As I mentioned in a previous post, Introduction to the Concept of Antioxidant - A Demo, chitosan is able to counteract oxidation and it also features antimicrobial properties. Besides that, chitosan can also be used in wastewater treatment related fields since it is considered to be one of the best biopolymers able to remove pollutants from wastewater¹.

One of the most striking aspects of this material, is its low-cost; it is actually produced by deacetylation of chitin which is extracted either from crab shells or from the exoskeleton of sea creatures such as crayfish, lobster, prawns and shrimps². In addition, chitosan is non-toxic and biodegradable. The structural formulas for chitin and chitosan are shown in figure 1.

chitosan.png

Figure 1 - Structual formulas of Chitin and Chitosan

Many experiments have been carried out by testing the adsorption properties of the materials toward methylene blue (MB) which is the most commonly used substance for dying cotton, wood and silk. It can cause eye burns though and the treatment of effluents containing MB is of interest due to its harmful impacts.

An interesting adsorption agent which can be used for wastewater treatment purposes is sawdust which is a by-product of the wood industry than can be used either as a fuel for cooking or as a packing material. Its cost is virtually negligible and its has proven to be a promising low-cost material for the removal of MB from wastewater. With the same purpose, plenty of food wastes such as fruit seeds (orange, apple, mango etc), fruit peel, leaves, can be used as well. Through my reading of the topic, it came out that almond shells are also able to reduce the concentration of some dyes in aqueous mediums; it seems that lignocellulosic material, due to the presence of organic compounds such as lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose, are able to bind dyes such as MB through different mechanisms³.

Luckily, growing up in a family from the south of Italy, almonds are always present in my house so it wasn’t difficult at all to get a lot of their shells. I have been lucky again since in the lab where I work, plenty of MB can be found (both powder and solution) so I decided to test the adsorption properties of almond shell towards MB whose structural formula is shown in figure 2.

mb.png

Figure 2 - Structual formula methylene blue.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Equipment & Materials

• Pasco PS-2600 Wireless Spectrometer and plastic cuvettes
• 100 ml volumetric flask
• 100-1000 µL Micropipette
• 100 ml Erlenmeyer flask
• Mortar and pestle
• Almond shells
• Methylene blue solution
• Stopwatch

Figure 3 - Basic equipment for the experiment

The first step was the building of MB calibration curve. To do that, I used a MB commercial solution whose concentration was 0.004 M. I made dilutions in order to get a concentration interval from 6 µM to 0.5 µM; if the concentration is too high, calibration curve tends to lose linearity. Chosen wavelength was 654.6 nm. The calibration curve and its equation are shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 - MB calibration curve

The second step is to treat the almond shells. They were dried in a oven for 6 hours at 50°C even though they looked quite dried before the heating treatment. At the end of this process, the shells needed to be ground as much as possible in order to maximize the surface area of the material. Of course, the adsorption capacity depends on the size of the particles; a coffee grinder could be a good option to pulverize the shells but I preferred to use a mortar and pestle to grind them. (I just wanted to test the ability of the material to adsorb the dye and to determine a sort of trend in that process.)

I carried out a bunch of trials and results turned out to have the same trend which is a logarithmic one. Of course, single results were a little bit different from each other because of likely different experimental conditions but in the end the final trend was always the same.

Now, we move on to the actual experiment.

1. Prepare a solution of MB in a volumetric flask by adding 140 µL of MB solution (as said before, I used a 0.004 M commercial solution) in 20 ml of distilled water; give it a nice mix and bring the volume up to 100 ml. Record the absorbance of that solution and calculate its concentration by using the calibration curve. That will be the concentration at time zero (t=0).
2. Pour 25 ml of that MB solution into a 100 ml Erlenmeyer flask and add 0.5 g of the previously ground almond shells.
3. Start the stopwatch and collect absorbance data every 15 minutes. For each measurement, I took a 2 ml sample and analysed that by the spectrometer. I would recommend you not to swirl the flask but to use a glass stirring rod to mix the content of that; in fact, since the shells get wet after the contact with the solution, they tend to stick to the walls of the flask while swirling that. Depending on the size of the shells, you can filter the solution before data collection; to do that, I used 3.0 µm syringe filters which I found very useful since they allowed me to get a clear liquid. Though, if the shells are quite large, that operation might be skipped since it is unlikely you get those shells by using a pipette. In one trial, where the shells were quite large, I skipped the filtration process and I had no significant effect on the quality of the spectra. Therefore, if this experiment is set as a demo, you can avoid filtration.

In each case, as said before, at the end of the data collection I got the same trend; here are the results for one of the trials I carried out. The spectra and processed data are reported in Figure 5 and in Table 1.

Figure 5 - Spectra from 0 to 60 minutes

Table 1 - absorbance, concentration and adsorption capacity for almond shells

The q parameter is known as Adsorption capacity and it was calculated by using the following formula:

q = (C₀ - C) x V/m

Where C₀ is the concentration at time zero and C is the concentration after the starting point (both in mg/L), m is the mass of the adsorption agent (g) and V is the volume (L) of the solution used to carry out the experiment. It indicates the amount of dye (mg) adsorbed per gram of (in this case) shell. Both the concentration and adsorption capacity over time are reported in figure 6 and 7 respectively.

concentration.png

Figure 6 - ;Variation of concentration capacity over time

adsorption.png

Figure 7 - Variation of adsorption over time

By looking at the graphs, it is clear that most of the dye is removed in 15 minutes; after that time, concentration reaches a plateau and its variation is significantly lower. In terms of color change, that can be seen by looking at figure 8.

cuvettes_with_showing_solution_over_time.png

Figure 8 - from left to right - example of solution at 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes exposition to almond shells.

As you can see in figure 8, the liquid at t=0 is more intense in color; after 15 minutes that intensity fades away and it is basically the same from 45 minutes to 60 minutes. Of course, this experiment does need to be implemented quite a lot. I did not consider the size of the adsorption agent particles and other experimental conditions (pH, temperature, additional contact time, amount of shells etc) but I do believe that the final result is quite interesting because of the simplicity of the principles behind. In fact, by using a poor material, it is possible to improve the quality of an aqueous medium.

I hope you find this quick test interesting and useful for introducing some environmental chemistry ideas in your lessons. As usual, I am open to suggestions and advices!

References

1 - Carbohydrate Polymers 113 (2014) 115–130.

2 - International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, 4(1), 312–332.

3 - Journal of Hazardous Materials, 177 (2010) 70–80.

"What are we doing to help kids achieve?"

The International Society for Technology in Education or ISTE is having a convention in Chicago. Three wonderful educators, Lisa Dabbs, Christine Pinto and Alice Keeler decided to take a road trip across the country to the ISTE convention. Along the way they stopped and talked to different groups of educators (#ISTELadiesRoadTrip). I had the privilege of attending one of their presentations. Each educator presented some great ideas with fantatstic enthusiasm. Alice Keeler had two ideas that really made sense.

great-idea-bell-ringers.png

Figure 1 - ISTE conference logo¹

One idea she presented was about worksheets. She felt that if you take an existing worksheet and simply put it online as a PDF that there is no real benefit to you or the student. Alice suggested to turn the worksheet into a google form. That way you can open one document and examine the answers from an entire class. This would allow you to get a feel for how students are doing and provide immediate feedback. This seems to be much more beneficial for the students and teachers.

Alice had another great idea. Many teachers start with "bell ringers" to begin the class. Alice likes to put these in google slides. Here is what she does. She makes up one google slide with the bell ringer. She then names the version history "clean slate". Students come in and find that the slide presentation is shared with them. Each student must add a slide with the answer and then write their name in the notes of the slide. Students must then find another slide someone else did and provide an appropriate critique. The teacher can get a quick glance at all the slides to see who is participating and who is not. At the end of the activity, Alice likes to go back to version history and save this as a new version. She then clicks that button that allows her to revert back to the original version so it is ready for the next class. This procedure makes the bell ringer much more ineteractive and holds students accountable.

Figure 2 - Example bell ringer on a Google Slide²

I also learned another trick from Alice that greatly improves a bell ringer in google slides. The "presentation" button has a "Q and A option". This puts a URL on the presentation that everyone can see. Students can use the URL to ask questions at any time. Only the presenter can see the questions.

Both of these techniques with bell ringers takes something that is often passive and makes it much more active. It also allows the teacher to start to build relationships with the students through questions and answers. It can also become a nice quick tool for formative assessment. Do you have an idea for a bell ringer that you like? Why not share? I would love to hear about it....

1 - International Society for Technology in Education conference logo - Chicago 2018.

2 - The example bell ringer in the preview graphic is from Bell Ringers for Conservation of Mass.Published by Amy Zitzelberger in October 2015.

By Tom Kuntzleman, Mike Nydegger, and Mike Buratovich

During June of 2018, we held our 14^th annual science camp at Spring Arbor University (SAU): Over 120 K – 8^th grade students enjoyed an entire week of science experiments, demonstrations, and activities! This year, the theme of our camp was “The Science of the Space” (Figure 1). During the week we performed several experiments that illustrate how chemistry is intimately tied to the science of the solar system, space travel, and outer space. In this post, we’ll describe several of these activities. Perhaps you might fit some of these ideas into your curriculum, or suggest additional activities not covered here that connect chemistry to the exploration of outer space.

Figure 1

Figure 1 - Logo for 2018 Cougar Science Camp (the cougar is SAU’s mascot)

OBJECTS in the SOLAR SYSTEM

Several of our activities at camp involved showcasing the chemistry of various objects in the solar system, some of which we describe below.

