As part of our “From the Lab to the Classroom” activities, we organised the three-session workshop “Catalysis in the Classroom” for high-school teachers.

On April 29th and May 5th and 13th, teachers participated in the workshop with Dr. Laia Pellejà, ICIQ’s outreach person, to learn how to explain catalysis more effectively and what experiments to carry out in the classroom.

They worked on the Le Chatelier’s principle to predict the effect of a change of conditions on a chemical equilibrium (complexion and precipitation equilibria). Among other experiments, they also saw the acceleration of the thiosulfate oxidation by adding ammonium molybdate to the reaction and how the solution changed its color four times by adding a universal indicator; they experienced an example of enzymatic catalysis by exposing bananas to different temperatures; and through a kinetic study of the Fe3+ cation reduction, they saw how changes in concentration and temperature affects the reaction speed.

ICIQ’s “From the Lab to the Classroom” programme consists of workshops designed to provide teachers with educational material and assistance to bridge the gap between research and schools. We provide training consonant with the main research areas of the institute. All workshops combine theory and laboratory practices and they are carried out in our Teaching and Learning Laboratory.

The workshop “Catalysis in the Classroom” received funding from the Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera programme “Teachers and Science.”