May the Forces of Water Be With You

Funded Oct 1, 2016

Thank you so much for supporting the project for the purchase of Water Molecule modeling kits to support my chemistry classes. These kits are an incredible tool to help students visualize what is happening at the molecular level with the specialized bonding associated in-between water molecules. As part of the first project this academic year, my medicinal chemistry class used these molecules to better see and understand why certain drug compounds are soluble in water and others are not. Students used these kits to examine how water interacts with other charged molecules, such as sodium chloride and other neutral compounds including ethanol. In the first segment of this project, students built water molecules and noted their interactions with each of the molecules described. After observing the behavior of water with simple molecules, students could then translate this into more complex systems more easily than in previous years.

Thank you notes that some of you will receive came from my medicinal chemistry class. They were so excited to work with these modeling kits I could hardly get a word in edge-wise when the kits came out in class! Their engagement with the kits was inspiring!

The next project is to help my 10th-grade chemistry students, visualize simple intermolecular interactions of water and how important these interactions are to concepts in life, such as the creation of soap, the specific reason why oil and water don't ever mix, and why some materials are waterproof and others are not. We will also examine how water interacts with important molecules in the human body.

Your generosity to help purchase these kits are helping students of all types to understand that science is accessible to them no matter how hard they think it might be. These kits helped tremendously in pushing students to think more critically about simple systems and apply simple thinking to more complicated systems. This is a pathway the makes science accessible to all.

With Gratitude,

Dr. Chaterpaul and The Chemistry Students of Bard High School Early College”

With gratitude,

Mr. Chaterpaul