Are you interested in attending a chemistry conference this year but need financial support? Do you want to take a course at a local college but can’t afford it?  Are you looking to finally get the modeling training you need to propel your NGSS instruction forward? Or perhaps you would like to purchase Argument Driven Inquiry books and take an online course to help your students create scientific arguments. If so, you should consider applying for a ACS Hach Grant?

Last year, I was fortunate enough to receive an ACS Hach Grant that funded a fantastic professional development experience at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, BCCE. The conference provided me the opportunity to collaborate with top notch chemical educators from across the country to learn new skills that I have taken back and applied in my classroom this year. Additionally, my colleagues have also benefited from the shared resources and rich discussions surrounding the conference. If you have never done so, I encourage you to take the time to apply for this grant if you are interested in learning a new skill, applying the new skill in the classroom and sharing the information with your colleagues.

What do Hach grants fund?

• Travel expenses

• Tuition and educational expenses for new/upcoming courses

• Books and online instructional resources

• Substitute teacher pay

How much do they cover?

With a Hact Grant, teachers can request up to $1,500 to fund their professional development needs and help support their student achievement.

Who can apply?

To apply for a Hach grant you must be a high school chemistry educator teaching in a U.S. or U.S. territory school.

When should I apply?

Applications are being accepted now through January 4th.  

Who should I contact if I have a question?

Contact us at hach@acs.org or (800) 227-5558 ext. 8178.

Are there other ACS grants for high school chemistry teachers?

Yes, here is also a ACS-Hach HIgh School Chemistry grant to support ideas at the classroom level. Additionally, there is an ACS ChemClub Outreach Grant to support ACS ChemClubs service projects as well as community interactions aimed at improving science learning experiences.  

Last year, I wanted to create a fun way to review Periodic Table concepts with my students instead of using the same review worksheet I had students complete in the past. I personally enjoy Escape the Classroom activities, but I could not find one that fit with my Chemistry class content.

So, I decided to make a game of my own. I thought it would be fun to solve a mystery whose clues could be used to spell out the name of a country. I decided to create five puzzles to fit within my class time of fifty minutes. Therefore, I had to determine the names of countries that could be spelled using the periodic table and whose names could be made out as a result of five puzzles.

This five puzzle mystery aligns with my chemistry curriculum after instruction on the properties of elements and electron configurations. I use this mystery as a review to prepare for assessments over the properties of elements, symbols on the periodic table and the difference between groups and periods. Also incorporated within the puzzles are basic trends such as the number of subatomic particles, mass number, melting point, and other characteristics of specific elements.

My students forgot that they were reviewing for a chemistry test because they were having fun trying to solve the puzzles. During one of my classes, one group of students was so excited to complete the puzzles before other groups that they cheered and jumped for joy as if they really had just saved the world. They also thought the “airline tickets” I printed for the country for the correctly solved puzzles were an exciting touch. I didn’t tell the students if they were correct or not, I simply handed them their boarding passes.

I have shared this activity with my colleague that teaches AP Chemistry as a quick review of material they should already know from their previous participation in a Chemistry class. They too enjoyed to puzzles. I did find, however, a few AP students tried to cut corners by trying to solve for the country before collecting all of their clues first. Needless to say, they were not correct in identifying the country and did not solve the mystery.

You’ve heard you can’t judge a book by its cover. However, with a Journal of Chemical Education issue, the cover can serve as a useful reminder. Editor-in-chief Norb Pienta’s editorial Illustrating the Human Side of Teaching and Learning (open access without a subscription) walks through a “brief visual history of Journal covers,” highlighting how the covers show interactions between the chemistry itself with those who teach and learn it. As Pienta describes, “Where most of the ACS Journals Division portfolio is about the central science, the teaching and learning of chemistry is about people. … The Journal of Chemical Education covers how people interact with the science.”

Pienta’s editorial focuses on how materials that appear in JCE inform those who educate and help them to continue to evolve, as each issue “provides instructors with ideas and materials to adopt and adapt.” Articles help readers to be aware of practices and developments in chemical education, and to consider possible implementation in their own classrooms. As Pienta states, “Updating teaching practices is not merely change for the sake of change. … Students deserve the best efforts from instructors, and scholarship in this Journal can support that meaningful change.”

For me, a cover is one way to recognize a particular issue and to reconnect with the resources and the people behind them. Even when a cover does not explicitly show the human face of chemistry, it is still there. For example, even 15 years after publication, when I see the two covers below, they take me back to National Chemistry Week 2001, the two artists whose work made the covers possible, and how their interaction with chemistry can extend into the lives of JCE readers.

oct_nov_2001_jce_covers.png

The first cover image, from October 2001, was the work of science photographer Felice Frankel. It was one of the examples Frankel discussed in her article Communicating Science through Photography (available to JCE subscribers) from that same issue. She shared behind-the-scenes information about creating images for presentations and articles with researchers and students, and how we can strive to clearly represent the chemistry to others through visuals.

The second cover image was from a month later, November 2001. The paper-based artwork pictured was part of a series created by artist Jura Silverman. In this case, I got to experience the teaching and learning of the chemistry associated with paper making on a direct level by spending the day in Silverman’s studio. She and I, along with JCE videographer/photographer Jerry Jacobsen, learned about the equipment and stages of her work, and captured them to share with readers. The results are online supporting information for the hands-on student activity New Paper from Newspaper (available to JCE subscribers), where others are able to try it for themselves using simpler materials, while still learning the cellulose chemistry that underlies the process.

Chemistry content is key, but the Journal is more—those sharing their work, those reading and reflecting on the work, those who engage in classroom learning informed by that work. Pienta concludes, “As we go forward, the Journal will continue to reflect that as chemists we are involved in human endeavors.”

More from the October 2018 Issue

There really is no better time than National Chemistry Week (NCW) to be reminded of the human side of chemistry, as people around the world celebrate its value in everyday life. Along with her usual overview of the complete issue in JCE 95.10 October 2018 Issue Highlights, Mary Saecker digs into the archives for resources that mesh with the 2018 NCW theme “Chemistry Is Out of This World!”

Journal resources been a part of your continuing evolution as a chemistry educator? 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.

Students typically arrive in my chemistry class with little understanding of light. In spite of focusing on particle representations throughout the year students routinely struggle immensely with drawing particle representations of hydrogen particles emitting four colors of light while 10,000 volts are put across the hydrogen spectral tube. I teach using the AMTA modeling curriculum for units 1-9. I have modified the 10th unit that focuses on atomic structure and light. I shared my alternative approach to this content using a series of activites on my personal blog in April 2016. I begin with Activity 1 as seen below.

Figure 1 - Activity 1 from original blog post  

This introductory task instructed students to make a particle diagram representation of spectral tube C (hydrogen, see Figure 2 below) while the power supply is turned on. The diagrams should make an attempt to explain why only certain colors of light were emitted and why different elements produce different colors. The hydrogen particles emit 4 colors when the 10,000 volts are applied across the hydrogen spectral tube.

Figure 2 - Hydrogen gas while 10,000 volts are applied.

Initial Student Models

Figure 3 - Whiteboard 1 with particle representation of hydrogen particles emitting light

Figure 3 shows particles in motion and says the particles give off light. There is no mechanism shown for how this happens, no electrons are included with the particles and no light is shown. The description uses energy to avoid making deeper connections.

Figure 4 - Whiteboard 2 with particle representation of hydrogen particles emitting light

Figure 4 shows different colored hydrogen particles as well as light from some external source bouncing off of the box. No electrons are included and the light is represented as an arrow but it is not clear if the black arrows on the particles indicate light or motion or both. The light is also not clear if it directly comes from the particles.

Figure 5 - Whiteboard with particle representation of hydrogen particles emitting light

Figure 5 shows two different elements emitting two different colors of light. Element 1 has particles bunched into groups and the students explained that one of the elements had a higher frequency in their grouping causing the different colors of light. The light is represented by the color of particle and no electrons are shown.

