Department of Chemistry
Outreach Activities
The Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE) strongly believes in the importance of raising awareness of green chemistry in school children and the general public. The GCCE has a proven track record of preparing and delivering high quality promotional and awareness activities. Our staff and students regularly participate in outreach activities including:
- hands on science
- free online learning promoting green pharmaceuticals
- creating educational websites
- exhibiting at the Royal Society, Royal Institution and National Science Week
- delivering school and public lectures
- participating in radio broadcasts
- running workshops at careers events and training courses for teachers
- publishing in educational journals
Our hands on activities are designed not only to be sustainable, engaging and safe but also have a practical use. Some of the activities we do include making glue from milk, making a colour based pH indicator from red cabbage and making plastic from potatoes.
Coloured plastic made from potato starch and food colouring
The Green Formula
The GCCE has recently been involved in a project to create a book on green chemistry for primary school children using a ‘students as partners’ approach. Aimed at children aged 11+, The Green Formula follows the story of four very different school children who must work together to develop their school’s entry to the National Awards for Technology and Science. The book introduces scientific concepts in the children’s diaries and provides a number of experiments to try at home. The book can be downloaded for free from iTunes.
Green Tycoon
Learn about green chemistry and its real-world applications with this exciting new game from the GCCE. Green Tycoon is an interactive idle clicker learning tool, that will have you playing, and learning, on the go! After purchasing a wasteful and polluting factory you will need to apply your knowledge of green chemistry to make your process profitable once again. Upgrade your factory infrastructure, transport links, oil refinery and chemical processes to earn money and unlock more upgrades. Keep your delivery truck moving regularly, and reinforce your knowledge with the built-in quiz, to ensure a healthy bank balance with which to reinvest in your process. The game can be download for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Green Kid
GCCE researchers have created a comic with Teesside University about green and sustainable chemistry research. “Green Kid” aims to boost enthusiasm about science in children aged between 9 and 12. The project is funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry and ensured every primary school in York were given 30 copies along with a teacher pack with extra learning materials. The comic, set in 2064, sees the character Green Kid go back in time to the 2020s where they meet their inventor Summer as a child to see how scientific research to create green solutions and a circular economy could save the world from the ravages of climate change.
The comic, which also includes educational games and puzzles, focuses on the sustainable solvent Cyrene™ - which was discovered by York researchers in 2014. The bio-based chemical can be used to sustainably manufacture a range of products from lithium batteries and carbon fibre bicycles to medicines. Made from sawdust, Cyrene™ is safe, sustainable, recyclable and does not harm the environment.
Green Kid Comic (PDF 
, 3,550kb)