Crystals in the community and the classroom

Claire Murray; Helen E. Maynard-Casely; Ross Harrington; Stephanie McCready; Duncan J. Sneddon; Lynne Thomasd; Anna J. Warrena

doi:10.1107/S1600576724000207

Crystals in the community and the classroom

Claire Murray, Helen E. Maynard-Casely, Ross Harrington, Stephanie McCready, Duncan J. Sneddon, Lynne Thomasd, Anna J. Warrena

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The growing pressure on school curricula has meant crystals and the science of crystallography have been cut from or made optional for many educational programs. This omission is a serious disservice to the history and understanding of modern sciences, given that crystallography underpins many of the greatest advancements in science over the past century, is a critical component of many modern research papers and patents, and has 29 Nobel Prizes awarded in the field. This contribution describes a simple activity to target classroom and public engagement with crystallography, using marshmallows or equivalent sweets/candy to represent atoms and cocktail sticks to represent bonds, together with examples of how crystals are studied and how they are useful. Though it has a simple basis, this activity can be extended in numerous ways to reflect the aims of the demonstrator, and a few of these are described.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	181-186
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Applied Crystallography
Volume	57
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576724000207
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2024
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The authors thank the Young Crystallographers Group and the British Crystallographic Association as well as Diamond Light Source, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, and the UKRI Science, Technology and Facilities Council for their support and finance. The Protein Data Bank and the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre are also thanked for their support. Chris Baldwin is acknowledged for his advice on 3D printing, as is Janelle Townsend for her consultation on the primary lesson plans. Open access publishing facilitated by Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, as part of the Wiley–Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

Funders	Funder number
Australian University Librarians
British Crystallographic Association
Young Crystallographers Group
Diamond Light Source Ltd
UK Research and Innovation
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre

Keywords

crystallography
education
outreach

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology

Access to Document

10.1107/S1600576724000207Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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Crystals in the community and the classroom

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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