all represented Hungarian hospitality.
The
most important organizers of the Conference were the Hungarian Chemical
Society and its Section of Teachers in Chemistry. The Chemistry
Department of ELTE and the General and Inorganic Chemistry Department
of University of Veszprm supported the organization. English speaking
students from ELTE ensured the smooth course of events. The helpful
students group is worthy of public recognition for its work. The
leader of the group was a Ph.D student, Viktor Mihucz, other members
were Orsolya Kovcs, Bence Tamssy and Tams Vradi at the poster sessions,
Krisztin Demmel and Tmea Szab on the plenary lectures, Viktria Csengeri,
Katalin Miskei, Friderika Himics, Anik Rupert on the symposia, Jlia
Dgi and Gbor Viszok on the keynote lectures, Viktor Mihucz, Virg
Somogyi and Ilona Szamosjvri at the workshops. Students from University
of Veszprm carried out the professional simultaneous interpretation
and guidance in English language. With their excellent contribution
the conference became profitable for the Hungarian teachers of Chemistry,
too. The translation of Krisztina Vigh, who is a professional interpreter,
was outstanding and the other members, Gertrd B. Kiss and Zoltn
Lendvai as well as the group leader Gergely Szintay also performed
well. Furthermore, Balzs Srej and Blint Szele guided a tour round
Lake Balaton with expertise.
Due to our sponsoring institutions and firms we were able to organize
the conference on a high level as it has been qualified in written
indications by our partners for Germany to Japan. We would like
to express our thanks the following patrons and supporters for their
help: Zoltn Pokorni Minister of Education, Ferenc Ligetvri Minister
of Environmental Protection, Gyrgy Matolcsy Minister of Economy,
Norbert Kro Secretary General of Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad, Foundation for
the Technological Progress of the Industry, Hungarian Museum for
Science and Technology, Hungarian Millennium Commissioner Office,
EGIS Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Richter Gedeon Ltd., Gy_r Distillery
& Refinery CO Ltd., United Biscuits Hungary, Pannonplast Industrial
Plc.
The world conference was supported with cooperation by these international
organizations: IUPAC, UNESCO, FECS, ICASE. We were helped by the
personal assistance of the International Advisory Committee (13
members), National Scientific Committee ( 16 members), and the Organizing
Committee (14 members). The members of the Organizing Committee
were charged with different concrete tasks either: Attila F_z_ with
the technical and electronically equipments, Gbor Hornynszky with
the displays, Emma Jakab with the chairmanship. Mrs Csilla Csnyi
Kovcs arranged the programmes in Hungarian language and the vocational
training certificates. Istvn Mrtrai undertook chairmanship and helped
with professional translations, Mrs Emlia Horvth Nagy took part
in registration, Mikls Riedel made the English language summary
ready to print promoting the systematisation of the programme at
the same time. Zoltn Tth and Judit Wajand also undertook chairmanship,
while Attila Villnyi organized the poster session.
The opening ceremony was lead by Academician Alajos Klmn, the president
of Hungarian Chemical Society and the 16th ICCE. The Ministry of
Education was represented by Academician Gbor Nray-Szab who was
the president of the Scientific Committee as well. The UNESCO was
represented by Alex Pokrovsky, the IUPAC by Hans Bouma (The Netherlands)
, the IUPAC CTC by John Bradley (South-Africa), the FECS by Michael
Gagan (UK), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by Norbert Kro Secretary
General, and the host was Gyula Zray the assistant dean of the Science
Department of ELTE.
After the official greetings the "Csillagszem_" children
dance group presented some pieces from Hungarian folk-dance. The
lively and colourful show cheered the meeting up.
On the basis of the application forms we registered 554 persons
from 53 countries.
The distribution of the participants is the following:
Hungary |
247 |
USA |
40 |
Japan |
28 |
England |
21 |
South-Africa |
30 |
Finland |
20 |
Sweden |
15 |
Romania |
13 |
Yugoslavia |
13 |
Slovenia |
10 |
Slovakia |
10 |
Israel |
9 |
Germany |
9 |
Portugal |
9 |
Australia |
8 |
China |
7 |
The
Netherlands |
6 |
Austria |
5 |
Egypt |
5 |
Canada |
5 |
Russia |
5 |
Belgium |
4 |
Brazil |
3 |
Spain |
3 |
Switzerland |
3 |
Thailand |
3 |
Turkey |
3 |
France |
2 |
Greece |
2 |
Croatia |
2 |
Italy |
2 |
Argentina |
1 |
Chile |
1 |
Cyprus |
1 |
Czech
Republic |
1 |
Estonia |
1 |
Philippines |
1 |
Hawaii |
1 |
Ireland |
1 |
Columbia |
1 |
Korea |
1 |
Poland |
1 |
Lebanon |
1 |
Morocco |
1 |
Norway |
1 |
Puerto
Rico |
1 |
Saudi
Arabia |
1 |
New
Zealand |
1 |
Tunisia |
1 |
Kenya |
1 |
Luxembourg |
1 |
Ghana |
1 |
Ukraine |
1 |
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The
7,039 % of the registered persons were not able to attend because
of certain difficulties. The number of companions was 36 from the
effective 515 participants, 271 from abroad and 208 Hungarian. 26
foreign chemistry teachers who teach in Hungarian language could
take part in the programmes free of charge. Moreover, providing
reductions solved some other financial problems.