Figure 2

Figure 2 - Emission spectra of 5 elements

THE SUN

We stressed the idea that many aspects of the chemical composition of the Sun can be determined by studying the light emitted by the Sun. For example, the element helium was discovered to be on the Sun prior to it being discovered on Earth.¹ To illustrate how this works, we had campers view a spectrum tube containing hydrogen through a pair of diffraction glasses.² Next, campers were asked to compare the pattern of light observed through the diffraction glasses to the emission spectra of hydrogen, helium, neon, sodium, and mercury (Figure 2). The campers were then asked to predict what element was in the spectrum tube. Students easily recognized that hydrogen was in the tube, even though they did nothing other than observe the light emitted from the tube using diffraction glasses. It was emphasized to campers that no direct chemical analysis was needed to make this determination, and that the composition of the Sun can similarly be determined by analyzing its light. We continued the process by having students observe, in turn, spectrum tubes containing helium, neon, sodium, and mercury. After observing each tube using the diffraction glasses, students were asked to predict which element was contained in the tube. We extended the activity by conducting simple flame tests for sodium (emits yellow light), copper (emits green light), potassium (emits lavender light), and lithium (emits red light). We finished off this suite of demonstrations by having students predict that sodium was present in a pickle by running electricity through a pickle and observing the bright yellow emission characteristic of sodium (Figure 3).

      Figure 3 - Running electric current through a pickle causes it to emit yellow light.

VENUS

This planet provided us with many connections to chemistry! First, the clouds on Venus are comprised of concentrated sulfuric acid droplets,³ and this fact has major implications for any space vehicles that humans might send to this planet. To allow students to observe the effect of acids on metal, we dropped pieces of zinc into a large test tube half-filled with 6 M HCl:

 Zn_(s) + 2 HCl_(aq) --> ZnCl_2(aq) + H_2(g)

The reaction is vigorous enough that the hydrogen produced can be ignited using a nozzle-nose lighter, a fact that campers thoroughly enjoyed. To give students hands-on experience with the effect of acids on metals, we allowed them to drop pieces of magnesium metal into vinegar. The reaction between the acetic acid in the vinegar and magnesium dissolved the metal:

Mg_(s) + 2 CH₃COOH_(aq) -->  Mg(CH₃COO)_2(aq) + H_2(g)

By adding a little bit of soap to the vinegar, small amounts of the hydrogen gas produced could be trapped and ignited with a lighter! See video below:

While carrying out these activities, we informed students that in some cases, space probes to Venus are being lined with Teflon to protect them from the acid droplets in the Venusian atmosphere.⁴

Second, the atmosphere of Venus is about 100 times as thick as the atmosphere on Earth! We therefore used the thick atmosphere of Venus as a springboard to discuss the concept of gas pressure. We found the can-crushing and egg-in-a-bottle demonstrations well-suited for this purpose. We also tried a fascinating experiment wherein a person is wrapped up to their neck and sealed tight in a large garbage bag, and the air is pumped out of the garbage bag using a vacuum cleaner.⁵ This experiment allows the person inside the garbage bag to feel the effects of air pressure. One of us (TK) tried this experiment (Figure 4) and was amazed at the force pressing down on his chest as the vacuum pumped the air from out of the bag! Use caution if you try this experiment: be certain that the operator of the vacuum cleaner knows to turn off the power if the person in the bag signals they have had enough.

Figure 4

Figure 4 - One of the authors feels the force of atmospheric pressure.

Finally, the average surface temperature of Venus is 735 K, the highest of all the planets. Its surface is hot enough to melt many (but not all) metals. For example, zinc (m.p. = 693 K), but not copper (m.p. = 1358 K) would melt on the surface of Venus. We heated samples of copper and zinc in the flame of a blow torch to show students what might happen to these metals on the surface of Venus.⁶ We used new U.S. pennies (minted after 1982) as our source of zinc and old U. S. pennies (minted prior to 1982) as our source of copper.⁷ We went on to point out to campers why Venus is hotter than Mercury, even though Venus is further from the Sun: Venus has an extremely thick atmosphere of 95% CO₂, which is a potent greenhouse gas. On the other hand, Mercury has no atmosphere. We also attempted to impress upon campers the relationship between atmospheric CO₂ and the average temperature on Earth, and the implications atmospheric CO₂ has on global climate change.

EARTH

Earth is unique among the planets for several reasons, one of which is in that it contains copious amounts of water. Most of this water is in the world’s oceans, but some of it is suspended in the atmosphere as minute liquid droplets of water. Collections of these tiny water droplets are of course known as clouds. People always seem to enjoy observing the cloud that is produced when dry ice is placed in water, so we had campers do this to make their own clouds. Another favorite is the demonstration of the formation of a cloud by rapidly dumping hot water on top of several liters of liquid nitrogen in a large barrel. A huge cloud results, and campers had a blast running through the ensuing cloud that formed (Figure 5).

Figure 5

Figure 5 - A large cloud forms when hot water is dumped on liquid nitrogen.

MARS

Like Earth, the poles of Mars are capped with ice. Unlike Earth, the ice caps are Mars are made mostly of solid CO₂. That’s right, the ice caps on Mars are made of dry ice! Because dry ice does not melt but rather undergoes sublimation, the polar ice caps sublime in the summer and enter the Martian atmosphere. In the winter, as much as one-third of the atmosphere on Mars deposits as solid CO₂ on the poles again! We demonstrated this Martian CO₂ cycle to campers we first filled gallon-sized Ziploc bags with CO₂. To illustrate the deposition of solid CO₂ during the winter, we immersed these Ziploc bags in liquid nitrogen. Upon doing so, crystals of dry ice formed on the sides of the Ziploc bag and the bag deflated. To show the effect of warmer temperatures during the summer, the baggie was removed from the liquid nitrogen and placed on a table at room temperature. When this was done, the crystals of dry ice sublimed, refilling the bag.

SATURN

Students were fascinated to learn that because the density of Saturn (0.69 g cm^-3) is lower than the density of water (1.0 g cm^-3), this planet would float on water! Of course you’d need a pretty big bathtub to pull off this trick. Nevertheless, we used floating and sinking activities that connect to the concept of density to help campers understand why Saturn would float on water. For example, 11 pound float, while 13 pound bowling balls sink in water (Figure 6). Several other floating and sinking activities that connect to the concept of density exist.⁸

tank.png

Figure 6 - A camper discovers that not all bowling balls sink in water

URANUS and NEPTUNE

Experiments with liquid nitrogen are a natural fit with these planets, due to the extremely low temperatures (roughly 50 K) they display. For example, campers enjoyed hearing us claim “let’s see what would happen to a balloon on the surface of Neptune”, prior to dipping a balloon in liquid nitrogen.⁹ It’s certainly fun to put other objects, such as racquetballs or a Scrub Daddy¹⁰ sponge in liquid nitrogen. Campers were fascinated to see that the temperature on these planets are cold enough to liquefy air.¹¹

Figure 7

Figure 7 - Balloons in liquid nitrogen is always a favorite demonstration

EARTH'S MOON

We placed items under vacuum to give students a fun way to visualize what might happen to various objects placed on the surface of the moon, which has no atmosphere. Campers enjoyed seeing room temperature water boil, and balloons or marshmallows expand when placed in a vacuum chamber.

TRITON

Triton, which is one of the moons of Neptune, has a surface made of solid nitrogen. Some of this solid sublimes into the atmosphere of Triton to form an atmosphere of nitrogen. To give campers an idea of what the surface of Triton might look like, we formed solid nitrogen by put liquid nitrogen under vacuum. The phase diagram of nitrogen¹² can be used to show that given the conditions of pressure and temperature on the surface of Triton, it is not possible for liquid nitrogen to exist on the surface of Triton. See the video below for this experiment.

TITAN

One of the moons of Saturn, Titan, has hydrocarbon lakes on its surface. We therefore burned small amounts of hexane to familiarize campers with the flammable properties of hydrocarbons:

2 C₆H_14(l) + 19 O_2(g) --> 12 CO_2(g) + 14 H₂O_(g)

However, because the atmosphere of Titan is made of inert nitrogen gas, the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan do not burst into flame. To illustrate why this is the case, we poured a bit of nitrogen vapor out of a Dewar containing liquid nitrogen onto a small amount of burning hexane. Of course the hexane stopped burning, illustrating that the nitrogen atmosphere on Titan does not support combustion of its hydrocarbon lakes.

OTHER EXPERIMENTS

We now move on to describe a few activities we did that were not connected to objects in the solar system.

Rocket Fuels: A variety of chemical reactions can be used to illustrate how rockets are powered. Hydrogen has been used as a rocket fuel,¹³ so we exploded a few balloons filled with hydrogen to demonstrate the powerful reaction between hydrogen and oxygen:

2 H_2(g) + O_2(g) -->   2 H₂O_(g)

Campers enjoyed hearing they were making rocket fuel while they conducted the experiment wherein magnesium is placed in vinegar to generate hydrogen gas (see section on Venus, above).

Darth Vader and Photons: The Star Wars movies, which certainly include aspects of outer space, provided a backdrop for some activities. Darth Vader himself made a visit to camp and he asked us to help him determine which color of light would emit photons of highest energy. Vader was interested in this question, given that his light saber emits red light, while those of the Jedi Knights emit violet (Mace Windu), blue (Luke Skywalker), and green (Yoda). To help him figure this out, we shined violet, blue, green and red LED lights onto various glow toys (Figure 8, top left). The violet and blue photons clearly had enough energy to cause the toy to glow, as did the green photons to a lesser extent. The Dark Lord was not happy to learn that red photons contain the lowest energy of all the colors of visible light, and he ended up chasing us with his light saber! Fortunately, we were able to fight him off using light sabers that emitted photons of higher energy (Figure 8 top right and bottom).

Figure 8

Figure 8 - (Top left) Photons from a violet LED have sufficient energy to cause a glow square to glow. (Top right and bottom) Darth Vader learns the hard way that red photons don’t have as much energy as photons of other colors of visible light.

Space time Fabric: While this experiment is not directly connected to chemistry, both we and our campers greatly enjoyed this next activity. The bending of space time by massive objects can be demonstrated by placing heavy objects on a spandex sheet stretched tightly across a sturdy circular ring.¹⁴ To make our space time model, we made a ring by connecting three pool noodles with PVC pipe and duct tape. After assembling three rings in this manner, we used duct tape to connect the three rings on top of one another (Figure 9, top). Next, we tightly stretched spandex sheet across the ring (Figure 9, bottom). Students really enjoyed watching large steel spheres “attract” each other or smaller spheres and marbles into orbit by the bending the spandex space time fabric.

