THEATER AND CHEMISTRY: AN EXPLOSIVE MIXTURE

Teresa Climent1, Rosendo Pou-Amérigo2, Amparo Cháfer3, Yolanda Lifante4

1Faculty of Chemistry, University of Valencia, C/. Dr. Moliner 50, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia, SPAIN)

2Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Valencia, C/. Dr. Moliner 50, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia, SPAIN)

3,4Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Valencia, Avgda. Universitat s/n, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia, SPAIN)

Teresa.climent@uv.es, rosendo.pou@uv.es, amparo.chafer@uv.es, Yolanda.lifante@uv.es

Abstract

“Theater is pure Chemistry; Chemistry is pure Theater” is a project developed in the University of Valencia in which a group of undergraduate students have to write a theatre play, which must be performed by themselves on a stage. It is essentially an academic activity that seeks two goals: first, that the authors/actors face the challenge of motivating a group of youngsters (16-18 years old) to study Chemistry. And second, they have to analyze the most basic chemical concepts in depth, in order to find that metaphor or unexpected situation that allows them to approach Chemistry in a different but amusing way.

During the last four years, more than one hundred Chemistry, Biology, Pharmacy and Mathematics students have enjoyed the possibility of discovering their role as actors/actresses and awaken their own potential as future teachers.

The project has been awarded the 2010 Educational Innovation Award of the “Premios del Consell Social-Universitat de València”.

Keywords: Chemistry, theater, theatre, complimentary skills programmes, transferring disciplines.

1. INTRODUCTION

Is it possible to use theater as a tool to enhance chemical concepts? Is it feasible to use it to motivate teenagers to study and understand chemistry and provide a refreshing and original image of this discipline? And is it also possible to give light to the enormous importance of chemicals in our world and everyday life in a funny way?

At the University of Valencia (UV) we think so and, in fact, for more than four years we have been developing a quite unique project: "Theater is pure Chemistry; Chemistry is pure theater". Although popularizing science, by disclosing physics, chemistry or mathematics, is not an easy matter, the project has been extremely successful, both from the students, the teachers and the audience point of view, as it has been previously reported [1-4].

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

2.1. First steps

The project rose as part of an optional subject called "Chemistry for Secondary School", which was mainly chosen by those undergraduate students who wanted to become teachers in Chemistry. The key objective of such a module was to point out what they would do if they were teachers, how and why. At some point, they were asked to imagine themselves facing a particularly unmotivated class (with 16-18 years old students), and to suggest how they would try to change that situation. One proposal was to write a comedy inspired by the High School Chemistry curriculum. And it was finally

carried out. The students were asked to create a theatrical script on chemical concepts that should be attractive and motivating for youngsters, and to put it on stage.

After weeks of hard work and nerves, looking for that illustrative example, that illuminating metaphor that would ingeniously introduce kids into certain concepts, relationships, phenomena or chemical formulas, the play script was ready and the premiere took place in May 2008. The viewers (a handful of friends and colleagues) were surprised with the misadventures of a thermodynamic family; laughed with the strange talks among electrons, oxidizing and reducing agents in a nightclub; witnessed the broadcast of a tennis match between acids and bases, and were amused by "Do you want to be a chemist and millionaire?", parodying the famous TV game show, while making use of Le Chatelier’s principle.

The challenge continued and a new play, developed by a new group of Chemistry, Biology, Pharmacy and Mathematics students, was released in May 2009. It was composed of four sketches which recreated different television series and reality shows. The sketches made it possible to analyze different chemical topics: the “love” relationship between Silver and Chloride (describing different kinds of chemical bonding), how to solve a chemical problem involving the equation of state of an ideal gas (with the help of the well-known Dr. House’s style), the "mysterious" world of the catalysts, as seen by scientists and non-scientists, and a bunch of crazy paparazzi arguing about the "natural" versus “chemical " dilemma (see Fig. 1).

In 2011, the premiere of the third play created as part of this project took place. Here again, common high school chemistry topics as the ideal gas law, atomic models or functional groups, surprisingly flooded spaces not expected to find, such as a parliamentary debate, a fashion show or a rumba song.

Figure 1. Scenes from the Theater is pure Chemistry, Chemistry is pure Theater: Up: (left) Dr.Gay-Lussac (based on Dr. House) is trying to figure out the chemical composition of an unknown gas; (right) the interviewer is asking Chloride about his turbulent relationship with Silver, while the slide behind shows an AgCl crystalline structure in which each Chloride is surrounded by six Silvers!; Down: the picture shows a TV program with some paparazzi arguing about catalysts.