Figure 6 - Whiteboard with particle representation of hydrogen particles emitting light

Figure 6 shows particles emitting light where individual particles produce multiple colors. Nothing in the sketch shows why different colors emerge from the particles nor how the light is produced. No electrons are shown and no motion of particles is indicated. This is a particle representation of the experiment with no consideration of the mechanisms by which everything happens.

In all of these and other student representations some themes emerge.

1. The students do not know what light is. They know that different colors of light are different but not how they differ. Only one board addresses this (Figure 4) and their attempt has some issues. Some treat light as a wave but it’s often a standing wave representation they likely saw in a textbook or on a worksheet.

2. The students do not know how light and matter interact. The boards show light appearing without explanation of how. Figure 6 shows light coming from the particles, Figure 4 shows light originating externally and both Figures 3 and 5 do not show light in their particle representations.

3. The students do not include electrons in their representations. Students are familiar with the Bohr model but do not connect charge with light. It is unclear what they have learned about for the relevance of the Bohr model at this point.

It is likely that students are experiencing cognitive overload. They have sufficient understanding of the task but do not have sufficient knowledge about light to give reasonable explanations. To alleviate this I propose that electrons move within atoms and that when the electron changes how it moves light is either absorbed or emitted.

Light lessons and instruction

In order to address the issues that students have with building functional models I start students with a set of four questions that are central to our learning. I have found that these four questions guide the learning where students develop strong understanding of light mechanisms.

Questions to Address

1. What is the composition of light?
2. How does light originate?
3. How do light and atoms interact?
4. How are different types of light different?
5. How are they the same?

We then begin to add in new phenomena, discussion and explanation until students have a satisfactory model to describe the initial experiment with the hydrogen spectral emission. Then I use the Electric Field Hockey simulation from PhET with my students. This allows me to define light as a propagating electric field disturbance (question 1). I show students the simulation with the field representation turned on and ask them to talk about what happens when I shake or accelerate one of the charged particles (question 2).

Figure 7 - Electric Field Hockey from PhET simulations^*

The disturbance in the electric field that results from accelerating a charged particle is what we call light. At this point I also like to show students the difference between a standing wave and a wave pulse using a long slinky. They are familiar with the standing wave, but it is very difficult for them to connect standing waves to the models we are going to develop. I push them to identify a standing wave as a series of wave pulses that interfere to produce the standing wave.

The field hockey simulation gives us a great model of light, light is the disturbance in the electric field that originates when a charged particle accelerates. For students we simplify this to light happens when an electron shakes or changes its motion. That change in electric field will propagate away from the original electron and can influence other electrons that the light wave encounters. When the light wave hits a new electron the new electron will be influenced by the light. A bigger acceleration for the initial electron causes a bigger acceleration for the second electron (question 4).

This brings us back to our original exercise. If light results from charged particles changing how they move, what does it mean that hydrogen particles only product four colors of light? Some students will articulate that the electrons of the hydrogen must only make certain changes in motion and not others. This is a very surprising result that needs some time to fully comprehend. When hydrogen has electricity pass through the electrons will only change motion in quantized changes. Now is a good time to introduce two things, the Bohr model and the fact that we cannot see electrons in the same manner that we see macroscopic objects. The Bohr model is a good way for us to depict changes in motion and it is helpful to emphasize that we cannot watch an electron travel around an atom and so we do not know exactly how it is moving. We can predict the motion using mathematical equations but we never can watch the electron in motion without altering its path and even then is it not the same as continuous light being used to track an object. So when we draw a Bohr model we are not stating the electron to move in a circle, rather the circle represents some particular state and style of motion that we do not know completely what the motion is.

One of my favorite light demonstrations (see "Colorful Spheres Demonstration" YouTube video in supporting information) ties all of this information together. I pass out a red sphere, an orange sphere, a blue sphere and a violet sphere to four students. I ask for the red sphere to be gently thrown to me. When the red sphere is thrown I fail to catch it and the sphere continues along its path. Then I ask for the orange sphere and this one I catch. While catching or absorbing the orange photon I stand on a chair. When I throw the orange sphere away in a random direction I change back to standing on the ground. The blue sphere I catch and move to the table. When the blue sphere is absorbed the sphere is hidden from view as it is now a part of my new state of motion. When I return to the ground I send the blue sphere in a random direction. The violet sphere causes me to move to a book atop the table. We note that the levels become progressively closer as we change to higher states of motion. We conclude by talking about what the change in height actually represents for the electrons absorbing light. The electron is moving in some manner, then as the electron absorbs the light the electron accelerates into a new state of motion. When the electron emits the light it accelerates back to the original state of motion.

By describing light origins using electron motion, we set up the teaching of electron configurations. Electron configurations are mathematical descriptions of electron position and motion within an atom. We can give a framework for what an orbital is that is approachable for a high school student without sacrificing the accuracy of what an orbital actually is. An orbital is a mathematical description of the motion and position of the electron. The Bohr model works well for most high school chemistry courses, but if you teach periodic trends the need for subshells within an energy level emerges to explain exceptions to periodic trends. Whether we move towards orbitals or stick with the Bohr model we inevitably use lines to represent the energy of an orbital or energy level and arrows for electrons. We talk about how the line is higher when the electron tends to be further from the nucleus and how this correlates with higher energy levels. As light becomes absorbed the electron changes its state of motion into one of higher energy. Then the electron changes back re-emitting the same type of light (question 3).

Post lesson student models

Figure 8 - Poster representing the changes that occur in Figure 2 after lessons

Look at all of the connections that the students in Figure 8 are capable of making. We can have a conversation about how varying frequency from radio light to UV light causes bigger and bigger changes in the molecules tested in spectroscopy and these students will easily relate.

Figure 9 - Poster representation of varying frequencies of light

This poster has some ambiguities but there is a lot to like. The student is connecting the frequency of light produced based on the change in motion of the electron. The language of change is missing and it looks like the student thinks that faster electrons make higher frequency of light but there is a lot of knowledge there to revise and improve.

This is a very challenging topic and I finish the unit by having students do a written reflection on what they have learned and are still confused about light. Before they do the final assessment I respond to several of these reflections in class to point out great observations and to refine some of the physics. Here are some of their responses.

Student 1:I know that light is produced when the electrons in an atom are hit with energy and moves the electron to a different orbital on the atom that is higher than the one it was on. After this the electron falls back down to its original position and when this happens energy is produced in the form of visible light.

Student 2:When an electron changes motion due to additional energy, it changes energy levels, moving up orbitals (s,p,d…). The higher the energy level, the light produced will approach violet on the visible light spectrum. The lower the energy level the light produced will be on the red side of the visible light spectrum.

Student 3:Before my perception of light was that it was some kind of charged particle. To be honest, I wasn’t even very clear on what light was. On the day that we did the spectra lab, there was a bit more insight on how light was produced. I only knew that color appears by an object reflecting a color, but to produce a color without any initial light stumped me. I didn’t understand how light was produced or what light really was (like if it was actually a particle or some kind of energy?). I think on a 2d platform, the idea of light hitting the electron, stimulating it to move to a higher energy orbital and then falling back down to its original energy orbital, then making light is easy to comprehend. Bringing in the 3d orbitals are harder to comprehend and I don’t think I can visualize or completely understand the interaction from that perspective.

Student 4:Light comes from charged particles (e-) and these charged particles give off light when they change how they move. Electrons move in a circle in different energy levels, these energy levels are different for every element. Overall, I learned more about what light is (electric field that is changing and is also a disturbance in the electric field).

Student 5:Electrons move in different orbital states. S-orbitals move as spheres and p-orbitals move as lobes. Their movement creates an electric field around the nucleus. When the atoms shake, the electric field also moves creating light.

Student 6:What electronic configuration is: A representation of electrons, as well as the amount of electrons, per energy level for a given element. Ex: Boron 1s2 2s2 2p1 On the first energy level, 2 electrons are moving in an s-orbital motion (spherical). On the second energy level, 2 electrons are moving in an s-orbital motion and 1 electron is moving in a p-orbital motion (lobe shaped motion).