Figure 9

Figure 9 - (Top) Ring assembled using pool noodles, PVC pipe, and duct tape. (Bottom) Spandex sheet stretched across the ring and held tightly in place using bricks and books. The small sphere is in “orbit” around the “bend in space time” caused by the larger sphere.

CONCLUSION

We had a lot of fun designing and carrying out these experiments that connect chemistry to the science of outer space. Actually, we specifically chose this year’s camp theme to coincide with the 2018 theme for National Chemistry Week (NCW): Chemistry is Out of This World. Because we always participate in NCW, we thought it would be a good idea to connect this year’s science camp theme to the NCW theme. By doing so, we figured we’d learn quite a bit about how to connect simple science activities to the science of outer space. We plan on presenting many of the experiments presented herein during NCW this year (October 20–26). Perhaps you may find some of these ideas useful in your chemistry curriculum or as you begin to plan for NCW. Please do let us know if you have any ideas on how chemistry is related to the science of space. We would love to try some new experiments during NCW in October!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to thank the many SAU staff, faculty, students, parents, grandparents, and high school students who worked at our science camp. We also thank the Hurst Foundation and the Bauervic Foundation for financial support.

REFERENCES 

1. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed081p944

2. https://www.rainbowsymphony.com/diffraction-gratings/

3. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed080p362

4. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16797-nasa-may-send-fleet-of-spac...

5.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_X2PkcMHUU

6. Copper pennies do not melt in the flame, even though the temperature of the flame (> 2000 K) is higher than the melting point of copper. Perhaps this is due to copper being a good enough conductor of heat that it dissipates the energy from the flame to the air too quickly to gain enough energy from the flame to melt.

7. https://www.chemedx.org/blog/melting-pennies

8. See, for example, https://www.chemedx.org/blog/chemistry-bottle

9. https://www.chemedx.org/blog/chemical-mystery-4-case-misbehaving-balloon

10. https://www.chemedx.org/blog/temperature-experiments-scrub-daddy-sponge

11. https://www.chemedx.org/blog/collection-and-experiments-liquid-air

12. http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/07/255/7255152.pdf

13. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/hydrogen/hydrogen_fuel_of_choice.html

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTY1Kje0yLg

I’m going to let you in on a secret about myself, I am a grown woman and I do not know how to swim. I never took lessons as a kid, so I can swim to survive, but it’s not pretty. I decided that this year would finally be the year I learned (mostly because my friend and I have a crazy idea that we are going to compete in a triathlon). Like many of my students, I typically pick up new things pretty quickly. I’m not particularly athletic but I had no trouble hitting the mileage for the bike and run portions of the triathlon in training. I figured swimming would take more work, but I would get it, just like everything else.

Fast forward a month later. I watched all the YouTube videos about learning how to swim and still found myself leaving the pool frustrated and discouraged. I decided I needed help and signed up for swim lessons. Again, I knew that swimming would be hard, but with a few lessons, I was sure I would pick it right up.

Fast forward two weeks into lessons. I walked into my swim lesson, confident because the night before I had swam for an hour, found the confidence to make it through the deep end and finally felt like my breathing was falling into place. I got in the pool, struggled to swim two laps, and looked up to my swim instructor telling me “you need to put your head in the water, watch John to see how he swims.” Immediately I fought back tears and told my swim instructor “I know what it is supposed to look like, I just can’t do it.” In that moment, I seriously considered getting out the pool and quitting. I finished the lesson, but I fought back tears the entire time.

As I walked into the locker room, still holding back tears, I realized that this is what some of my students feel like all the time. I build a growth mindset culture in my classroom from day one, but I had become detached from what it actually feels like to have a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset requires struggle and failure.

Once you get into your teaching routine, there is not a lot of struggle. There are changes and challenges, but rarely do you encounter a situation that completely breaks your confidence or forces you entirely out of your comfort zone. I consider myself an empathetic teacher who tries to connect with her students. I understand that students learn at different speeds and I structure my class accordingly. I even joke with my students that sometimes learning is awful and feels terrible. I don’t think I fully appreciated the frustration, pain and inadequacy my students sometimes feel until today.

Today I had a fixed mindset moment. I thought to myself “I will never learn how to swim, I don’t have the ability, I should just quit.” I guess when you’re a teacher, sometimes you create your own teachable moments. In this moment, I realized my students probably think, “I will never learn chemistry, I’m bad at science, I should just quit.” I realized having a growth mindset doesn’t mean never thinking about quitting, it means shutting down the voice in your head that says “I can’t” again and again and again.

Even though I left my swim lesson still choking back tears, I knew I would be back in the pool the next day. What kept me going is my swim instructor telling me that my stroke looked better. That was all I needed to hear. I didn’t expect to come into the lesson with perfect freestyle form, but I did expect to be better than I was last week. Not because I had magically learned how to swim, but because I had worked hard.

I wanted to write this story down as soon as I got home to encourage you as a teacher to do three things:

1. Do hard things and embrace the struggle so you remember what it feels like.
2. Tell your students about how you felt when you struggled, what you thought and what you did in response. Even if you had a fixed mindset moment.
3. Encourage your students when they make progress. Let them know that you see their effort and it is working.

I know that every time I get into the pool, I am going to have to block out the voice in my head telling me “I can’t.” I can do that, but it is a lot easier when there are voices outside me saying “you can.”

Editor's Note: If you are interested in reading more about Growth Mindset, Lauren published Building Buy-In Through a Growth Mindset Classroom Culture in August 2017.

Are you attending BCCE 2018? Aside from typical presentations and workshops, there are a variety of other events that are well worth considering. There are several Birds of a Feather lunches, Division of Chemical Education meetings and social events. I had some down time this week and used some of it to organize my schedule for the conference. While looking through the Birds of a Feather schedule, I was excited to see a new opportunity. Holly Walter Kerby and Maria Gallardo-Williams will be master of ceremonies of the premiere of "The Mole," a story event for and by chemical educators. They have designed the event to be similar to The Moth, a nationally recognized program for storytellers. The topic for the BCCE 2018 premiere is: "What I learned later that I wish I'd known earlier." Holly Walter Kerby tells me that they have a nice cross-section of storytellers, and they are hoping the session will be entertaining, moving, and instructive. They still need a few storytellers to round out the program. Of course, they also need an audience. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions between stories.

If you are interested in filling one of the few spots they have left, act NOW. Stories should be 5-10 minutes. Sign up to share your hard-won wisdom by emailing a title, outline, and approximate length of your story to story masters Holly Walter Kerby (hkerby@madisoncollege.edu) or Maria Gallardo-Williams (mtgallar@ncsu.edu). 

The event will be held at the Auditorium in McKenna Hall on the Notre Dame campus on Tuesday, July 31st from 5 - 6:30 pm.

I hope to see you there!

As we plan for the upcoming school year, it’s a good time to reflect and think about goals and the means to implement them in the next few months. Many colleagues have mentioned the desire to incorporate more technology and even go so far as to suggest a “paperless classroom.” It sometimes seems like a race to keep up with the latest advances in technology as they impact learning via animations, simulations, apps, probeware and flipped learning to name a few. While I too am guilty of falling victim to the allure of any tool that appears to potentially enhance my students’ love of learning chemistry, the replacement of a traditional aspect of a lesson’s design should be performed only if it offers a real and tangible improvement to the lesson. The excessive use of technology simply based on trends should be approached with caution.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) can be the vehicle by which teachers decide if and how a technological application can be incorporated into their classrooms. TPCK more recently coined as TPACK technology, pedagogy and content knowledge incorporates technology into Lee Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) construct (Mishra, P., & Koehler, M.J., 2006). PCK is the means by which a teacher takes his/her content knowledge and transforms it into content knowledge for his/her students. Teachers’ PCK includes an understanding of the misconceptions and preconceptions students bring to each specific topic as well as the strategies to assist them in overcoming these barriers to student understanding such as demonstrations, animations, simulations, analogies, etc. (Shulman, L., 1987). With technology constantly evolving it is important to utilize applications with students if and when they enhance student learning. When deciding if it is appropriate to utilize a particular technology tool, a TPACK lens requires a teacher to think about how the technology could be used as a pedagogical tool or content representation as well as how student learning of the content is impacted by such a tool when considering the context of how it would be used. In other words: it eliminates the thought process of using technology for the sake of technology but rather requires purposeful lesson design where technology is integrated if and only if it aides in students learning of content considering the population of student needs. It is challenging to integrate technology while at the same time, consider the pedagogy and the content simultaneously through a TPACK framework. Today, most teachers are trained to incorporate technology via one size fits all professional development sessions which typically provide only an introduction to a tool and focus only on the technology itself and not the best practices for integration the tool into student learning.

Figure 1 - TPACK Framework (Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org)

There is no debating the fact that students need to be technologically savvy and as educators we are responsible for making our students college and career ready for the 21^st century. With a wide range of applications available at our fingertips, educators need to determine which tools are the best aligned with content that will enhance the pedagogy for their students. Students have also culturally adapted to the world of smart phones where they can download an app to practice a chemistry skill, sketch and rotate molecules, makes mechanisms, etc. (Williams, A., Pence, H., 2011). While there are many advantages of using such tools, the traditional paper and pencil method should not necessarily be dismissed. For instance, when polled my students preferred assessments on paper over the computer. Even when providing students with the rationale behind computer assessments such as Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and vocational tests now being administered online, they still did not prefer this method and stated they needed to annotate the questions and wanted to interact directly with the text on paper. Additionally, students in my class preferred Lewis dot diagrams and drawing structural formulas in organic chemistry by hand over their technology counterparts. For programs that had the application or functionality to create molecules, often it was more cumbersome than drawing by hand and more time was spent learning how to use the program than the chemistry content itself. When considering this from a TPACK lens, the technology did not enhance student learning and thus the lesson needs revision.