Because of scheduling conflicts, the project has expanded beyond the original authors/actors. Since they could not take part in every show due to their academic obligations, new students have been engaged. Every new addition has enriched the original text and given new nuances to each of the characters.

Pre-recorded video and photo projections also pepper the play from one sketch to other, making the audience not to have a minute of boredom. Even text messages, as in live TV programs, show up on the screen. At the end, it has an extra surprise involving the spectators, that makes it even funnier and capturing (see Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Spontaneous participation of a high school teacher among the audience.

2.2. Beyond the boundaries

The acquired success eventually pushed the project to the boundaries of the course before the third play was even thought. Indeed, in July 2009 we were invited to perform in the Faculty of Science of University of Alicante and at the end of October 2009 in the Science Park of Granada, in the framework of the Andalucia Chemistry Day activities (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Taking the show to other cities. (left) Troupe studying the dialogs while driving to Alicante; (right) Outside Granada’s Science Park.

The next step in this adventure took place earlier in 2010, when the play was performed for real high school students and their teachers, thereby achieving the authentic purpose for which the work was created. We used the UV’s 350-seat theater and the show length was limited to 1 hour. Since then, the theater has been booked to capacity in each performance as soon as we set up and publicize a new play.

Some video clips from the show can be viewed on the Web page of http://www.uv.es/tquimico (accessed January 2012). In addition, a book compiling the three plays has been recently published [5].

3. Conclusions

Teachers often complain about the students “minimum” attitude to work and that they are not committed beyond what is necessary to get a pass in the subject. The development of this activity has shown the untruthfulness of this statement. From the teacher point of view, the project has emphasized, once more, the importance of motivation by means of creative tasks and ambitious challenges, also in the framework of scientific degrees.

Nevertheless, we think that the main conclusions of this experience could be summarized with the words of some of the first play actress-students [1]:

- “Many of us got enrolled in this chemistry course just thinking that it would be an easy subject. But over the weeks we realized that it wasn’t. We had to work in groups, discuss, debate and give our opinions, prepare cooking dishes and one of the most special activities for sure … the Theater.

One day our teacher said we had to write a theater script and play it. It had to be about chemical concepts. We put our hands to work and many good ideas emerged after weeks of hard work in class and at home. And finally the time to perform it and to face the public arrived. Then we could demonstrate how hard we had worked. Gone are the days of script corrections, casting of characters, class tests and acting, but it’s been definitely an exciting experience for everyone.”

- “To design a play about chemical concepts seemed a crazy idea to me, but it has been indeed an innovative and creative way to motivate high school students and a very rewarding experience. This project is helping us to develop skills and public speaking, to enhance our creativity, written and physical expression, to work as a team (including respect to others), all of that having fun and essentially learning how to teach chemistry in an entertaining way.”

Or the statement of the non chemist actor-teacher that works at the Department of Didactics and School Organization (UV):

- “Before I was invited to participate in the project I was absolutely unaware of the catalysts world ... now I don’t know if I could live without them.”

The project has been awarded with the 2010 Educational Innovation Award of the “Premios del Consell Social-Universitat de València”.

Acknowledgements

The activity which we have presented has no cost, because the theater is provided free of charge and participants do not get wages. Nevertheless, we looked for some sponsors to cover the payment of several wireless microphones (required in order to make ourselves understandable on stage), and to record and edit DVDs and books. In this sense, we gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Valencia, of the PANREAC Company, manufacturer of laboratory reagents, and of the Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Químicos de la Comunidad Valenciana.

Additionally, the present contribution has been supported by the Project "Elaboración de material digital y recursos en la red para asignaturas de grados impartidos por el Departamento de Ingeniería Química y la Facultad de Química", belonging to the 2012/2013 UV DocenTIC program.

REFERENCES

[1] Chirivella García, J., Lamarca Pedemonte, I., Virgos Gasulla, F., Revert Sanz, L., Arias Zaragoza, A. (2010); La Química comedia; @tic, revista d'innovació educativa, 4, pp. 89-92.

[2] http://www.uv.es/noudise/356.pdf (accessed January 2012).

[3] http://www.uv.es/refutura/docs/17-18.pdf pp. 29-31 (accessed January 2012)

[4] Química e Industria (2010), 591, pp. 48-49.

[5] El Teatro es pura Química, la Química es puro Teatro. Sistemas Gráficos y Papelería, s.l. Valencia (Spain) (2012). ISBN: 978-84-940190-5-0