Activities that are fun for all ages!

 Crystallography 365. Blogging a Crystal Structure a day in 2014!

Snowflakes are Crystals too! To learn more about snowflakes and snow crystals and their remarkable complexity and beauty visit SnowCrystals.com

Activities for children in grade school

Symmetry.  Understanding symmetry is important to crystallographers. Take a look at the alphabet and find mirror planes and rotational symmetry with the following power points. Authored by C. Y. Jones, Ph.D., at Columbia University.
Symmetry Part 1
Alphabet Cutouts
Symmetry Part II

Grow your own Crystals!  Have fun growing crystals of your own. Experiement with cooling rates and evaporation conditions and see how your crystals are effected. 
Crystal Jars
Egg Geodes

Explore UT - Explore UT is the "Biggest Open House in Texas".  It is a day-long celebration during which the University of Texas at Austin opens the doors of its campus to the state.  On 1 March 2014, Explore UT featured close to 400 events across campus including performances, exhibits, lectures and activities for the entire family. Dr Marvin Hackert, professor of biosciences, presented an exhibit as part of the IYCr 2014 celebrations entitled "Crystals and Crystallography" which included posters, demonstrations and experiments on numerous topics including crystal growth, symmetry, and optical transforms. A variety of models of small and large molecules were on display, including 3D printed models. Below are 3 handouts that were provided.
Crystal Transformations
Growing Crystals
Symmetry of Lattices

Crystals - Chemistry on the Atomic Level – a short demo about crystals for 8th graders.  Written by A. A. Sarjeant, Ph.D., Northwestern University.

Science for Kids - The American Chemical Society has a series of experiments for kids that can be done at home with parental supervision.  Check out their experiments on crystals. Click Here for details!

ChemMatters.  ChemMatters published by the American Chemical Society focuses on demystifying everyday chemistry.  If you subscribe to ChemMatters, check out the February 2014 issue in the Teachers guide section on “The Exploding of Diamonds”

Activities for high school students!

What is a Protein?   – Learn about the 3D shape and function of macromolecules – (3 min video created by the Protein Data Bank) Click Here to watch!

Lessson Plan on DNA – A lesson plan from PBS.org geared toward high school science.  Shedding Light on X-ray Crystallography

Crystallography 101– website by Bernhard Rupp.  This website gives an educational introduction to crystallography.

Diffraction Basics. An introduction to the basic physical concepts during an X-ray diffraction experiment. Learn what you will see, and what it means! Slides from a talk given by Associate Professor Cora Lind-Kovacs from The University of Toledo, at the "Crystallography: World of Wonders" workshop help May 24, 2014 in Alburquerque, NM.

Activities for undergraduate students!

Course Notes. Faculty of Science, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Crystal and Structural Chemistry – A comprehensive set of introductory notes on X-ray crystallography, accompanied by clear illustrations of each topic.

“Interpretation of Crystal Structure Determinations” 2005 Course Notes.

If you have any educational content you would like added to this page please contact acaiycr2014@gmail.com