In summary, when trying to incorporate technology into lessons, teachers should consider the content at hand, the pedagogical method that best suits teaching the content and the technology that would aide or be the mechanism of instruction for a particular group learners. As educators, we continue to strive to improve our instruction. It’s beneficial to reflect and think about why a teacher is using a particular piece of technology and ask if it is serving the function the teacher believes it to be. There are many pedagogical techniques available that do not necessarily require technology such as Modeling instruction™, POGIL®, and improvisation to name a few that for which I have been unable to find a technological counterpart that I feel is equally effective for my teaching environment. While the demands for technological applications for certain pedagogical techniques have been met by means such as zoom meetings with breakout rooms to teach concepts via a POGIL® activity, I would argue that certain populations of students learn better from the face to face interaction. Thus, there is not one singular approach that works but rather a variety of approaches that can be appropriate depending on what the content goal is for a particular group of students and the context.

References

Glaser. R. (1984). Education and thinking: The role of knowledge. American Psychology, 39(2), 93-104.

Graham, R. C., Burgoyne, N., Cantrell, P., Smith, L., St Clair, L., & Harris, R. (2009). Measuring the TPACK confidence of inservice science teachers. TechTrends, 53(5), 70.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2007). Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK): Confronting the wicked problems of teaching with technology. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2007 (pp. 2214-2226). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for integrating technology in teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.

National Research Council. (2000) How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14.

Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1-22.

Williams, A. J., Pence, H. E. (2011). Smart phones, a powerful tool in the chemistry classroom. Journal of Chemical Education88(6), 683-686.

After seeing multiple questions and side conversations develop on ChemEdX and Twitter as a result of a previous post, A Simple Tool to Help Make the Retake Process Less Chaotic, (about the development of reassessment request forms) it has been apparent that an opportunity to extend the scope of the conversation may be worthwhile. Such questions and comments involved a variety of topics such as the retake process, Standards-Based Grading, learning targets, creating questions, and the overall structure of a test. While there are many resources available that tackle each of these topics in great detail, the goal of this post is to provide some insight on the idea of developing meaningful learning targets and how they can be used to drive the overall structure of an assessment.

Note:This post is not meant to be a research-based dissertation on learning targets and assessments. The following examples, definitions, and recommendations are the result of personal experiences with colleagues, reading research, and self-reflections throughout my transition toward a more standards-based approach over the past few years. Though the topics covered may not be novel for many chemistry teachers, the goal is to make the information easily digestible for new teachers and those who may not have been presented with explicit opportunities to really scrutinze how they identify and communicate what they want their students to learn. In other words, I wrote it with the mindset of “what do I wish I would have known about these topics when I first started?” If you are interested in gaining more of an in-depth understanding of these topics, I strongly recommend the books, articles, and online videos published by people like Thomas Guskey, Douglas Reeves, Dylan Wiliam, John Hattie, Robert Marzano, and Rick Wormeli.

Characteristics of Meaningful Learning Targets

Student-friendly language

Regardless of what state you are in, we are all aware of our own state standards. However, most teachers have had the experience of reading the description of a given standard, only to feel unsatisfied with its level of ambiguity and potential interpretations. The importance of effectively communicating what we want our students to know was made very transparent for me when I saw a video of Mike Mattos in which he said the following¹:

When a team identifies an essential standard, the first thing they do is rewrite the standard in their own words. They put it in simple, understandable words to make sure everyone on the team is laser-like clear on what it means. And they do it for them to guide their teamwork. But if it was in simple, understandble words, who could you share it with? Students and their parents! If people trained in the field can't interpret what the state wrote, what makes you think a student is going to?

Though students, parents, and teachers should be able to access and interpret the learning targets, they are primarily written for the students to reflect on, not just you. Typically, they are written as “I can” statements. Because our level of understanding is so much different than our students’, it is far too easy to write a target that you think is easily interpretable, while at the same time, remains unclear to your students. Keep them in mind.  

Measurable

Improving the accuracy and consistency of evaluating student understanding is more likely to be accomplished when their work is measured against a specific learning target. Consequently, the feedback and eventual grade that you attribute to their level of understanding should come from something that is actually measurable within the learning target itself. The easiest way to do this, while still giving yourself enough freedom to ask a variety of questions, is to include certain action verbs such as: create, explain, interpret, draw, model, distinguish, calculate, etc. 

The following learning target is an example that is difficult to objectively measure and needs to be tweaked:

I can demonstrate understanding of chemical nomenclature.

As a teacher, I know what that means; but will students? Simply using a word like “understand” without providing some context as to what constitutes understanding makes it difficult for the students to know what you expect and its ambiguity opens the door for multiple interpretations among teachers. This can lead to inconsistent grading between different teachers when the same level of work is being evaluated. 

So how might we improve the above statement? Here are a few ways:

Given a chemical formula, I can write the name of covalent and ionic compounds.

Given the name, I can write the chemical formula of covalent and ionic compounds.

I can write the names and chemical formulas of covalent and ionic compounds.

I can provide evidence for, and defend, the chemical formula of an ionic compound based on my knowledge of charge and position on the periodic table.

Regardless of which of the above examples you pick, each one is sufficiently more clear than the original as to what we are expecting the student to be able to do. As a result, grading students against a learning target that is measureable becomes far easier and more consistent from teacher to teacher.

Keep Them “Effectively Ambiguous”

Since this seems to contradict what you just read, some clarification is in order. At a simple level, learning targets communicate the skills and knowledge students will demonstrate, which pertain to a specific concept. The water can become a bit murky when the concept becomes too narrowly focused or too broadly encompassing. If it is too narrow, you limit the variety and number of questions you can ask. In addition, you increase the risk of students not being able to adequately connect multiple ideas that fall within the same concept. If the concept within the learning target is too broad, it can become much more difficult to grade and remain unclear to the students as to what exactly they should be able to demonstrate.

Learning Target That is Too Narrow:

I can explain and illustrate how electromagnetic radiation is emitted from an atom and use spectra to show how to identify chemicals.

Though I can certainly come up with questions that assess this learning target, phrasing it this way limits my opportunity to ask questions about subtopics within this concept such as the electromagnetic spectrum or wavelength/frequency/energy calculations.

Learning Target That is Too Broad:

I can identify and describe different types of chemical bonds, how they are formed, and how these bonds affect the properties of chemical substances.

There is way too much going on here. What if a student can identify and describe different types of chemical bonds and even how they are formed, but can’t explain how these bonds affect the properties of the substance? Is that student going to be graded differently from the one that can connect the ideas of bonding and properties but can’t identify or sufficiently describe the formation of different bonds? Try to avoid setting yourself up for sticky situations like these since it can make the grading process very frustrating and potentially inaccurate.

The important thing to remember here is that different targets will naturally allow for different ranges of ambiguity. As long as it is clear to the students and you have identified unambiguous ways to measure understanding, then great!

Here are a few learning targets that I think are effectively ambiguous:

I can identify and explain periodic trends.

I can use Kinetic Molecular Theory to explain and model the behavior of gases.

I can use stoichiometric analysis to represent chemical change.

 

Show Students the Path

Since learning targets are essentially condensed statements of the knowledge and skills we want our students to learn, it is important to unpack things a bit for students. Not only will this increase transparency for students, but it requires teachers to reflect on the variety of potential pathways that lead toward understanding. In other words, if the learning target is the destination, then we have a duty to identify and communicate the necessary stepping stones that will get them there. For example, what sort of pathways of understanding come to mind for the following learning target?

I can describe the factors that affect the process of dissolution and make calculations involving the solubility of different solutes in water.

While the target appears fairly straightforward, many students may not fully recognize what specific actions would fall within this target. Because of this, we should take the time to consider and communicate such actions that can be viewed as sub-targets. Here are a few sub-targets that bring clarity to the overall learning target.

I can describe the factors that affect the process of dissolution and make calculations involving the solubility of different solutes in water.

• Describe methods for increasing the rate of dissolution
• Calculate the maximum solubility of a given solute
• Calculate the minimum amount of water needed to dissolve a solute
• Determine if a solution is saturated or not

Things to Consider When Developing Learning Targets

At first, this can seem like a daunting task.  However, I have found that the frontloading can be dramatically decreased by applying a couple proactive tasks.

Look at your old assessments

Instead of trying to develop the targets from scratch, look at your old tests and try to work backwards. Though your old tests may not be structured according to specific learning targets, it is likely that the bulk of the content has not changed. Because of this, your old tests offer an insight as to what you expected students to know and be able to do at that time. Find questions that reflect a common concept, identify some of the key subtopics within that concept, and consider the actions students used to demonstrate understanding. Taking this step was transformative for me because it made me realize how my questions disproportionally reflected certain concepts within my old tests.

Do it as a group

If you are in a department with more than one chemistry teacher, you will likely need common learning targets. While it is unlikely for there to be much disparity between each of you regarding the identification of concepts and subtopics from previous tests, it is probable that the group will disagree on how the learning target itself should be worded in simple, understandable words. Try having each member come up with the learning target in their own words and then compare with each other. Sometimes someone else will create a learning target that is worded in a way you feel does a better job distilling the main points of a concept in a more student-friendly way.  Working with others will help ensure that you are all on the same page and that the learning targets being communicated represent what your whole department views as important while taking into consideration student interpretation.

Aligning the Test to Your Learning Targets

Once I started to really reflect on what I want my students to know and I felt more competent writing learning targets, I was surprised at how much easier creating an assessment became. My tests were no longer just a smorgasbord of questions with the same concept appearing in different areas. Additionally, when it came time to create questions, all I had to do was ask myself, “what does the learning target say students should be able to do?” and that provided the clarity I needed to more adequately direct my focus toward only what mattered.

For example, say I needed to come up with some questions that allow me to assess the following learning target:

I can interpret, calculate, and model reactions that involve limiting reactants.

• Given the mass or moles of each reactant, identify the limiting reactant.
• Explain how a limiting reactant actually limits how much product can be produced.
• Model a reaction that has been limited using a particle diagram.