The Conference was regarded an accredited course so the participants
were given official certificates.
The plenary and keynote lectures were lead by the members of the
National Scientific Committee: Lszl Harsnyi Secretary General of
HCS, Ferencz Hudecz Academician, Jzsef Hlavay professor, Emma Jakab
Hungarian Academy of Sciences scientist, Ferenc Kilr professor,
Lszl Mark Academician, Istvn Mtrai secondary school teacher, Ern_
Pungor Academician, Csaba Szntay Academician, Imre Szebnyi professor,
Lszl Velkey secondary school headmaster.
Speakers of Keynote lectures:
Frederic Bettelheim (USA), A.F.M. Fahmy (Egypt), Erika, Fodor (Hungary),
Pamela Garnett (Australia), Michael Schallies (Germany), Ben Selinger
(Australia), Sndor, Papp (Hungary), Albert Pilot ( The Netherlands),
Istvn, Pais (Hungary), Yoshito Takeuchi (Japan), Bla, Tth (Hungary),
Yu.D. Tretyakov (Russia), Uri Zoller (Israel).
The
seminars were lead by the organizers: professor Hans-Jrgen Schmidt
(Germany), prof. Dorothy Gabel (USA), prof. Istvn Horvth (Hungary),
prof. J.J. Lagowski (USA), prof. Christer Gruvberg (Sweden), prof.
Zafra Lerman (USA), prof. Dori Yehudit (Israel), Erik Onkelinx (Belgium),
Attila Sebestyn assistant Rector (Hungary), prof. Yoshito Takeuchi
(Japan), Judit Wajand associate professor (Hungary) , prof. Pamela
Garnett (Australia), Attila F_z_ secondary school teacher (Hungary),
Jack Holbrook Secretary General of ICASE (Cyprus), prof. Pter Csermely
(Hungary), prof. Anthony Smith (France), Csilla Csnyi Kovcs leading
consultant (Hungary), prof. Maria Elisa Pestana (Portugal), prof.
Ognian Serafimov (Germany), prof. Peter Towse (UK), prof. Loretta
Jones (USA), Istvn Mtrai secondary school teacher (Hungary), Katalin
Harka leading consultant (Hungary),prof. de Jong Onno (The Netherlands),
prof. Mary Virginia Orna (USA), prof. Michael Gagan (UK), prof.
David Waddington (UK), prof. Miranda Stephenson (UK), prof. Tsung-Tsan
Sun (Taiwan).
The six-day programme included the work of both the lecturers and
the authors of the announced presentations. Each working day of
the scientific meeting was started with plenary lectures then 5
or 6 symposia were running in simultaneous sessions. After lunch
the programme was continued with two lectures and was finished with
9 parallel workshops which were carried out in different venues.
The poster session was opened on 6th August in the afternoon and
it was displayed during the whole conference. The professional work,
lasted from 9am to 6pm, involved 6 plenary lectures, 14 keynote
lectures, 120 symposia, and 18 workshops. The plenary and keynote
lectures were translated into Hungarian by simultaneous interpreters.
All of the plenary lectures proved to be highly valuable such as
Science, A Round Peg in a Square World by Nobel-laureate
Harold Kroto, The Ozone Hole: A Manmade Chemical Instability
of the Atmosphere. What Should We Learn from It ? by Nobel-laureate
Paul Crutzen, the spectacular Micro-scale Experiments with Gases
by Viktor Obendrauf, Teaching University Chemistry in the
Context of Materials Science by Mikls Zrnyi, What Can We
Learn from Research on Students' Misconceptions ? by Hans-Jrgen
Schmidt as well as Environmental Sciences by D.J. Miyamoto.
Two of the 14 keynote lectures were in Hungarian language on useful
topics in education: the Cyanide Pollution of the River Tisza
Through the Eye of a Chemist by Sndor Papp and the Nuclear
technologies and the Environment by Bla Tth. The lecture of
Professor Istvn Pais is also remarkable and was considered a great
honour to hear. The Professor founded the Conference of Hungarian
Teachers in Chemistry within the Hungarian Chemical Society 38 years
ago.