 

Student 1 does an adequate job explaining light absorption and emission but the word position should be replaced with the idea that each energy level or orbital description is of a state of motion not a location. Student 2 does a good job emphasizing that a change in motion is occurring but the description of what an orbital is could still be expanded. Student 3 does a phenomenal job of thinking about light and what they perceive and perceived about light in the past. I love the honesty and connections being made.

Student 4 has a technically correct explanation and does a good job emphasizing the changes in motion. We don’t know that electrons move in circles even though the Bohr model uses that as a representation. Student 5 brings an interesting note up when they say around the nucleus. Really the light interacts with the nucleus and electrons as a system. When the electron changes its motion the nucleus changes as well but due to a larger mass the changes are ignored. Student 6 shows a strong foundation for what an orbital is and this could pay dividends for their understanding of light and matter interactions later.

Citations

*Phet Electric Field Hockey Simulation (accessed 10/18/18)

Acknowledgements & Supporting Information

Progression of Student Models of Light - a blog post with more descriptions of demonstrations, lessons and student reflections. Some of the material contained in this article were previously published on my personal blog site. (accessed 10/18/18)

Flinn photoelectric effect demonstration - YouTube video: A glow in the dark strip under different color plastic films that transmit ROYGBV colored lights. (accessed 10/18/18)

Corn syrup colorful polarization demonstration - YouTube video: Corn syrup is optically active and allows for the manipulation of electric fields of different color lights using polarizing filters. (accessed 10/18/18)

Colorful spheres demonstration - YouTube video: The demonstration described in the article performed in front of students. (accessed 10/18/18)

Recent efforts have recognized the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards as the most current research regarding what we know about teaching and learning of science, and have suggested that 3-dimensional (3D) instruction should guide science instruction at not only the K-12 level, but also at the college level.

Of course, if we want students to truly value 3D thinking and learning, viewing science as a means of investigating and making sense of our natural world through asking questions, analyzing data, developing and using models, and constructing arguments and explanations as opposed to a set of disconnected facts and skills to be memorized and repeated, then we need to design assessments that go beyond testing factoids and skills to ones that focus on students abilities to use their knowledge. Though we still need to assess skills as it is important for students to be able to calculate a molar mass, convert from grams to moles, balance chemical equations, and draw appropriate Lewis structures for molecules, we are all familiar with many ways to do this, including using multiple choice questions. There have been several articles published regarding the development of high-quality multiple choice questions, including one that is freely available as Editors' Choice in the Journal of Chemical Education (JCE) ¹.

In addition to these types of assessments, however, we also need to develop assessments that require students to analyze data, use and interpret models, demonstrate mathematical and computational thinking and construct explanations. These assessments are in general much more difficult to write and moreover, more difficult for students to answer as they first need to develop the skills to think like a scientist. In this brief article I hope to provide you with some strategies and resources to help both in the writing of 3D assessment items and in developing student skills to answer these types of questions.

Writing 3D Assessment Items

Admittedly it is easier to write free or constructed response 3D items than it is multiple choice questions of this form, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to write 3D multiple choice questions. One way you can start to move in this direction is instead of asking about a correct statement, ask students which choice provides evidence for a particular claim. Consider the two questions below.

1. Which of the following is a true statement about Thomson’s cathode ray experiment?

A. The particles were attracted to the + electrode.

B. The particles were different depending on the identity of the cathode.

C. Most of the particles passed straight through the gold foil.

D. The particles had a positive charge.

2. What is the evidence from Thomson’s experiment that supported his claim that "all atoms contain electrons"? 

A. The particles were attracted to the + electrode.

B. The particles were deflected by magnetic fields.

C. The particles were deflected by electrical fields.

D. The particles were identical regardless of the identity of the cathode (where they were emitted from).

The first question only presents one correct statement about Thomson’s experiment (A). The other statements are either incorrect or do not pertain to Thomson’s experiment. Accordingly, to answer this question correctly, students just have to memorize the important elements of Thomson’s experiment. The second question is considerably more difficult for students since all of the statements are true regarding Thomson’s experiment, but only D supports the claim that all atoms contain electrons. With this question we are then testing both students’ knowledge about atomic structure as well as their abilities to support claims with appropriate evidence.

Another relatively easy thing you can start to do is ask students to make a choice about something, which can easily be done using multiple choice, and then justify their choice. Consider the following example involving gases:

1. In the following 2-D illustrations, assume that the gas molecules are in motion and that a larger box indicates a larger volume for the container holding the molecules. If the molecules are at the same pressure, what can you say about the relative temperatures of the two samples?

A. The sample in Box A is at a higher temperature

B. The sample in Box B is at a higher temperature

C. Both samples are at the same temperature

D. There is not enough information provided to determine the relative temperatures

2. Provide reasoning to support your answer to the question above. Be sure to include particle motion in your reasoning.

It is often the case that when you require students to justify their choices to multiple choice questions you find that they are not necessarily applying the correct scientific reasoning in making their choices. In this case, we would want them to choose A as the answer to question 1 and then provide reasoning that indicates that pressure is the result of particles colliding with the walls of the container and for the particles in box A to collide with the walls at approximately the same overall frequency/force as those in box B, they must be moving faster (at a higher temperature) as they have more space to move around in.

You may notice that instead of just telling students to justify their answer or provide reasoning to support their answer, a specific clue as to what concept they should include in their answer is provided. This has been found to be very important to ensure that students are accessing the correct knowledge structures to provide you with the response you are looking for. If you do not provide this cue, then you cannot be sure if students did not provide the answer you were looking for because they didn’t know the answer or because they didn’t know exactly what you were looking for. Though the objective is ultimately that students would be able to activate these knowledge structures without prompting, we need to remember that they are still largely novices with respect to chemistry concepts. A recent Editors' Choice JCE article by Underwood and co-workers describes in more detail the importance of scaffolding your question prompts so as to elicit the information you want from students without giving the answer away as well as provides examples of taking traditional chemistry assessment items and transforming them into 3D items.²

Developing Students 3D Skills

These are not things that come naturally to students. Rather they need to be developed through both in class and out of class practice. Providing practice in class requires some rethinking of how you present material. For example, instead of telling students that the strength of attractive forces between ions in ionic compounds depends on both the size of the ions and the charges on the ions, it is possible to provide them with some data and guiding questions to help them construct this understanding on their own through a combination of analyzing data and constructing an explanation. The following is an example of what that could look like:

Thinking About Ionic Bonding

Use the data in the following table in answering the questions below.

1. How does the strength of the ionic bonds relate to melting point?

2. Which would be expected to have stronger ionic bonds: NaCl or NaF?

A. What evidence did you base this on?

B. How might you explain this? (Hint: think about size of the ions and Coulomb’s law)

3. Which would be expected to have stronger ionic bonds: NaCl or MgO?

A. What evidence did you base this on?

B. How might you explain this? (Hint: think about the charges of the ions and Coulomb’s law)

4. Which factor, the size of the ions or charge, has the larger effect on the melting point? Explain (provide evidence from table and reasoning).

Here students are generally able to identify that the higher the melting point (mp) the stronger the attraction between the ions (#1) and then accordingly identify NaF (#2) and MgO (#3) as the ionic compound in each pair that has the stronger attractive forces between ions. However, the explanation part is always more difficult. In my class at this point we have already used Coulomb’s law (shown below) in talking about relative atomic size and electrostatic attractive and repulsive forces, so they have had some experience with this kind of reasoning already. Yet, it often still takes some prompting to get students to realize that for NaCl and NaF, the only difference is the size of the anion. Once they recognize that, most can explain that because Cl- is larger than F- the ions in NaF are closer together and thus have a stronger force of attraction between them. For NaCl and MgO, they have to realize that though there are some size differences in the ions, the mp for MgO is so much higher that there must be something else going on and that in this case the ion charges for MgO (2+ and 2-) would result in a force of attraction that is about four times larger than that for NaCl (1+ and 1-). Based on this most students can then rationalize that in general charge of the ions has a larger effect on the attractive force between them, and hence the mp, than does the size of the ions.