From this, I immediately know my focus is on measuring how well the student understands the concept of limiting reactants. While it does not specify exactly what they need to interpret or calculate, the sub-targets provide enough clarification to easily start making questions. Based on the measurable actions mentioned (interpret, calculate, model), it is clear that demonstrating an understanding of this topic will need to happen in a variety of ways.

I might start off by asking myself, “what evidence would show me a basic understanding—something I would expect students to know at a minimum?”

Maybe a question that involves minimal calculations and shows that they can at least identify the limiting reactant.

If I am not satisfied with one concrete example to show basic understanding, I might add another question that requires many of the same skills as before, but with an additional layer. This will help me differentiate minimal understanding from one that is clearly developing while I am grading the tests.

Eventually, I will want to target more of a conceptual understanding, but still involve those basic skills from before to help me identify wrong answers as being the result of a lack of basic understanding or conceptual understanding.

One of the most common pushbacks I encounter from those who have never aligned their assessments with learning targets is that, due to the natural progression of concepts in chemistry, questions asked will be too narrow and we will not be able to put students in a position to connect multiple ideas. The only time this sort of argument holds any weight is when the learning target itself is too narrowly focused. It is important to identify this concern as a problem with how the learning target is worded, rather than a problem with aligning an assessment to learning targets. I think the problem above demonstrates how a question can be asked that hits the learning target, while still involving connections to other ideas or skills that support it.

When it comes to the overall structure of the test, the idea is fairly simple. The test is organized into sections that correspond to each learning target. For example, it could look something like this:

Learning Target 1.1: I can…

Q1

Q2

Q3

Learning Target 1.2: I can…

Q4

Q5

Q6

Learning Target 1.3: I can…

Q7

Q8

Q9

While organizing assessments in this manner seems to be most commonly associated with standards-based grading, it is completely independent of the grading system you are in. I experienced this myself throughout the past year while teaching General Chemistry and Honors Chemistry. Our Gen Chem class was the subject of a year-long pilot program where standards-based grading was fully implemented while our Honors Chem class stuck with the traditional grading system that had already been in place (points-based). Though the methods that were used to provide feedback and assign grades differed, the learning targets for each class provided the foundation for clearly communicating what we wanted students to be able to do and each test was still organized according to these targets.

If there is one thing I have learned after doing this for a few years, it is the realization that it is OK (maybe even necessary) for your learning targets to change from year to year. Sometimes you write a target and then realize after the assessment that you wish it was worded slightly different or maybe it could be combined with a different target. Having these moments of hindsight are representative of a healthy reflective mindset and should be valued. As a result, I make subtle tweaks here and there and I feel more confident about my learning targets each year. Additionally, constantly trying to improve our learning targets and how we assess them each year has spawned wonderful conversations (sometimes arguments) with my colleagues that have helped bring clarity to the content and avoid the stagnant nature that is often the result of thinking “we have it all figured out.”

I am always looking to refine my own learning targets. More recently, I have been interested in how my targets might differ from my General Chem to my Honors Chem classes. If you would like to share your own learning targets or offer advice, share your valued experience! If you have questions or just need clarification, feel free to comment below or send me a tweet @meachteach. In the supporting information, I have included one of our tests from the past year in Gen Chem as an example to see how an assessment might be structured when aligned with learning targets.

Citations:

¹Mike Mattos on how to get insanely clear about learning outcomes and learning objectives.https://youtu.be/SL_50Sf_7eY

The 2018 Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) Conference will take place October 3-5, 2018 at the University of Texas at Austin. The FRI conference is designed to engage and support faculty and administrators who are interested in adapting the FRI educational model at their own institutions. Information about registration, accommodations and a tentative agenda are posted on the conference website. Feel free to contact Jo-anne Holley, Conference Organizer, at jo.holley@utexas.edu with questions. 

The Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) was launched in 2005 to unite the dual missions of research and teaching at The University of Texas at Austin. FRI involves first-year students as collaborators on original research as an alternative to entry-level laboratory courses. The program is now a national model for transforming undergraduate STEM education by offering undergraduate research experiences to roughly 1,000 new students each year. Participation in FRI improves undergraduates’ chances of graduating and earning a STEM degree (Rodenbusch, Hernandez, Simmons, & Dolan, 2016).

The conference will feature presentations and interactive sessions including the following themes:

• Funding and Sustainability
• Generating Faculty and Administrator Buy-in
• Course Development and Curricular Integration
• Instructional Staff Recruitment and Training

Download the conference flyer - Word Doc

Download the conference flyer - PDF

"What are we doing to help kids achieve?"

It was my hope, intention and desire to get to BCCE. BCCE is a great opportunity to geek out with other really cool science people. A person gets the chance to focus on teaching and learning without bells going off, the dog barking, or kids needing rides somewhere. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this year and will have to withdraw from several presentations and workshops. A family member is having a medical procedure and family has to come first. If you are thinking about going to BCCE, please sign up. Do not hesitate to report your findings on ChemEd X. Sharing great ideas is the best way to build a great community of educators and students.

Speaking of sharing and collaborating, I got a great idea from Christine Pinto while she was on her way to ISTE in Chicago. Christine did a collaboration project using Flipgrid. Flipgrid is a program that has just been bought by Microsoft. A teacher sets up a "class" on Flipgrid with a "prompt". Students receive a Flipgrid code. They read the prompt and have sixty to ninety seconds to respond with a video response to the prompt. The teacher checks and moderates the videos and allows them to become public. Students are able to see what other students said. The "Grid" can also be opened to parents and other classes. Christine had her kindergarten class reported the weather each day on Flipgrid and another class of students across the country saw the videos and responded.

Here is what I propose. I would like to work with another teacher, hopefully a teacher that is reading this, and have our classes collaborate. Each of us will pick a topic. For arguments sake, suppose I choose the topic "heat and temperature" and you might pick "kinetic theory of matter". I would develop a prompt for "heat and temperature" that my students would respond to on "Flipgrid" and you would do the same for your topic. When my students are studying "kinetic theory of matter", they could check out your "grid" to see what your students have to say on the matter. The same would hold true for your students when they start studying "heat and temperature". Perhaps we could do this once or twice a semester. Maybe at the end we could follow up with a Facetime or Skype session. Another nice benefit that Christine reported is that the students involved formed connections and empathy for each other. In the world that we live in, perhaps education and technology can bring people together to form better relationships and bonds. Anybody interested? If so, let me know....I would love to work with you.

Innovation and Scholarship

The July 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: connecting art and energy, solar cells, examining organic chemistry students’ understandings, computer-based learning, molecular symmetry and visualization, inquiry-based learning, safety management, biochemistry, watching the archive: chemistry goes to the movies.

Cover: Connecting Art and Energy

The solar energy received on Earth is more than enough to renewably power the entire world's energy demand today. To help accelerate capture of this energy, luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) are being developed to reduce the cost and improve the aesthetics of solar harvesting systems. In Luminescent Solar Concentrator Paintings: Connecting Art and Energy, Alexander Renny, Chenchen Yang, Rebecca Anthony, and Richard R. Lunt present a demonstration that introduces students to the concepts of solar energy and LSC by turning artwork into electricity-generating solar concentrators. Students design LSC devices by painting newly developed colorful luminescent paints on plastic waveguides, where solar cell strips are mounted around the edges of the LSC paintings to convert the glowing light from the paint into electrical power. As shown on the cover, the glow of the luminescent dyes is guided to the concentrator edges by total internal reflection, where different glowing colors from each part of the luminescent painting can be seen around the edges in the four panels when different parts of the painting are illuminated. This demonstration captivates students by showing the creativity and beauty that can be inherent in the development of solar energy materials and devices.

For additional experiments with solar cellsin this issue, see:

Visual Observation and Practical Application of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells in High School Energy Education ~ Sen-I Chien, Chaochin Su, Chin-Cheng Chou, and Wen-Ren Li

Using an Open-Source Microcontroller and a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell To Guide Students from Basic Principles to a Practical Application ~ P. Enciso, L. Luzuriaga, and S. Botasini

An Integrated, Multipart Experiment: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of CdS and CdSe Quantum Dots as Sensitizers in Solar Cells ~ Christina A. Bauer, Terianne Y. Hamada, Hyesoo Kim, Mathew R. Johnson, Matthew J. Voegtle, and Matthew S. Emrick

For additional articles onart and chemistry in this issue, see:

Production of Colorful Aluminum Keepsakes and Gas Sensing Smart Materials: Anodizing, Dyeing, and Etching Small Aluminum Parts on a Budget ~ George N. Harakas

Teaching Polymer Chemistry through Cultural Heritage ~ Jocelyn Alcantara-Garcia and Rebecca Ploeger

Differential Scanning Calorimetry for Art Conservation Graduate Students: A Practical Laboratory Exercise Using Polymer Blends ~ Rebecca Ploeger

Editorial: Graduate Education Reform

Michael Ashby and Michelle Maher discuss graduate education reform in a guest editorial this month.

