The major goal of the grant was "to develop procedures and learning modules that can knit together the efforts of secondary schools, businesses, government agencies and industries to develop a more highly trained, more technologically adept and more versatile work forces."
The project goal was to develop and implement a set of instructional modules (later called Plastics Instructional Modules or PIMs) which can be inserted into existing high school science curricula, which meets national and state teaching standards and which addresses the science of plastics consistent with the needs of the plastics industry.
Science teachers from high schools within Berkshire County, Massachusetts and from Berkshire Community College participated in this project. Executives from local plastics companies also participated.
The major result of this effort was the creation of seven PIMs, a Glosssary of Terms and a set of References. The PIMs were developed as stand alone modules. They were to be complete with teachers' and students' materials, exercises and presentation materials, be easy to use, be inserted into science curricula at the teachers' discretion. Each PIM had to be flexible to allow the teachers to choose specific assignments, which can be targeted to the needs and capabilities of their students.
The seven PIMs included are: Introduction to Polymer Chemistry; Properties of Matter; Chemistry of Carbon; Bonding and Lewis Structures; Formula Writing and Naming; Applications; and Culminating Project.
Links to each of the PIMs are below. Included are links to two sections of the report, Glossary and references. It should be noted the total report on the Plastics Curriculum Development Project totals over two hundred pages much of which is in the form of graphics. Because of this, only representative sections of each PIM have, for the most part, been included.