Adolescents have a lot on their minds.  Should I drink or take drugs?  Why do I feel like I just can’t control my emotions?  I was diagnosed with depression, but why do some medications work and some don’t?  I take one week out of the year to take concepts my students have already learned in chemistry (ions, solubility, bonding, polarity, etc.), and apply it to neurobiology. We examine these highly relevant issues scientifically and thereby explain the biochemistry of drugs, alcohol, and emotions.  I begin this at the end of my bonding and organic chemistry units not only because one can immediately connect the language from these topics to the presentation on the brain, but also because by this time of the year the students can connect the challenging language of chemistry to the biological processes that permeate their adolescent lives. My students are more engaged during this one-week than they are all year, because they learn to connect what they know about chemistry to phenomena involving their own bodies.  They learn how even the most complicated of teenage angst can be understood through an understanding of biochemistry.  This makes chemistry “real” for them.<br/> <br/>

Sex, drugs, and the high school chemistry curriculum

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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