Examining Organic Chemistry Students’ Understandings

“It’s Only the Major Product That We Care About in Organic Chemistry”: An Analysis of Students’ Annotations of Reaction Coordinate Diagrams ~ Maia Popova and Stacey Lowery Bretz (available to non-subscribers as part of ACS Editors’ Choice program)

Organic Chemistry Students’ Understandings of What Makes a Good Leaving Group ~ Maia Popova and Stacey Lowery Bretz

Computer-Based Learning 

Implementation and Student Perceptions on Google Docs as an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in Organic Chemistry ~ Deborah Bromfield Lee

Molecule of the Month: Relating Organic Chemistry Principles to Drug Action ~ Paul C. Trippier

Chirality-2: Development of a Multilevel Mobile Gaming App To Support the Teaching of Introductory Undergraduate-Level Organic Chemistry ~ Oliver A. H. Jones, Maria Spichkova, and Michelle J. S. Spencer

Cost-Effective Wireless Microcontroller for Internet Connectivity of Open-Source Chemical Devices ~ Conan Mercer and Dónal Leech

Molecular Symmetry and Visualization

Tap It Fast! Playing a Molecular Symmetry Game for Practice and Formative Assessment of Students’ Understanding of Symmetry Concepts ~ Ricardo Dagnoni Huelsmann, Andrei FelipeVailati, Lucas Ribeiro de Laia, Patrícia Salvador Tessaro, and Fernando Roberto Xavier

A Simple Method for the Visualization of Chair and Twist-Boat Transition States in Torsionally Controlled Addition Reactions ~ Kyle A. Niederer, Matthew D. Fodor, and Arthur J. Catino

Vibrational Spectroscopy of Hexynes: A Combined Experimental and Computational Laboratory Experiment ~ William Adams and Matthew D. Sonntag

Inquiry-Based Learning

The Unknown Exercise: Engaging First-Year University Students in Classroom Discovery and Active Learning on an Iconic Chemistry Question ~ Glen R. Loppnow

Size Exclusion Chromatography: A Teaching Aid for Physical Chemistry ~ Howard G. Barth

Expanding Evaporation Rate Model Determination of Hand-Rub Sanitizers to the General Freshman and Engineering Chemistry Undergraduate Laboratory: Inquiry-Based Formulations, Viscosity Measurements, and Qualitative Biological Evaluations ~ Daniel E. Felton, James G. Moberly, Martina M. Ederer, Patricia L. Hartzell, and Kristopher V. Waynant

Research Experience for the Organic Chemistry Laboratory: A Student-Centered Optimization of a Microwave-Enhanced Williamson Ether Synthesis and GC Analysis ~ Marsha R. Baar

Using Ion–Molecule Reactions To Overcome Spectral Interferences in ICP-MS: A Guided Inquiry Approach for Upper-Level Undergraduate and Graduate Students ~ Karla Newman

Safety Management

Identifying the Scope of Safety Issues and Challenges to Safety Management in Swedish Middle School and High School Chemistry Education ~ Linda Schenk, Ivan A. Taher, and Mattias Öberg

iSchlenk: Portable Equipment for Hands-On Instruction in Air-/Moisture-Sensitive Syringe, Cannula, and Schlenk Techniques ~ Louis Messerle

Biochemistry

Using Molecular Models To Assess Agonists and Antagonists for Cell-Surface Receptors ~ Daniel D. Schwert and Scott M. Gruenbaum

Protein Colorimetry Experiments That Incorporate Intentional Discrepancies and Historical Narratives ~ Nathan S. Astrof and Gail Horowitz

New Procedure To Readily Investigate Lactase Enzymatic Activity Using Fehling’s Reagent ~ Rocco Leonello, Matteo Savio, Paola Baron Toaldo, and Renato Bonomi

Watching the Archive: Chemistry Goes to the Movies

Using popular movies in classroom settings can be useful for putting chemistry content and the discussion of how science is done in the context of engaging stories. In this issue, Sibrina N. Collins and LaVetta Appleby relate Black Panther, Vibranium, and the Periodic Table (see also Sabrina Collins’ post at ChemEdX). Connecting movies and chemistry can also be found in these articles from past issues:

The Elements Go to the Movies ~ Dina Taarea and Nicholas C. Thomas

Teaching Chemistry Using the Movie Apollo 13 ~ James G. Goll and B. J. Woods

Teaching Chemistry Using October Sky ~ James G. Goll, Lindsay J. Wilkinson, and Dolores M. Snell

An Inconvenient Truth—Is It Still Effective at Familiarizing Students with Global Warming? ~ Mark A. Griep and Kaitlin Reimer

Chemistry and Popular Culture: The 007 Bond ~ Arthur M. Last

Put Some Movie Wow! in Your Chemistry Teaching ~ Christopher A. Frey, Marjorie L. Mikasen, and Mark A. Griep

Lorenzo’s Oil as a Vehicle for Teaching Chemistry Content, Processes of Science, and Sociology of Science in a General Education Chemistry Classroom ~ Donald Wink

Based on a True Story: Using Movies as Source Material for General Chemistry Reports ~ Mark A. Griep and Marjorie L. Mikasen

"Almost Like Weighing Someone's Soul": Chemistry in Contemporary Film ~ Donald J. Wink

Innovation in the Journal of Chemical Education

With 95 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education, you will always find something innovative, including the articles mentioned above, and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available.

Do you have something to share? Write it up for the Journal! For some advice on becoming an author, it’s always very helpful to read Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary. In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including recently updated: Author Guidelines and Document Templates. 

The summer is an ideal time for reflection, a time to process and grow as an educator. This summer I was fortunate enough to attend the POGIL® National Meeting at Washington University in Saint Louis as well as assist as one of the facilitators at the Northeast Regional Meeting at Manhattan College. While there are numerous ways to spend your summer vacation, I wanted to share some reasons why POGIL® draws me in time and again.

The POGIL® project offers a unique blend of teachers at both the secondary and post-secondary level the opportunity to collaborate together. POGIL® workshops create the sharing of ideas and resources across levels in a comfortable setting that helps foster connections that typically would not be made otherwise. Sometimes I think high school teachers feel vulnerable asking for the assistance of collegiate faculty for content and college professors hesitate to ask about a particular pedagogical technique to help students understand through non-lecture based strategy. This particular summer I engaged with numerous POGIL® practitioners who were open enough to seek advice as well as provide support, which was a wonderful experience.

While I have been using POGIL® in my classroom for the past ten years, every conference makes me reflect on areas of improvement. This year my students did a fantastic job in role development, however I recognize the need for improvement of student process skills in the upcoming year. I was able to listen to an awesome presentation from Juliette Lantz about the ELIPSS (Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in Stem). ELIPPS, a NSF funded project, examines active learning in STEM classrooms, utilizing validated rubrics as an assessment of student process skills in written work as well as student interactions. The process skills described in this workshop included: teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, interpersonal communication, written communication, metacognition, assessment, management and information processing. When completing a POGIL® activity students are learning content for the first time and are required to work in a team, taking on a specific role. While I admit it is challenging to focus on both the ability of the students to learn new content and develop their process skills during a POGIL® activity, I was reminded of the importance of assessing students on these process skills as these are the soft skills employers are seeking. How often is a group progressing through an activity but not functioning as a team and maybe a sub-set of two members are working on their own. While the group may finish the activity if their teamwork was being assessed in addition to how well they completed the content, the group would be held accountable and grow from this. Teachers that register for a free account on the ELIPSS Project website, gain  access to rubrics to try in their classes. An implementation guide is available to get you started. If you are headed to BCCE this year, try to attend one of the workshops being offered on process skills!

This past year I started using the process skills rubrics, offering five points for content and five points for process skills for a particular activity. The process skill rubrics, provided by ELIPSS include a definition of the process skill and categories for this process skill and a score from 0-5. I cut up the rubrics and laminated them for my students to be aware of how they will be assessed. This was the first year I assessed process skills in a POGIL® activity and had a slow start but will definitely incorporate more next year as both my students and myself found merit in the process. If we have successfully taught our students about what process skills are and how to find evidence of them in their work, then we have increased their ability to gain employment. This should provide a feeling of accomplishment for us as our students leave our classrooms, even if they are not going to pursue chemistry.

At a poster session at the Northeast Regional meeting, Clif Kussmaul talked about research using a swivl™ as a tool to record multiple student interactions. Students and the teacher are recorded and then the data is uploaded to determine the amount of student and teacher interactions and to give a break down of the amount of time that the teacher is talking versus the amount of time students have to interact with one another as well as the amount of time it is quiet in the classroom. This technology is priced at about $700. If funds are tight, this could be a great reason to submit a Hach grant. How often as a high school teacher I use POGIL® or other collaborative group activities and wish I could hear what all groups are saying but obviously can not be in multiple places at once and often miss some group interactions. Moreover, this provides a means to ensure that the teacher is indeed guiding or observing and not talking too much. It is challenging at times to not provide too much information up front balancing student struggle and progress in a particular activity. Growth mindset is a hot topic now, often for our students, but how are we as educators growing as well, this tool provides an interesting way to ensure our goals in the area of student to student communication are being met.

In the Especially JCE: June 2018 post, I gave a shout out to Black Panther, Vibranium and the Periodic Table (freely available) by Collins and Appleby, which was at that time an Articles ASAP (As Soon As Publishable). Collins had penned a ChemEd X post Connecting Black Panther’s Vibranium to the Periodic Table to share their work with Xchange readers. The article has now moved out of its ASAP status, to become part of the July 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education.

I bring it up here again because the fictional element and its article came up in conversation just last week, during the American Chemical Society (ACS) ChemClub Advisory Board meeting. Plans for the ChemClub’s program for the 2018­–2019 school year were part of the day’s brainstorming. 2019 marks the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT). Teachers at the meeting liked the idea of choosing a periodic table slot for vibranium based on the characteristics portrayed in the movie Black Panther and then justifying that choice. It would be fairly easy to do in class but would have the potential for varied discussion. Which other pop culture fictional elements could you include? The past JCE article Chemical Elements in Fantasy and Science Fiction by Ober and Krebs (available to JCE subscribers) highlights additional choices such as adamantium and dilithium.

If you plan on celebrating IYPT in your classroom next school year, JCE is rich with resources. One place to start is the October 2009 issue, which was packed with items for the periodic table theme for National Chemistry Week 2009. The issue included my paper National Chemistry Week 2009: Chemistry—It’s Elemental! JCE Resources for Chemistry and the Periodic Table (available to JCE subscribers), a categorized annotated bibliography of demos, labs, and other activities. I highly suggest you take a look, particularly at the activities related to students working on pattern making, such as Criswell’s article Mistake of Having Students Be Mendeleev for Just a Day (available to JCE subscribers) and others.

Chem Safety in Swedish Schools

Do you RAMP? The lab and chemical safety acronym RAMP has been around for some time and is one way of considering safety practices. Deanna Cullen highlighted the freely available ACS document Guidelines for Chemical Laboratory Safety in Secondary Schools and described its organization around RAMP: Recognize the hazard, Assess the risk of the hazard, Minimize the risk of the hazard, and Prepare for emergencies.

