Under construction! We are just getting started on this page. Hopefully these links will give you a place to start as you begin connecting chemistry content to social issues.
Who are these resources helpful for? High school and college chemistry teachers.
This is currently a resource for teachers to learn about these links between their science topics and social issues so that they can incorporate that link into their class in their own way. In time, we plan to add teaching resources, such as lessons, worksheets, labs, or other activities. We will also be adding a secure forum (membership required) so that teachers and content experts can discuss these topics with one another.
Links for general help connecting social issues to the chemistry curriculum:
- Here’s How to Make Science More Relevant for Students of Color
- Integrating social and environmental justice into the chemistry classroom: a chemist’s toolbox
- Connecting Chemistry to Social Justice in a Seminar Course for Chemistry Majors
Table under construction! Common chemistry topics are listed in the first column of the table. The next column lists one or more social issues that relate to that topic. The third column lists resources to learn about the link between the science topic and the social issue.
| Science Topic | Social Issue(s) | Resources |
| Metals, solutions, calibration curves | Metals in drinking water and their inequitable distribution | Lead in water/paint for chem class, Student project, Flint water crisis, equity in TN, racial inequity |
| Ions, bonding, acids | Fluoride, fluoridation, and addressing social inequality in dental health | Fluoridation decreases income-related cavity inequality, school-based cavity intervention, older fluoridation study, (chemistry of cavity prevention) |
| Organic chemistry | Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals imitate hormones, have health impacts, and exposure is unequal | In mice, ECD impacts on human females, replacing BPA, good background on BPA plus effects on kidneys, social inequity in EDC exposure |