Another simple activity that I did in class the other day was instead of telling students about VSEPR and showing them the shapes, I gave each group of 4 students 12 pieces of modeling clay rolled into balls (3 large and 9 small) and 9 toothpicks and told them to do the following:

1. Using the large ball as the middle “atom” and two small balls as peripheral “atoms” use the toothpicks to connect the atoms so that the peripheral atoms were as far apart as possible in 3D space.

2. Using the large ball as the middle “atom” and three small balls as peripheral “atoms” use the toothpicks to connect the atoms so that the peripheral atoms were as far apart as possible in 3D space.

3. Using the large ball as the middle “atom” and four small balls as peripheral “atoms” use the toothpicks to connect the atoms so that the peripheral atoms were as far apart as possible in 3D space.

Before we begin the activity, we review that covalent bonds are an electrostatic attraction composed of electrons that are attracted to the nuclei of the two atoms involved in the bond, and that when electrons get close together they repel each other. This provides the context for the bonds being as far apart as possible in 3D space. This activity helps them quickly (as it only takes about 10 minutes) construct an understanding of molecular shape while at the same time constructing a model. The first two (linear and trigonal planar) are really easy because all of the atoms are in the same plane so they are really just 2D structures. For number 3, groups almost always make a square planar structure to start. As I walk by I point to it and tell them that they can get the atoms further apart than that in 3D space, and then walk away. It doesn’t take long before groups start to figure it out and make a tetrahedron, and then it goes around the room really fast!

Out of class practice tends to be a little more difficult. One method that has worked well for me, not just in terms of providing students with practice using this kind of thinking but also for providing formative assessment that I can then use to inform my instruction to help students further develop these skills, combines a text messaging app (Remind) with Google forms. This system is free for students and teachers and is easy to use, probably more so for most high school teachers who more regularly use many of the Google products than college faculty! We recently published an article about this in JCE that describes the system, some best practices for using it that we identified during our pilot test last year, and how questions were used both for student self-assessment and as formative assessment to drive subsequent instruction.³ Google forms is a great platform because it allows for a large variety of question types, including the option of having students draw and upload pictures.

One question format that I particularly like with this system is requiring students to do something “traditional” like perform a calculation or choose the compound they would predict to have the higher boiling point and then require them to explain or justify their answer. I also appreciate the ability to help scaffold student answers. The following is an example of how this was done using the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning framework. (Bolded are desired student responses.Italics are common student answers.)

A. Consider a reaction between a metal and a non-metal represented by the following spheres. Which sphere represents the metal (blue or white)? (This is your claim) [Blue]

B. What feature of the spheres did you look at to answer the question above? (This is your evidence.) [Change in size.Many say just size.]

C. How does your evidence support your claim? (This is your reasoning.) [Metals react by losing electrons from the outermost shell, which means their outermost electrons and now closer to the nucleus (one shell lower) and thus they get smaller when you go from metal atom to metal ion.Many students just say they lose electrons so they get smaller.]

You can also think about reversing this order, particularly if you want to address a common issue that you know students have. The following is a question regarding stoichiometry that first gets students to focus on the mathematical thinking, and then asks them to actually do the calculation. Here we are forcing students to recognize the fact that you cannot directly compare masses because each compound/particle has a different mass, but rather must first convert to what I call a “counting unit,” which in chemistry is most often moles. Students then confirm this when they calculate the mass and find that for 1.0g of baking soda they need 0.66g of CaCl₂.

A. You are in the lab using baking soda (NaHCO₃) and calcium chloride (CaCl₂) to try and "launch" a film canister rocket and you know that you will get the most height if you have correct reacting ratio of baking soda and calcium chloride. The balanced chemical equation for this reaction is: 2NaHCO₃ + CaCl₂→ CaCO₃ + CO₂ + 2NaCl + H₂O. Your lab partner says "It's a 2:1 ratio so we should mix 1.0g of baking soda and 0.5g of CaCl₂. You know this will not give you the correct reacting ratio. Explain to your lab partner why this won't work.

B. Calculate how much CaCl₂ you need to react with 1.0g of baking soda to get the correct reacting ratio. Show your work, take a picture, and upload it.

The value of this system from a formative assessment perspective is that it can provide instructors with a quick snapshot of student understanding and allow them to use student responses to guide discussion.

The following is an example of a question that follows the first format of requiring students to do a calculation followed by an interpretation of their results and an explanation. I have included data output from student responses as well.

Isomers are molecules that contain the same atoms, but the atoms are connected differently. The reaction below shows an isomerization process, ethanol rearranges to form dimethyl ether (it is not important for you to understand exactly how this occurs).

A. Using the bond energies provided, calculate the enthalpy (delta H) for this isomerization process. Make sure if the process is endothermic your value is positive, and if it is exothermic your enthalpy value is negative. (Short answer where students enter value they calculated)

B. Which isomer is more stable?

screen_shot_2018-10-21_at_12.32.01_pm.png

C. How did you decide on your answer to the question above?

Sample Student Explanations

• Not sure, formal charges are all the same
• Dimethyl ether is more stable due to its symmetrical compared to ethanol, which is asymmetrical
• There is more energy required to break C-H bonds than the others, and dimethyl ether has more C-H bonds than ethanol
• O-H is the most stable bond because it has the highest energy
• Since the delta H is positive, the reaction is endothermic, which means that more energy is required to break the bonds of the reactant than to form the bonds in the product. More energy required means that the bonds are stronger in ethanol, and stronger bonds mean more stability for the molecule.

 

In terms of using this information to drive instruction, when such a small percentage could actually perform the calculation correctly, I would typically provide students with the correct numerical value and have them make sure that in their group they could figure out how to get that number. In this particular case, I asked the groups to use this to determine which was more stable, and suggested that an energy profile diagram might be helpful. The groups also had to be able to explain their prediction. I then presented them with the list of incorrect explanations (the first 4 bullet points above) and asked them to identify what was incorrect about each one. In this case, if the group came up with one of these as their explanation, they were forced to try and confront it before discussing the correct explanation (the last bullet point which is an actual student response verbatim).

For these types of questions, it was pretty typical that only about half of the students who did the calculation correctly were able to interpret their result correctly. This is no doubt something that we want students to be able to do, so it really emphasizes the need to help students develop this skill and to assess this. Further, though we certainly did continue to see incorrect explanations over the course of the semester, we also noted that we did begin to see the frequency of correct and complete explanations, like the last one in the list, increase. This supports the idea that students can get better at 3D thinking with appropriate scaffolding, practice, and focus on skill development.

I am sure that a number of people have a lot of other great ideas and resources around 3D teaching and assessment that they have found. I would love to hear about them!

References

(1) Towns, M. H., Guide To Developing High-Quality, Reliable, and Valid Multiple-Choice Assessments. J. Chem. Educ.2014, 91 (9), 1426–1431. (This is an Editors' Choice article. It is open access to all.)

(2) Underwood, S. M.; Posey, L. A.; Herrington, D. G.; Carmel, J. H.; Cooper, M. M., Adapting Assessment Tasks To Support Three-Dimensional Learning. J. Chem. Educ.2018, 95 (2), 207–217. (This is an Editors' Choice article. It is open access to all.)

(3) Herrington, D. G.; Sweeder, R. D., Using Text Messages To Encourage Meaningful Self-Assessment Outside of the Classroom. J. Chem. Educ.2018. (Available to subscribers of JCE. Members of ACS & AACT can use their complimentary downloads to access.)

When trying to convince our students of the pressure we are constantly under from the atmosphere, we typically resort to a favorite demo or two that demonstrates this idea with some sort of dramatic flair. Though a variety of demos exist, I recently tried one that I had never done before but will most certainly continue to use in the future.