JCE authors Schenk, Taher, and Öberg put the RAMP spotlight on Swedish schools in the article Identifying the Scope of Safety Issues and Challenges to Safety Management in Swedish Middle School and High School Chemistry Education (available to JCE subscribers). They collected extensive information from the Swedish Poisons Information Centre and Swedish Work Environment Authority as well as interviewing Swedish middle and high school chemistry teachers about their safety practices. The article discusses multiple school-related lab incidents—some of these student behaviors definitely ring a bell with me. I also saw some commonalities between Sweden and the U.S. in the article's discussion of obstacles to improved lab safety.

As the school year gets rolling, the article is a timely reminder for readers to critically examine their own safety practices. Have you found RAMP or another safety framework helpful in your classroom and laboratory?

More from the July 2018 Issue

Look to Mary Saecker’s post JCE 95.07 July 2018 Issue Highlightsfor the monthly round up, including articles on art, energy, and solar cells. She has also collected articles from the archives that show how chemistry comes to the movie theater and how you can use it to engage students.

What have you used from the Journal? Share! Start by submitting a contribution form, explaining you’d like to contribute to the Especially JCE column. Then, put your thoughts together in a blog post. Questions? Contact us using the ChemEd X contact form.

For the last two years, the district I worked for has been tirelessly working toward curriculum changes that would better line up with the new state science standards. The challenge has been to do such a task while minimizing the impact on the IB curriculum and offerings. Previously, unless I am mistaken, Michigan required 1 credit of biology, 1 credit of chemistry or physics, 0.5 credits of earth science, and 0.5 credits of another science for a total of 3 credits. Our district accomplished this by requiring 1 credit of Biology, 0.5 credits of Earth Science, 0.5 credits of Physics 1, 0.5 credits of Chemistry 1, and 0.5 credits of Chemistry 2 or Physics 2 for graduation. The IB curriculum still allowed for these requirements to be met albeit a little bit differently. Now, Michigan is requiring 1 credit Biology, 1 credit Earth Science, and 1 credit of Chemistry or Physics. Here’s what this means for Chemistry: students will meet their Chemistry (and Physics) credit requirement during their freshman year. In other words, Chemistry 2 is no longer required but is instead an elective that some students may choose to take prior to IB Chemistry (or Physics 2 prior to IB Physics). Students on the IB diploma track will also be “exempt” from taking Earth Science.

Note: the Chemistry and Physics courses are semester-long courses.

There is no doubt that the district’s NGSS work will continue. Michigan hasn’t officially adopted NGSS, instead adopting the Michigan Science Standards (based on NGSS). The Michigan Science Standards (MSS) has a lot of similarities with NGSS in terms of how we would teach the content. The district is working toward having a robust Google Team Drive with common assessments and materials accessible at the district office and at each high school. As you might imagine, there will be a push for more Earth Science and/or Biology teachers and less need for Chemistry or Physics instructors after freshman year.

This brings me to an announcement…

June 14, the last day of school, was my last day of teaching in Portage. There are reasons for this that I would be happy to address on a 1:1 basis; ChemEdX is not the proper forum for this discussion. I am job searching both in industry (Learning & Development) and academia (teaching). If I land a teaching position, I will plan to continue contributing to ChemEdX. If I land in industry, I will bid farewell. Ultimately, I will do what is best for my family and me. If you would like to reach out, please email me at dsmeyers30@gmail.com.

The Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) is an official meeting of the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society. We are celebrating the 25th meeting here on the beautiful campus of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. Over 1600 chemical educators are on campus. The conference runs from July 29th through August 2nd. 

We hope you will stop in and see us at our ChemEd X booth (#56)! If you have not been there already, the exhibits are located in the Ballroom of the Duncan Student Center of the Campus Crossroads project surrounding the Notre Dame Stadium. The Exhibit Hall is open Monday 11:00 am - 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm and Tuesday 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. We will be highlighting a couple different ChemEd X activities during those times. You can find the links to handouts prepared specifically for these BCCE activities in the supporting information below this post.

Exhibit Hall Hours

Symposia  - NOTE: High School symposia have all been relocated to DeBartolo 318 - 320 to allow for more room for attendees.

Views from the classrooms of award winning chemistry teachers

I am hosting a symposium on Monday morning, Views from the classrooms of award winning chemistry teachers. You can find us in DeBartolo Hall in room 320 from 8am - 11am. Check out the link for the schedule. If you attended the symposium and you can access the materials the presenters have shared. If you don't see what you are looking for, it may take a day for all of the presenters to get a chance to upload them.

Chemical Education Xchange: Engaging with contributors symposium

On Thursday, Jon Holmes will host a symposium featuring several of our lead contributors. They will be presenting at our first Chemical Education Xchange: Engaging with contributors symposium. It will be held in DeBartolo Hall room 320 from 8am - 11am.

Visit the BCCE 2018 website.

If you are here at Notre Dame this week, have a fantastic conference! If you are not here, I hope you will plan on seeing us nex summer for ChemEd in Napersville, IL!

It’s that time of year again! The summer is already starting to wind down, the AP Chemistry scores have been released, and now, at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) 2018 at Notre Dame, Paul Bonvallet and his crew of talented educators have given their analysis and debrief. All of this, and processing my own students’ scores, has made me feeling rather introspective about the results this year and of AP Chemistry in general.

I will be blunt. My students’ AP scores this year were not what I had hoped for. I had a personal goal of a 70% pass rate, and I fell far short of that, much to my and my students’ chagrin. But something incredible happened before, during, and after the exam this year that has made me feel heartened and excited about my future as a chemistry educator, and for my students’ future. I could spend the next three paragraphs trying to encapsulate my feelings, but a student of mine did it best in a note that she wrote to me.

Ck-12 is a resource that is attempting to provide a quality textbook or "flexbook" for any student who needs or wants one. Ck-12 began their mission over eleven years ago. Their mission began as a non-profit and non-revenue institution. This means they have never asked teachers for money or fund raising. Ck-12's purpose is to provide a high quality resource free to teachers and students. Teachers can use Ck-12 as long as the use is for educational purposes.

I started to use Ck-12 about five years ago. Our books were getting older. I was able to search for a book on Ck-12, change it, edit it slightly and then rename it. This is why these books are called "flexbooks". Teachers have a great amount of flexibility when it comes to editing, changing or rearranging a book to meet their own needs. Students can examine the books in multiple formats.

Ck-12 has constantly been in touch with teachers and students. The feedback from both groups has been used to help improve their products to meet the needs of students. Here are just a few of the ways that teachers might use Ck-12.

Flexbooks - Any teacher can search for a multitude of books. They can rename them, edit them, change the books, add or delete information and then publish them. Students and parents can then access these books in multiple formats.

Learning Management Systems - Ck-12 has created many opportunities to mesh their products with most learning management systems. A teacher can take all of a book or just bits and pieces and assign it to students through a wide variety of learning management systems.

English as a second language - Many teachers have taken advantage of Ck-12 as a tool to help students who speak a different language. A student can pull up a chapter in Ck-12 in English. The student pulls up the same chapter on a lap top. They can then translate one of the chapters into their own language with the click of a button. Students can then compare the two screens, one in English and one in a different language, to help them better understand the concept.

Differentiation - Ck-12 provides a multitude of resources (readings, videos, simulations...) for different concepts. If some students struggle a bit more with reading, then they can have the option to examine a video or simulation over the same topic.

A Panel of Experts - All of the material has been examined by scientists, professionals and teachers. No book or resource is perfect but Ck-12 is close. Teachers encourage students to search for a topic in Ck-12 instead of Google. The Ck-12 search generally tends to be vetted by professionals and more specific to student needs.

Adaptive Practice - This is probably my favorite part of Ck-12. You, as a teacher, can provide some "practice" problems. Students must get ten correct. The questions are from a bank and are "easy", "medium" or "hard" questions. Suppose two students, "A" and "B" start with the practice. They both start with two to three "easy" questions. Suppose student "A" gets them correct. He or she will then start getting "medium" questions and then "hard" depending on how he or she answers the questions. Next, student "B" misses the first three easy questions. Ck-12 will stop them and provide resources. These resources are there to help the students better master the topic. Student "B" will then resume with some easy questions. The teacher receives a full report when each student is finished. The "adaptive practice" is a type of differentiation for every student.

Notes and Annotations - Students have the option of taking notes and high-lighting assigned readings online. The notes and annotations are then stored for them at the bottom of the section. This can help students with note taking and reviews.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Ck-12 is a free resource that is definitely worth checking out.

A favorite demonstration is to boil water by lowering the pressure in a bell jar using a vacuum pump. Unfortunately, purchasing a bell jar, vacuum plate, and vacuum pump can run upwards of $1,000 which poses a hardship for many teachers. Additionally, many published procedures for demonstrating these two concepts require complex setup in terms of glassware and reagents.

Here are two examples of simple demonstrations you can slip in to your existing sequence to engage your students in discussions of phase equilibria.

Are you up for trying an ambitious experiment that combines archeology, instrumental analysis, and a search for patterns in data? Then this activity might fit the bill! I came up with this activity after slipping into one of Kevin Braun’s presentations at the BCCE 2016 in Colorado. I might have become more excited about this experiment because my oldest son, Ben Ford, is an archeologist, and archeology is a scientific field that grabs the imaginations of many teenagers. At the conclusion to the talk, I approached Kevin to say I would like to collaborate with him on a methodology that could be run safely in a high school laboratory. Kevin gave me significant initial encouragement and guidance, but the procedure that I share with you was hammered out in the instrumental laboratory of Patrick Slonecker at The University of Cincinnati. Without Pat’s industrial experience in fatty acid analysis, this activity would never have come to fruition. In 2017, Kevin Braun co-authored the laboratory experiment published in the Journal of Chemical Education, Lipid Residue Analysis of Archaeological Pottery: An Introductory Laboratory Experiment in Archaeological Chemistry.^1* If you wish to run this experiment, it would be helpful to read that article as well as the Teacher and Student Documents available in the "Supporting Information". ^**

Figure 1 - Diagram used with permission from Lipid Residue Analysis of Archaeological Pottery: An Introductory Laboratory Experiment. Copyright 2017 American Chemical Society.

