Preservice elementary teachers at Western Kentucky University are required to take three science courses with laboratories. Most do not take chemistry because they feel it is too difficult or not relevant to the material they will be teaching. In an attempt to change this attitude, WKU modified an existing introductory chemistry laboratory, Chemistry 102, to include material more useful and interesting to preservice teachers. Examples of activities being introduced into the laboratory are: Energy Content of Food, Preparation of Soap, Sugar Content of Soft Drinks and Polymers & Recycling.

Activities have been selected and developed with three goals in mind:

1. provide preservice teachers with the background necessary to present the material at the elementary level,
   
2. develop a foundation of hands-on activities illustrating important concepts in science and chemistry from which student activities can be derived for elementary students,
   
3. identify materials and chemicals that should be available from the grocery, drug and hardware stores whenever possible.

New activities were implemented in the laboratory during the 1997/98 academic year.

Initial results and materials developed during the project will be presented in August at the 15th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education in Ontario, Canada. Activities developed during the project will form the basis of a two-week chemistry class being offered during the SCAT program at WKU for 4th-6th graders in June 1998.