Live chemical demonstrations in class can play a large role in generating student interest, boosting comprehension, and improving retention. We would like to showcase creative chemical demonstrations in our 2012 Demo Extravaganza. We invite all chemical educators to share their best demos and inspire others to approach the teaching of chemistry in new, exciting and creative ways. Possible categories of demos include:

Symposium chairs will consider adding new categories, if needed, and reserve the right to accept only those submissions that considered appropriate and safe.

To further our goal of fostering stronger interactions between educators and students, we invite presentations from both teams and individuals. Teams will pair a student presenter with a mentor where the mentor can be teachers, faculty, staff, or professional scientists, and students can be middle school, high school or undergraduate students. Individuals that are not part of a team are also invited to participate.

Demo presentations will be evaluated according to the following criteria: safety and practicality, educational value, verbal explanation of the scientific principles involved, showmanship and entertainment value.