At some point in time during my Gas Lawsunit, I inevitably get to the idea of pressure and, as a result, remind students of the vast ocean of air they are continuously at the bottom of. Though students willingly accept statements like, “approximately 15 pounds for every square inch are constantly pushing on you from all directions”, the lack of immediate curiosity and awe seems to indicate that they don’t fully appreciate, or even comprehend, what this amount of pressure is really like. So, sometimes I crush a can—that is pretty cool. Other times I place a candle in water and cover it with a glass jar only to watch the outside water get pushed up into the glass jar—that is pretty cool too! But still, I always feel like the majority of the class isn’t very impressed. After all, I built it up as this enormous amount of pressure and all they got was a crushed can and a few inches of water in a glass jar? Though I think both demos are awesome, I find myself wanting more enthusiasm.

whoosh_bottle_flame.png

So I decided to step it up a bit this year with a demo that was easily repeatable, cheap, and displayed atmospheric pressure with a bit more drama. Many of you may already know this as the Whoosh Bottle demo due to the immense whoosh-like sound it makes when you light the alcohol inside a 5-gallon water bottle. I have used this demo in the past for topics like exothermic reactions, combustion reactions, and even rates of reactions which involves multiple bottles with different concentrations of alcohol. However, I had never even thought that it could also be used to demonstrate atmospheric pressure and even Charles’ Law! The cool thing is, this point in the year, all my students had already seen the Whoosh Bottle demo, even if they had a different chemistry teacher. However, the demo was always over once the reaction was complete. Because of this, I could totally surprise them by adding an equally dramatic twist to the end.

whoosh_bottle_part_2.png

whoosh_bottle_part_3.png

A few things I want to mention about the demonstration

1. Read Playing with Fire: Chemical Safety Expertise Required and consider how prepared you are to safely try this demonstration! 
2. WEAR goggles! Have your students wear goggles too!
3. Never bring a large container of alcohol to the demonstration area. Measure the alcohol required into a small container, empty all of it into the bottle used in the demonstration when the time comes and replace the lid on that alcohol container and move it away from the area before lighting the match.
4. I could have used a cap instead of my hand but use of my hand helped create that nice visualization when I pulled my arm up only to see the jug rise with it. This adds to the evidence of a partial vacuum created in the bottle. 
5. It wasn’t too hot to place my hand on top. 
6. Almost immediately after doing the demo, the entire class was engaged and nearly everyone was curious as to how that just happened.

Though I hadn’t originally planned on creating an extension to this demo, I thought it made sense take advantage of the opportunity and make the most out of their vulnerable curiosity by creating an improvised Claim, Evidence, Reasoning activity. Basically, students were tasked with constructing a scientific explanation for the demo based on their still-limited knowledge of gas laws and atmospheric pressure. By the next period, I had made a more formalized activity and posted it to our LMS (Schoology) in the form of a discussion thread. In doing so, students were able to collaborate on their potential explanations and, once posted to the discussion forum, were able to see other explanations from their classmates.

Below are some examples of student CER explanations. Initially, accuracy wasn’t important. I just wanted to know what they thought. Doing this allowed both the students and myself to see the variety of ideas and even misconceptions that students had.

The whole thing was a blast and the fact that it spontaneously generated an activity reminded me of how improvised teaching can really be. It doesn’t need to be so structured with every single minute mapped out all the time and no room for departure from the plan. The best part was that it was my students’ own curiosity that inspired me to delay everything else I had planned for the period and just run with it. Throughout the rest of the unit, I was able to reference that demo when talking about atmospheric pressure or Charles’ Law and I knew that the vast majority of my students would have a vivid memory of what I was asking them to form new connections with.

By the way, the large amount of energy released from the reaction in the form of the flame (you know, the whole reason it’s called the Whoosh Bottle) wasn’t even talked about. Students just wanted to know about the crushing, suction to my hand, and why it appeared to quickly “reflate.” Never have one of my pop can or candle in water demos been able to produce similar engagement and stimulate curiosity to such an extent.

If you think this is something you would like to do, please consider the safety issues surrounding it. I am far from a “demo guy” but this is one that I will most definitely use in the future. Feel free to let me know any suggestions you may have for extensions or potentially better ways to execute the demo.

Demo Details:

• You can find the whoosh bottle demonstration details in a variety of places. Be sure to consider all related safety issues before performing the demonstration. I found one set of directions on the Learn Chemistry website hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).
• Either place your hand on top of the bottle (or cap it) as soon as you are certain the reaction is complete. If using your hand, you will feel the suction but keep it there until the bottle stops collapsing. Raise your hand slowly up and down to demonstrate the partial vacuum and then quickly pull your hand away so that the atmospheric pressure adjusts the bottle back to its original shape.
• When complete, you will not be able to repeat the demo for a period time due to the CO₂ in the bottle. To get rid of the CO₂, invert the bottle. The set of directions from RSC above suggests you have a dry bottle, so that you would need several bottles if you want to do the demonstration during several class periods.  

Materials:

• 5-gallon water bottle made of polycarbonate (PC). This must be new and inspected for cracks.
• Approximately 40 mL of Isopropyl alcohol
• 1 match

Articles related to the Whoosh Bottle demonstration

Samuella B. Sigmann, Playing with Fire: Chemical Safety Expertise Required, Journal of Chemical Education 2018 95 (10), 1736-1746.

Robert B. Gregory and Matthew Lauber, Whoosh Bottle Safety, Again: What About What Is Inside?, Journal of Chemical Education201289 (5), 620-623

A diamond is forever…at least that’s how the advertising slogan goes. Many chemists know this saying is not entirely true, because diamonds are converted to graphite under normal conditions:

C(s, diamond) à C(s, graphite)                     DG^o = -2.9 kJ mol^-1                 Equation 1

However, the conversion process is extremely slow because an enormous activation energy barrier exists for this process: about 370 kJ mol^-1.¹ Thus, the conversion occurs extremely slowly – over billions of years – which allows us to enjoy the beautiful sparkle of diamonds in earrings, necklaces, and engagement rings.

Nevertheless, the fact that diamonds can spontaneously convert to graphite can be seen by inspecting the phase diagram for carbon,² which clearly shows that graphite is the stable phase of carbon at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. In addition, thermodynamic values (Table 1) can be used to show that diamond spontaneously converts into graphite: DG for this process is negative, and the process is favored both enthalpically (DH^o = -1.8 kJ mol^-1) and entropically (DS^o = +3.2 J mol^-1 K^-1).

Table 1 - Thermodynamic values for substances of interest in this work.

However, many chemists are not aware that diamonds can be converted to carbon dioxide by simply burning them.^2,3 That’s right: diamonds are not forever because they can be burned:

C_{(s, diamond)} + O2_(g) à CO_2 (g)                     DG^o = -397.3 kJ mol^-1                 Equation 2

Methods of burning diamonds that are simple enough to conduct in the classroom exist.² For example, check out the following video:

The combustion of diamonds (Equation 2) allows for an easier “destruction” of diamonds than conversion to graphite (Equation 1) for a number of reasons. First, the activation energy for the combustion of diamond is only in the neighborhood of 150 – 250 kJ mol^-1:¹ much lower than the activation energy for conversion to graphite. Second, combusting diamonds can be accomplished at temperatures of 600^oC to 900^oC, which are easily obtained by heating with a Bunsen burner or blow torch. Finally, the combustion of diamond is much more thermodynamically favored than conversion of to graphite, with DG^o = -397.3 kJ mol^-1 for the former and DG^o = -2.9 kJ mol^-1 for the latter. Both entropy (DS^o = +6.2 J mol^-1 K^-1) and enthalpy (DH^o = -395.3 kJ mol^-1) favor the combustion reaction, which is quite exothermic (Table 1).

Diamonds are not forever – and now you have some chemistry demonstrations that you can perform in your classroom to prove it!

References:

1. Chen Y., Theoretical Study of Material Removal Mechanism in Polishing of Polycrystalline Diamond Composites, Ph. D. Thesis, University of Sydney, 2007. 

