Chemistry and Education

Specialisation of: Chemistry
Degree: Master of Science in Chemistry
Mode of Study: Full-time
Duration: 2 years
Start date: Flexible, for international students preferably September or January
Language of instruction: English and Dutch
Location: Leiden
Croho/isat code: 66857
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The MSc track Chemistry and Education prepares students for a career in teaching Chemistry. This programme is adequate to obtain a teaching qualification needed for teaching at all levels in Dutch high schools (the so-called eerstegraads lesbevoegdheid).

Programme

The specialisations consist of three components:

  1. Compulsory chemistry components which comprise a research internship (including a master’s thesis and an oral presentation, in an LIC research group in one of the major research areas) and four compulsory courses to be selected from the core chemistry MSc courses.
  2. The Education specialisation modules.
    The education part of the MSc specialisation Chemistry and Education is organised by the Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching (ICLON). It comprises courses in (Chemistry) Didactics, Professional Functioning, and educational research. The school training completes the compulsory education programme.
    Students with an Education minor (the so-called tweedegraads bevoegdheid) in their BSc study need only 30 EC education modules in the MSc study to obtain their postgraduate teaching diploma (eerstegraads lesbevoegdheid). In this case 30 EC are added to the electives of the chemistry programme, with an optional extension of the chemistry internship for a maximum of 20 EC.
    For students attending the Chemistry and Education specialisation it is strongly recommended that the BSc programme has included the 10 EC-course Learning, Presentation and Communication, offered by the Leiden Graduate School of Education (ICLON), or an equivalent course.
  3. The free electives with an optional extension of the internship for a maximum of 20 EC.

e-Prospectus Chemistry

Photo Chemistry

Prof. Noteborn

“In Leiden we introduce small peaces of DNA in bacteria and in human cells.”

“May 20, 2010, U.S. Scientist Craig Venter announced his team succeed in producing bacterial DNA in their laboratory and introducing this DNA into a bacteria whose own DNA had been removed.

With the aid of the synthetic DNA the scientists were able to revive a bacteria that had nearly died and get it to breed an bacteria colony. You can compare this to a computer. When you take out a software pack and replace it with a new one, the computer will retain new characteristics and start working again. To this “empty bacteria” the synthetic DNA was a new software pack.

The synthetic DNA the scientists introduced is a replica of natural bacterial DNA. The synthetic DNA resembled the original DNA of the bacteria. Does this make the discovery less important? No. Creating such a large bacterial genome in a laboratory still is a large technological challenge. Have these US scientists created new life? No, absolutely not. The scientists used a natural mechanism. This discovery may be used for a great number of applications: advancements in the production of proteins used to produce medications, combating oil pollution more effectively and improved methods for capturing CO2.

It’s not surprising that the entire would wanted to know more about this discovery. Friday the 21 of May reporters from the RTL4 asked me to explain about this new discovery in their seven thirty news bulletin, and they also asked whether it would be possible to film the interview in our brand new Cell Observatory. A large number of scientists of the LIC and other institutes at Leiden University have been introducing smaller DNA pieces into bacteria and human cells, similar to what to Craig Venter did, but much more small scale in terms of the size of the DNA involved. By doing this we are for example trying to find out which DNA particles deter the development of growing cancer cells. My colleague Dr Claude Barckendorf and a number of students Life Sience and Technology were working on these experiments on May 21st.”