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Grand Challenges (GCs) are complex, global, and multifaceted science and societal problems such as climate change, viral pandemics, loss of biodiversity, and quests for new energy sources. In this article, we advance a position, based on current research and theory, that GCs should be a prominent feature of the science curriculum. This move towards a GC-based curriculum challenges the positioning of canonical scientific concepts as the central organising feature of the curriculum, which is typically the default position of most science education programmes. A GC-based curriculum can create natural avenues for students to learn science, develop an interest in science, and build media and information literacy skills to become informed agents of change. Design principles, which help to define what a GC curriculum can look like and guide creation of GC materials, are introduced. These design principles call for the GC curriculum to be contextualised in global issues with local connections, culturally responsive, practice oriented, attentive to student voice, and coherent within and across units. Examples are provided to demonstrate how these design principles are implemented in a sample curriculum. 

Abstract This article describes a novel method for quantifying fixation disparity and evaluates its role in visuospatial cognition during an authentic learning task, specifically, the determination of molecule chirality in organic chemistry involving mental rotation and pattern comparison. The first study examined the influence of molecular model dimensionality (2D vs. 3D) on chirality determination performance and visual attention of 55 participants. The second study explored how the sustained playing of the tile‐matching game Mahjong, a pattern comparison game, can affect visual attention and visuospatial performance during the chirality determination task of 59 participants. Fixation disparity was one of the eye tracking variables explored. Both studies revealed that (1) individuals with higher fixation disparity underperformed on the chirality task, which involves mental rotation and pattern comparison, and (2) fixation disparity improved over time in participants who played Mahjong. This work provides important implications for using fixation disparity as a possible biomarker of visuospatial performance. 

Abstract Polystyrene (PS) is one of the least recycled large‐volume commodity plastics due to bulkiness of foam products and associated contaminants. PS recycling is also severely hampered by the lack of financial incentive, limited versatility, and poor selectivity of existing methods. To this end, herein we report a thermochemical recycling strategy of “degradation‐upcycling” to synthesize a library of high‐value aromatic chemicals from PS wastes with high versatility and selectivity. Two cascade reactions are selected to first degrade PS to benzene under mild temperatures, followed by the derivatization thereof utilizing a variety of acyl/alkyl and sulfinyl chloride additives. To demonstrate the versatility, nine ketones and sulfides of cosmetic and pharmaceutical relevance were prepared, including propiophenone, benzophenone, and diphenyl sulfide. The approach is also amenable to sophisticated upcycling reaction designs and can produce desired products stepwise. The facile and versatile approach will provide a scalable and profitable methodology for upcycling PS waste into value‐added chemicals. 

Catalyzed by copper sulfide nanoparticles (CuS NPs), polycarbonate (PC) degradation exhibits different degradation behaviors in varying solvents, showing competitive processes of chain scission, branching, and crosslinking.