2. Bundy, F.P., Bassett, W.A., Weathers, M.S., Hemley, R.J., Moa, H.K., Goncharov, A.F., The Pressure-Temperature Phase Transformation Diagram for Carbon; Updated through 1994, Carbon, Vol 34, No. 2, pp 141-153. 1996.

3. Miyauchi, T. and Kamata, M. Classroom Demonstration: Combustion of Diamond to Carbon Dioxide Followed by Reduction to Graphite, Journal of Chemical Education, 2012, 89 (8), 1050-1052.

“What are we doing to help kids achieve?”

A couple of years ago I was involved in a professional development program at Miami University called “Project TIMU”. As part of the inquiry program I worked to develop some inquiry lessons. Part of one lesson was an experiment inspired by Phillip Morrison in the video series “Ring of Truth”. Phillip Morrison took a teaspoon of olive oil and carefully poured it on a lake. The oil spread into a thin round slick. He converted the teaspoon to milliliters. This is the starting volume and it is the same as cubic centimeters. He then estimated in meters the diameter of the round oil slick at its maximum diameter. From the diameter, he calculated the radius. He reasoned that the oil slick is similar to a cylinder with a really small height (thickness). So, the volume of a cylinder equals pi times the radius times two times the height. Phillip Morrison had in cubic centimeters, the diameter in centimeters and then solved for the height of the oil slick. He reasoned that whatever the pieces were that made up the oil could not be larger than the thickness of the slick. He quickly showed how to prove with extremely simple methods the approximate size of molecules and compounds. He concluded that the particles that make up “stuff” must be small....and he was able to quantitatively show an order of magnitude of "small".

I thought this was so clever I tried to incorporate it into a project. You can watch the video I created below. Word of caution....Phillip Morrison is a professional and a scientific genius. I have been told I have the perfect face for radio. However....I still like the experiment. I got to thinking....why am I doing this experiment? Why not have students do it?

Lately there have been several factors that are forcing me to stretch my imagination. Several teachers I know have had circumstances present themselves in which they may not always be able to provide lab experiences in a traditional lab setting. They still want to provide students with rigorous problem solving situations that require students to use the scientific method. Could rigorous take home labs possibly be the answer? Can students do great problem solving outside of the classroom? So I got to thinking, what would a rigorous take home inquiry lab experience look like? Could a student estimate the order of magnitude of the size of a molecule with a pond and a teaspoon of olive oil? What other ideas are out there? What about cooking and chemistry? How cool would it be to do quantitative and qualitative analysis on something that you could ultimately eat? So....I am putting out an “all call”. Does anyone have any great take home labs? Please share...I promise I will also...and I am sure the kids will love what we come up with...

Learning about ideas for your classroom and teaching can be a bit like getting a sip of water from a fire hose. They’re in various journals, blogs, magazines, conferences, social media, and colleagues’ classrooms. It’s a huge, constant flow of information.

From that flow, I am especially drawn to certain types of articles. Bring up a hands-on experiment that you can do using only locally sourced consumer materials, and I’m in. Tell me about an easy way to link a chemistry concept that I’m going to cover with a real world example, and I’m all ears. Games or puzzles that would fit into a small class break or to help review? I’ll take a peek.

That said, even in those particular categories of items, it doesn’t all fit into a curriculum. My digital file folders and memory banks are packed and getting added to every time I read a new monthly issue or a blog post. The flow of information then leads to a choice—to use or not to use? My answer can change depending on the situation of the classroom at that time. Your answer may be different from mine, based on variables like students, subjects, curriculums, schools, interests, materials… the list goes on. The most recent issue of Chem13 News has an article that even relates the choice to the interesting thought: “We need to think like economists.”

My two personal sips from this month’s flow of new ideas in the November 2018 issue of JCE (both available to subscribers) are:

• Stress and Mental Health in Graduate School: How Student Empowerment Creates Lasting Change. I’m interested in mental health in other areas related to teaching and wanted to think about how ideas used in graduate school might translate to different situations.
• Applying a Quiz-Show Style Game To Facilitate Effective Chemistry Lexical Communication. My teen kids had fun with this style of game that used a smartphone to provide prompts when we were at a get-together with friends. Although I wouldn’t use it for the specific content described by the authors (glassware and other equipment), it could find use related to chemistry concepts or specific unit vocabulary.

These Especially JCE columns have been a part of the ChemEd XChange conversation for three years and will continue into 2019. They serve “to highlight JCE articles of interest to readers” and can be more of an immediate collaboration with readers. Did the same article catch your eye? Have you used something like it before? Do you plan to use it? What else did you appreciate in the issue? The comment section is wide open for your sharing and ideas. Or, pen a post of your own for the XChange (see directions with links at the end of this post).

More from the November 2018 Issue

Mary Saecker’s monthly roundup of the issue not only gives a good overview of the content, but also helps you to hone in on a specific area, as she calls attention to the different themes of the issue. See this month’s at JCE 95.11 November 2018 Issue Highlights.

How have Journal resources been a part of your personal flow of ideas and learning? 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.

Increasing Authenticity of the Student Experience

The November 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: liquid crystals; nanochemistry; understanding fundamentals; promoting nursing students’ chemistry success; graduate education; using history to teach chemistry; exploring food chemistry; applications of chemistry; using games to teach; cost-effective instrumentation; organic chemistry laboratories; physical chemistry; computer-based learning.

Cover: Liquid Crystal Phases

Binary phase diagrams are an important component of many materials science and physical chemistry courses. In Liquid Crystal Demonstration of Binary Phase Behavior for the Classroom, Marissa E. Tousley presents a classroom demonstration that allows students to observe phase behavior as a function of composition and temperature. This demonstration uses surfactants that self-assemble into ordered structures (lyotropic liquid crystalline phases) with unique optical properties in the presence of water. The cover shows images taken at different time points during a temperature-induced phase transition. Different liquid crystal phases exhibit different optical properties, making it possible to observe phase behavior using an optical microscope. 

Additional nanochemistry articles in this issue include:

Innovative Education and Active Teaching with the Leidenfrost Nanochemistry ~ Mady Elbahri, Ahmed Soliman, Kirsi Yliniemi, Ramzy Abdelaziz, Shahin Homaeigohar, and Eman S. Zarie

Demonstrating the Photochemical Transformation of Silver Nanoparticles ~ Pablo Eduardo Cardoso-Avila and Juan Luis Pichardo Molina

Understanding Fundamentals

Importance of Understanding Fundamental Chemical Mechanisms ~ Vicente Talanquer

What Prospective Chemistry Teachers Know about Chemistry: An Analysis of Praxis Chemistry Subject Assessment Category Performance ~ Lisa Shah, Jeremy Schneider, Rebekah Fallin, Kimberly Linenberger Cortes, Herman E. Ray, and Gregory T. Rushton 

Promoting Nursing Students’ Chemistry Success
Electronic Laboratory Notebooks Allow for Modifications in a General, Organic, and Biochemistry Chemistry Laboratory To Increase Authenticity of the Student Experience ~ Amber J. Dood, Lisa M. Johnson, and Justin M. Shorb

Promoting Nursing Students’ Chemistry Success in a Collegiate Active Learning Environment: “If I Have Hope, I Will Try Harder” ~ Andri L. Smith, Jean R. Paddock, Joel M. Vaughan, and David W. Parkin

Graduate Education

Stress and Mental Health in Graduate School: How Student Empowerment Creates Lasting Change ~ Maral P. S. Mousavi, Zahra Sohrabpour, Evan L. Anderson, Amanda Stemig-Vindedahl, David Golden, Gary Christenson, Katherine Lust, and Philippe Bühlmann

Establishment and Implementation of a Peer-Supported Professional-Development Initiative by Doctoral Students, for Doctoral Students ~ Tessy S. Ritchie, Maria T. Perez Cardenas, and Shweta Ganapati