This activity also allowed me to interact with several colleagues at The Seven Hills School. I headed over to the visual arts department to get unglazed fired pottery that I could smash into sherds (don’t you love this technical archeological term?!). I soaked these sherds in various oils and pulled them out for drying and bagging. I spoke to the Latin teachers at school who were delighted to kick off the activity with a hands-on discussion of how archeologists now rely on analytical chemistry to provide very valuable information in their work. Of course, it really helped that both of my school’s Latin teachers did graduate work at The university of Cincinnati and have access to valuable Etruscan artifacts to bring to my classroom. Their presentation was beyond awesome! The students were actually holding items from antiquity and trying to draw conclusions through observation. This experience illustrated how limited data results in limited findings and drew the students toward the necessity for chemical analysis.

The procedure found below the citation at the bottom of this post outlines the six laboratory days for accomplishing this chemical analysis. It takes the students through fatty acid extraction, methyl ester of fatty acid reaction, final sample preparation, and instrumental analysis on a sophisticated gas chromatograph. Fortunately, my students have had first-year chemistry experience with an educational model GC instrument. That means they are ready to have the more sophisticated experience provided by this activity.

Finally, I know this activity is a substantial time commitment. it also requires access to a high quality gas chromatograph. If you can make the necessary arrangements, i guarantee that your students will get a very focussed experience on authentic research and data analysis.

*See "Accessing Cited Articles".

Reference 

1 - Clare S. Harper, Faith V. Macdonald, and Kevin L. Braun, Lipid Residue Analysis of Archaeological Pottery: An Introductory Laboratory Experiment in Archaeological Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, 2017 94 (9), 1309-1313. **Note that you can find teacher and student documents in the Supporting Information associated with the JCE article.

The 256^th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society is being held in Boston, Massachusetts from August 19th -23rd. The event brings together thousands of chemical professionals, educators, and students to engage in professional networking as well as dive deeper into content applications. After just returning from the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) here are some the reasons I’m going to attend the teacher program portion at the ACS national meeting which is Sunday and Monday August 19th -20th.

Cost

Reduced price for pre-college (high & middle school) teachers! Two days of programming for $120. This includes lunch provided by ACS Division of Chemical Education.There are also travel discounts available.

Professional Development Hours

Earn up to 24 professional development hours for sessions attended at the meeting. Forms will be distributed during the chemistry teacher program and a certificate will be mailed to your home for you to provide to your institution.

NGSS Supported Pedagogies

• Thomas Loschiavo will share NGSS lesson ideas exploring Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Cross-Cutting Concepts to explore difficult concepts such as stoichiometry and gas laws more applicable to students via hands on activities.
• Teresa Marx and Erica Posthuma-Adams will describe what a scientific model is and how to incorporate models into chemistry instruction to support a student centered classroom.
• The design and implementation of active learning strategy Discovery Learning, which involves students working in self-managed teams on inquiry problems will be presented.
• Beyond Benign, Steelcase Inc., and a group of high school chemistry teachers have teamed up to bring unique case studies to life for students through curriculum modules. A workshop on growing sustainable design solutions using industrial examples of sustainable design will be discussed. There will be an opportunity to participate in a hands-on simulation and learn about the secrets of shark skin and applications to NGSS.
• A workshop will be presented to teach your students to be problem solvers by learning about biomimicry by providing a hands-on activity opens the door to discussing how biomimicry can offer scientists ideas and strategies to solving environmental design challenges.

Networking Opportunities

• Meet with other pre-college teachers and share ideas. Sometimes the informal networking leads to relationships and sharing of ideas that are just as valuable as the workshops themselves. 
• After the first day of hands-on activities and presentations, join other teachers, as you eat, drink and collaborate with other chemistry teachers like yourself. The reception will be held at Skyline, Seaport World Trade Center from 5-7pm. This event, free for participants is sponsored by:

American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT)

ACS-Hach Programs

ACS ChemClubs

Engaging Students in STEM

• National Chemistry Week is October 21-27. There will be a workshop describing how you can get your students involved by connecting space to chemistry. explore surface tension, spectroscopy, materials testing and more that show the chemistry of and in outer space.
• Sherri Rukes will provide a make and take session of multiple demonstrations for how to take nano chemistry and make it macroscopic for fundamental chemistry principles. She will also describe how to incorporate nanotechnology in your classroom. Additionally a session on nano-blocks will be presented using pedagogies of game-based learning and concept visualization.
• One session will describe how chemistry and chemical education becomes more approachable and relevant to entrepreneurs building environmentally and socially sustainable companies.
• The chemistry of dyes, pigments and materials to engage and excite students in the lab will be discussed using green chemistry technologies that help connect real-world applications via sustainable textiles.
• Another workshop will discuss a dognapping workshop that has been performed over 12 years and won a 2015 ChemLuminary Award for Outstanding Kids Chemistry Program.

Assessment

• Being scientists, we can learn for the work being done by lead chemical education researchers in the field. Stacey Bretz and Ana Vasquez Murata Mayo will discuss how to assess student understanding as well as common alternative conceptions about atomic emission. It’s helpful to know about misconceptions when teaching my students this topic so I can purposely plan lessons to avoid them!
• Do you want to learn about Standards Based Grading (SBG) and how one school implemented? There will be a workshop where tips and strategies for implementing in your school.

Research

• Do you teach research of allow your students the opportunity to think and act like scientists? At the teacher day there will be the opportunity to learn how environmental variables such as water chemistry, light properties and pH can affect cell growth and biochemistry using algae.
• Interested in metal-organic framework nanospheres for smart drug delivery. A overview of a general synthetic route to encapsulate small molecules in monodisperse zeolitic imid-azolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanospheres for the purpose of drug delivery will be described.

Laboratory Support

• AACT’s Sharon Palmer will describe laboratory activities that explore multiple concepts so that teachers can get more “bang for the buck.”
• Are you happy with the way you currently assess your students lab performance? In Boston, participants will engage in lab practical experiments and discuss how to incorporate into their teaching repertoire.
• Learn about a student centered inquiry lab about the nature of color to determine whether light is an intensive or extensive property

Symposium Organizers

Sherri Rukes and Ariel Serkin are powerhouses in the field of chemical education, friends, mentors and high school ambassadors!

I have attended ACS teacher program the past three years and have not been disappointed. Last year, I got to make paper with the Sally Mitchell, one of the best chemical lessons postgraduate school I have had. If your not sold, read the past experiences on the AACT website. For more information about the teacher program, check out the conference website.

Co-authored by Texas teachers Roxie Allen and Amiee Modic

It’s been a week since BCCE 2018 ended and chemical educators everywhere are relaxing or already getting into professional development as the new school year ramps up. Many will incorporate the activities and ideas they learned at the conference into their curricula this year. However, many chemical educators have never attended a BCCE or even heard about it. During the last week of July this year, the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education celebrated 50 years of educators meeting to exchange ideas, activities, and research, all related to chemical education. Many of us are familiar with the NSTA and ChemEd format of either 45 or 90 minute talks or workshops, but BCCE is a little bit different. Here are a few nuggets about the format of the conference, a few of the sessions, and why you should think about attending in 2020.

BCCE is the official conference of the ACS Division of Chemical Education and it as a rather unique format of workshops and symposia, paired with poster and plenary sessions. The workshops are a full 3 hours, affording participants the chance to really dive right into lab activities and full discussions of pedagogy. A few of the workshops designed for pre-college teachers this year included such topics as, Rethinking Common Practices in HS Chemistry, Demos on a Dime, Beyond the Octet Rule, Relative Strengths of Acids and Bases, Using CER in labs, Take Home Labs, Equilibrium (Big K, Little K), Writing Unit Plans with AACT resources, POGIL activities, and Modeling Equilibrium.

Symposia are, for the uninitiated, little clusters of presentations that center on a theme. Each presentation is about 20 minutes and a symposium is 2-3 hours including an intro, talks, a break, and question period. There were several symposia offered, one example of which was: CERtainly You Can Do Inquiry which included Strong/Weak arguments, Discrepant events and CER to avoid misconceptions, Writing inquiry stories to explore science, Enhancing Stoichiometry, Condiment Challenge, Redesigning Your Lab Program using CER as a Unifying Theme. Additional symposia topics incorporated, among others, using manipulatives, chemistry outreach, metacognition, communicating chemistry via social media, modeling chemistry, views from award winning teachers, assessment practices, AP reading review, AP teaching nuggets, and more.

Poster sessions are usually presented by students at the collegiate level and offer a chance for participants to read the posters regarding a multitude of topics in chemical research and talk with the authors. Usually these poster sessions are coupled with time to browse the exhibit hall and maybe grab some ice cream at the social! The plenary sessions this year included an historical perspective of BCCE (in honor of the anniversary), a collections of “TED” style talks by Notre Dame faculty (What would you fight for?), STEM perspectives with movie-science critiques, and Sam Keen, author of several books including The Disappearing Spoon.

A highlight of the conference is the last night party featuring food, beverages, camaraderie (which is important always), and a live performance by Al D. Hyde and the Key Tones! The band is composed of chemical educators from all over the country. They gather during the week to rehearse and audition new members. This evening event is a chance to reconnect with old friends and celebrate the week of learning shared by all the participants. It is easy to get to know people when so many like-minded individuals are in the same place. It is a time to dance, sing, and make plans with new colleagues about using the vast array of activities and ideas garnered at the conference.

So, why should you put BCCE on your 2020 calendar? Why not? It’s amazing and a true celebration of chemical education. Thinking it’s too much money to travel to the beautiful northwest US where the conference will be held at Corvalis, Oregon, the home of the Oregon State Beavers? Think again! Apply for a HACH grant for professional development! BCCE 2020 is July 18-23, 2020. Seriously, put it on your calendar. Sign up at the BCCE 2020 website to get updates. 

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Another version of this article was published by the authors in the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas Reactions Newsletter.