From the 120 symposia there were 15, from the 18 workshops there
were 7 and from the 154 posters there were 28 in Hungarian language.
Over the scheduled programmes an extra workshop was announced, the
New Directions in Chemistry Teaching by John Bradley the
president of IUPAC CTC and Alex Pokrovsky president of the scientific
division of UNESCO.
The
lectures and workshops included educational processes 72,7%
The distribution of the topics was the following:
Methodology |
32,1% |
Primary
and secondary schools |
10,6% |
Higher
education |
6,6% |
Possibilities
of multimedia and Internet |
18,1% |
Microtechnical
experiments |
5,3% |
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"Green
Chemistry" --------------------------------------------10,6%
Relations between industry and chemistry teaching --------9,4%
Science of chemistry -------------------------------------------7,3%
The
educational processes indicated there main tendencies:
1.
Chemistry teaching should be based on the experience, materials
and phenomena of everyday life. Scientific study and understanding
of chemistry should be built on them.
2. Gaining experiences is necessary to extend to the area of
science and environmental chemistry.
3. The use and publication of information should be carried
through Internet and interactive CDs.
In
the spirit of the year Hungarian Millennium the Museum for Science
and Technology arranged an exhibition about Hungarian scientists.
va Vmos director general of the museum opened the exhibition called
Hungarian Chemists in World. The Museum for Science and Technology
presented another exhibition about Liebig's life entitled Justus
von Liebig Everything is Chemistry. This exhibition was intended
to express the internationality of science and was opened Prof.
Ferenc Szabadvry. A special part of the exhibitions was the display
Chemistry in Sculptures of Bla Vizi, lecturer from University
of Veszprm. There was a wonderful composition, A Helping Hand
for the Sick Heart, which showed a heart medicine formed to
palm shape. Educators from all over the world could admire the united
product of the chemist and artist in Budapest.
In an other show-case the collection of Peter Towse (Leeds) was
displayed from the Chemical Education Journals included the
Periodical of Chemistry for Grammar School Students. This bibliography
was published in floppy, CD, as well as print.
Mrta Szeness Maleczki (University of Veszprm) made a collection
Problems and Solutions in Chemistry based on the material
of Jnos Irinyi National Secondary School Competition in Chemistry.
The Hungarian Chemical Society has organized the competition for
more than three decades. The collection was issued both in English
and Hungarian languages for the participants.
The descendants of a traditional blue painting family from Gy_r
introduced the tools and technology of the Hungarian blue dyeing
in a spectacular and interesting show.
Traditionally, the exhibitors from industry and publishing presented
their latest products on the conference. This year few exhibitors,
6 Hungarian and 3 foreign ones took part in this event.
The closing meeting was chaired by Academician Gbor Nray-Szab. J.
Lagowski the new vice-president of the IUPAC CTC was also present,
who followed Hans Bouma after the expiry of his mandate. Professor
Wenxiang Zhu, leader of the Chinese delegation, announced that the
17th ICCE would be held in Beijing (Peking ) in 2002, according
to the decision of IUPAC CTC in Budapest on 7th August.
The high quality of the professional work, the accommodation and
meals, the social programmes, all contributed to the pleasant atmosphere
and the value of the conference. The accommodation was satisfactory
for each participant, neither the foreign nor the Hungarian guests
made any complaints about it. The morning coffee and the lunch were
ensured with polite and careful service at the locally established
restaurant. The first day Welcome Party was held in the tastefully
decorated great hall with glass cupola ("Gmb" great hall)
where plenty of various food was offered. The closing banquet was
settled in the several hundred year old Esterhzy-cellar in Szigliget
at Lake Balaton. Nine coaches carried the guests to Szigliget through
the marvelous and sunny countryside in the northern part of Balaton.
The students from University of Veszprm commented on the sights
in English language. The wine cellar was built at the foot of Szigliget
Castle among the Volcanic hills. During the dinner the guests could
enjoy different ceremonies and folklore programme. Hundreds of participants
in the hope of further blossoming cooperation and friendship.
Summarizing the events of the 16th ICCE we can say that we are worthy
of the former world conferences in Bangkok, San Juan (Puerto Rico),
Brisbane and Cairo. Hungarian chemistry teachers considered a great
honour that two Nobel-laureates and the most outstanding experts
in educating chemistry has accepted our invitation. Beyond that
a lot of qualified educators came to lead lectures, workshops or
make posters. As a result, a great number of the 500 participants
visited each venue. The international meeting was a significant
occasion for the Hungarian teachers in chemistry, either. It was
the first time that they were able to take part as equal partners
and to extend their knowledge on a world conference.
Many thanks to our supporters, individuals as well as institutions
at home and abroad for their help.
Last
updated
16.05.02
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