Expanding University Student Outreach: Professional Development Workshops for Teachers Led by Graduate Students ~ Robert M. B. Dyer, B. Jill Venton, and Jennifer L. Maeng

Using History To Teach Chemistry

Vinland Map Authentication: A Case Study for the Review of Spectroscopic Techniques and Application of X-ray Methods ~ Elizabeth C. Landis

Writing with Sunlight: Recreating a Historic Experiment ~ Simeen Sattar and Robert J. Olsen

Exploring Food Chemistry

Food Chemistry: A Model for Upper Level Chemistry Electives ~ Suzanne Carpenter and Richard Wallace

Quantifying Beer Bitterness: An Investigation of the Impact of Sample Preparation ~ Rebecca A. Hunter and Eric J. Dompkowski

Antioxidant Activity of Beer: An EPR Experiment for an Undergraduate Physical-Chemistry Laboratory ~ Max Schmallegger and Georg Gescheidt

Determination of Xylitol in Sugar-Free Gum by GC–MS with Direct Aqueous Injection: A Laboratory Experiment for Chemistry Students ~ Suranga M. Rajapaksha, Dulani Samarasekara, John Charles Brown, Leslie Howard, Katherine Gerken, Todd Archer, Patty Lathan, Todd Mlsna, and Deb Mlsna

Applications of Chemistry

Introducing Students to the Medical Applications of Cross-Linked Hydrogels Using Nontoxic Materials and Experiments Suitable for Many Settings ~ Grigoriy Sereda and Benjamin Hawkins

Investigating NO_x Concentrations on an Urban University Campus Using Passive Air Samplers and UV–Vis Spectroscopy ~ Cole M. Crosby, Richard A. Maldonado, Ahyun Hong, Ryan L. Caylor, Kristine L. Kuhn, and Matthew E. Wise

Bringing Real-World Energy-Storage Research into a Second-Year Physical-Chemistry Lab Using a MnO₂-Based Supercapacitor ~ Felicia Licht, Gianna Aleman Milán, and Heather A. Andreas

Using Games To Teach

Applying a Quiz-Show Style Game To Facilitate Effective Chemistry Lexical Communication ~ Sam Boon Kiat Koh and Fun Man Fung

Nomenclature Bets: An Innovative Computer-Based Game To Aid Students in the Study of Nomenclature of Organic Compounds ~ José Nunes da Silva Júnior, Mary Anne Sousa Lima, Fátima Nunes Miranda, Antonio José Melo Leite Junior, Francisco Serra Oliveira Alexandre, jheyson Carlos de Oliveira Assis, and Davi Janô Nobre

Cost-Effective Instrumentation

Laser Polarimeter Laboratory for Measuring Scattering in Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry ~ Ariana Joseph, Katherine Budden, Richard Cisek, and Danielle Tokarz

Teaching Students How To Troubleshoot, Repair, and Maintain Magnetic Stirring Hot Plates Using Low-Cost Parts or Repurposed Materials ~ Lucas F. de Paula and Reinaldo Ruggiero

Designing and Using 3D-Printed Components That Allow Students To Fabricate Low-Cost, Adaptable, Disposable, and Reliable Ag/AgCl Reference Electrodes ~ Benjamin Schmidt, David King, and James Kariuki

Organic Chemistry Laboratories

Overcoming the Hurdle from Undergraduate Lab to Research Lab: A Guided-Inquiry Structural Characterization of a Complex Mixture in the Upper-Division Undergraduate Organic Lab ~ Devin R. Latimer, Athar Ata, Christopher P. Forfar, Mustafa Kadhim, April McElrea, and Ramon Sales

Capstone Laboratory Experiment Investigating Key Features of Palladium-Catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions ~ Reyne Pullen, Angus Olding, Jason A. Smith, and Alex C. Bissember

Physical Chemistry

Approximate Equation To Calculate Partial Pressures in a Mixture of Real Gases ~ Bernard Hayez

A Simplified Pöschl–Teller Potential: An Instructive Exercise for Introductory Quantum Mechanics ~ Erin Brown and Lisandro Hernández de la Peña

The Gibbs Phase Rule: What Happens When Some Phases Lack Some Components? ~ Deepika Janakiraman

Computer-Based Learning

Access to Computational Chemistry for Community Colleges via WebMO ~ Maria A. Zdanovskaia, Cara E. Schwarz, Asif D. Habib, Nicholas J. Hill, and Brian J. Esselman

Development and Use of “ICP-MS TuneSim”: A Software App that Allows Students to Simulate Tuning an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer ~ Amy J. Managh, Peter Reid, and Matthew A. Knox

Program for Simulating Gel Electrophoresis of Enzyme-Digested Proteins ~ Howard Mayes and Chung F. Wong

Exploring the Archives: Liquid Crystals and Optical Rotation

The November cover features a Liquid Crystal Demonstration of Binary Phase Behavior for the Classroom. A sampling of some articles in past issue of JCE on the topics of liquid crystals and optical rotation include:

Colors in Liquid Crystals (JCE Classroom Activity: #73) ~ George Lisensky and Elizabeth Boatman

Liquid Crystals Activity ~ Mark Warren and Don L. Lewis

Visualizing Molecular Chirality in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory Using Cholesteric Liquid Crystals ~ Maia Popova, Stacey Lowery Bretz, and C. Scott Hartley

Is That a Polarimeter in Your Pocket? A Zero-Cost, Technology-Enabled Demonstration of Optical Rotation ~ Patrick I. T. Thomson

A Shoebox Polarimeter: An Inexpensive Analytical Tool for Teachers and Students ~ Akash Mehta and Thomas J. Greenbowe

Demonstrating Optical Activity Using an iPad ~ Pauline M. Schwartz, Dante M. Lepore, Brandy N. Morneau, and Carl Barratt

Kaleidoscoptical Activity ~ Robert Becker

The Journal of Chemical Education Is Always Authentic

The 95 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education give plenty of chemistry to experience, 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,  Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary is a great place to start. In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including: Author Guidelines and Document Templates. 

This chemical mystery is very easy to perform. Figuring out how this trick is done is also easy...if you know your chemistry!

The solution will be posted in a day or two.

In Chemical Mystery #13, the contents of a "magic" cup were poured over a blue-colored cleaner. As a result, the color of the cleaner immediately changed from blue to white. In another case, the color change occurs when the magic cup is simply held over the cleaner. Finally, waving a "magic" hand over the cleaner also causes the blue-to-white color change. These magic tricks are actually modifications of some experiments I did a few years ago. These magic tricks are useful to perform for students when discussing several concepts related to acid-base chemistry. My students are usually fooled! You can check out how to do these tricks in the video below:

Let me know if you try out this experiment for your students. Happy experimenting!

In an effort to implement the science and engineering practices of the NGSS, I have tried to introduce argumentation as a practice into my chemistry courses. Typically, my general level students will complete a lab early in the year where they find the density of different samples of glass beads in order to determine the effect of sample size on density. To “NGSSify” this lab, students were given a guiding question and had to make a claim, support their claim with evidence and write a reasoning that links the evidence to the claim (CER).

Guiding question: Does the density of glass beads, at a constant temperature and pressure change, from one sample size to another?

The directions given to students were to have their group design a procedure to solve the research question above. Each group wrote out a step by step procedure for their investigation. The procedures were written out on write boards and then each group had a gallery walk to evaluate their classmates procedures while leaving one spokesperson at each group to answer questions and clarify any uncertainties. Students then met back with their groups and had the chance to modify their procedures based on the gallery walk. This was particularly helpful because some groups who had initially chosen one bead to be a sample, changed their sample size due to the uncertainty of one bead. The students then generated the density values for their samples.

When grading the CER samples I was incredibly frustrated. This was not their first introduction to CER as they have had a previous year of science instruction utilizing the framework. Many students just copied their data table from their lab sheet in the evidence section and provided no other information. In the reasoning section, many students re-stated their density values and this proved the claim was correct or incorrect. I was extremely upset that my students lacked the ability to connect their mathematical calculations to the intensive properties of the beads. The argumentation session that followed was not great, many groups just talking about their numbers and the definition of density and simply just re-stating their claim and evidence. Overall, I just wasn’t happy with how the lab went.

