Department of General Chemistry and Methods of Teaching Chemistry

Year of foundation - 1973.

The department conducts training for students in the chemical, biological, geographical and military faculties.

Training courses:
at the Faculty of Chemistry:
Theoretical Foundations of Inorganic Chemistry
Chemistry teaching methodology
Information Technology in Chemistry
The content of school textbooks in chemistry
History of chemistry
Special courses for specialization "Inorganic chemistry"
at the Faculty of Biology:
Inorganic chemistry; Chemistry
Chemistry teaching methodology
at the Faculty of Geography:
General chemistry with the basics of geochemistry
at the military faculty:
General and inorganic chemistry
Chemistry of potent and toxic substances

The main directions of scientific and scientific-methodological work:
Methods of obtaining and studying the physicochemical properties of heat-resistant materials based on inorganic polymers
The structure and content of educational and methodological support for teaching chemistry in non-chemical specialties of the university
Methodological support for the teaching of chemistry in educational institutions providing secondary education
Chemical methods for creating and modifying the porous structure of ceramic and metallic materials
Methods for obtaining and controlling the size and morphology of finely dispersed metal particles and their compounds in immiscible aqueous-organic systems

Strokes of history:
The organizer of the department and its first head was an outstanding teacher, Honored Worker of the Higher School of the BSSR, Professor Vadim Fedorovich Tikavy. From the first days to the present, one of the main scientific areas of the department is the study of inorganic polymers and materials based on them - sorbents, adhesives, binders, heat-resistant coatings. The research results were embodied in the designs of the Buran spacecraft, in successfully completed international contracts, in the activities of the joint Belarusian-Chinese scientific laboratory.
In the 1970s teachers of the department initiated work on the computerization of the educational process; The initiative was picked up by other departments of the Faculty of Chemistry. The recognition of the leading role of the Belarusian State University was the appointment of our university as the leading organization in the USSR for the use of computers in higher chemical education.
Since the mid-1990s, the department has been providing methodological guidance to the system of chemical olympiads for schoolchildren at almost all levels, from district to national, and is the center for preparing the Belarusian national team for international competitions.
Over the past decade and a half, teachers of the department have created an integrated set of textbooks and teaching aids in chemistry intended for secondary and higher education.