Sample CER whiteboard lacking justification.

Earlier this month I attended the STANYS conference, the state conference for New York, and participated in an Argument Driven Inquiry workshop. While I have the ADI books it was helpful for me to see how I can better support my students in the argumentation process. The takeaway from the workshop was eye-opening. Firstly, students can absolutely put the data table in the evidence as well as explain their evidence. I was originally opposed to this because I thought it was lazy just to copy the data table and plop it in the evidence section, however it should be student generated. Moreover, where my students were putting summaries and explanations in the reasoning, ADI calls for data plus analysis and interpretation to go in the evidence section. In the evidence the analysis should be graphically displayed, followed by an interpretation to explain what the analysis means or is showing.

Instead of using reasoning, ADI uses justification. In the justification section, students confirm what they did in their procedure and a rationale for why they did it in terms of greater science principles, thus explaining why the data collected is actual evidence to support this claim. It can be experiment independent and should include assumptions made. So in my case, procedurally how to find density and why did you collect the data you did to find the density. Additionally, what is density and what assumptions did we make in the lab. In the long run, it’s important for students to know why you are doing what you're doing and what data will that give you.

I taught my students previously to start the reasoning section by writing the science principles related to the lab, so if this lab involves density, talk about density and then use your evidence to support your claim. Now, students can still think about the principles but maybe instead state something about what density is, what data you collect to find density and what that data means. Finally, ADI suggested the whole process requires reasoning so it’s understandable why students are confused what to put in that particular box about reasoning. This aligns with ideas shared by Dustin Williams in his blog titled "What is Reasoning?".

I teach inclusion and general chemistry students and have always had students complain they don’t know what to write for the reasoning. I think giving the students a framework such as what did you do and why did you do it is at least a start at getting them to take their data and deductively determine how it supports the claim. I think if students can walk away from a lab knowing how to find data and understand what that data means, it may be more powerful to be able to extend that to multiple scenarios. So in the density case, instead of my students stating the chemistry behind why the beads are the same (which I hadn’t taught yet as this was an inquiry lab), they justify what they did in the lab and what that means. It was not appropriate to be looking for students to explain atom arrangement when the lab provided no means for students to determine this.

Takeaways:

• The major difference seems to be that the ADI framework includes the evidence and reasoning all in the evidence section and a justification as a stand alone section. I think some teachers have modified their CER framework to include justification and expansion of procedure and data collection of a greater scientific principle, but that was not part of the original CER framework which is why CEJ added it in.
• The Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) or Claim, Evidence, Justification (CEJ) is a tool! The practice is what your students are doing, thus the practice of argumentation is happening throughout the process, whereas the CEJ or CER is a product for showcasing the learning that occurred.
• When students struggle more with what words go in which box, perhaps we drift too far off focus. The goal is scientific understanding and to learn how to create an argument to support your claim.
• For lower level students scaffolds are helpful to get kids where you want them to go. NSTA blog published a graphic organizer to scaffold student thinking and help students utilize transition words between thoughts.

If you haven’t attended an ADI training I recommend trying to attend. ADI offers free monthly PD, face-to-face workshops as well as train the trainers workshops. There are also free rubrics available on the website to help evaluate your student arguments. You might also visit the ADI website to learn more about research supporting the idea. 

“What are we doing to help kids achieve?”

This is a demonstration that dramatically shows an example of endo and exothermic processes in one reaction. It was developed by retired teacher Greg Presnall. The demonstration requires serious caution. You must have a good background in chemical demonstration safety before you ever do this in front of students. The safest way to share this is to just show them the video below.

I used a portable can of propane along with an attachment for using propane to solder copper pipes. Both are commonly found at hardware stores. I altered the soldering attachment by unscrewing the tip of the attachment so that I could see only a pipe with threads on the end and then attached this to the propane tank. (Trying this demonstration as shown in the video without altering the soldering attachment correctly will result in injury.) In the video, you can see that I slowly brought a lit match to the pipe and turned on the propane so a little flame occured. You should notice the flame is orange. There is not proper mixture of air and propane at this point. This is due to the tip that was removed from the attachment. The torch is held upright as I turn the gas up to allow students to carefully sense the heat with the large flame. This is the exothermic process of the propane burning.

With the gas still on and a large flame, I turned the tank upside down. I allowed the flame to burn until I could see small drips come out of the bottom. I turned the gas off and blew out the flame. Upon examining the pipe, it is so cold that you can see frost on the pipe. This is the endothermic part. So what is happening?

endo & exo demo from ChemEd Xchange on Vimeo.

Propane is a liquid inside the tank. The liquid portion is on the bottom. The gas is on top. The liquid is what exits the pipe when it is tipped upside down, as opposed to when it is right side up. This liquid has an extremely low boiling point. As it moves down the pipe, it takes heat from the pipe and changes from a liquid to a gas. This is the endothermic process. As this process continues the pipe gets so cold that there is not enough heat for the propane to go from a liquid to a gas. It exits the bottom of the pipe as a liquid. Drops of propane can be observed. Once the flame is extinguished, the pipe is so cold it collects frost.

If you determine you can safely try this demonstration, there are several important cautions I want to mention. Students need to be warned that the plumbers torch has been altered for this experiment. If they see someone soldering with a plumbers torch and they put their hand on the end of the unaltered device immediately after use, they will get badly burned. Second, the instructor should always inspect the tank of propane. Carefully tip the tank. If you cannot feel the liquid sloshing around, it is close to empty. There is mostly gas in the tank. The endothermic part of the experiment will not work. Use a new tank instead. Finally, I have students come up during the experiment to feel the “heat” of the flame and then touch the frosted pipe at the end. I always make sure to touch and inspect the pipe first.

I hope you enjoy the demonstration. It tends to be a favorite among students. Do you have a favorite demonstration. Please share.....

"What are we doing to help kids achieve?"

There have been many blog entries about "Argument Driven Inquiry" at this site. I have witnessed first hand how this can be a powerful tool in the classroom. One particular aspect of Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI) that has not received much mention here is the "peer editing" piece. The ADI site has many resources that help to model editing and constructive criticism. Many of these resources are excellent. I have tried peer editing with some success. The first few times I had students peer edit I gave each lab a "code" and made three copies of each. Students received three labs at random. We discussed how to provide positive feedback with constructive criticism. We talked about focusing on the science and not the person writing the science. Students were asked to make "I" statements and to turn their statement into a question. As a teacher, it was an overall positive experience but also labor intensive. It was a bit difficult to get all of the labs coded, copied, checked and returned. I decided to "tweak" the process a bit.

This time students were told to bring in three copies of the rough draft of their lab. They sat in their original lab groups of four students. Students then completely switched lab groups. Every student at the new lab group table passed out all three of their reports and received three in return. We spent some time discussing correct feedback and proper criticism.They could make comments and ask questions from the person who wrote the lab report. I was really impressed with the conversations. They were on task, respectful and focusing on the science. This is different from the original ADI plan. The ADI plan does a blind peer edit. My adjustment seemed to accomplish the same feedback for students but in a slightly different manner.

So which is best? I would suggest that as a teacher to try them both. The outcome may depend on factors such as class culture and the types of students you have. Many teachers think that when students copy it is considered "cheating". The ADI method seems to reflect what scientists do. They talk to other scientists, consider different data, and sometimes change their mind. As a teacher, it was wonderful to see students help students through this process as I sat back and watched. Give it a try...you might be pleasantly surprised. Students do that to us every now and then....

It’s December and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram are replete with well-meaning teachers asking for Christmas-themed chemistry activities, labs, and demonstrations. You won’t see anything like that in my classroom. I don’t have a chemistree, my students will not use silver nitrate or borax to make ornaments, I don’t display a chemistry advent calendar, play Christmas music in the background, or have a picture of Santa as a holiday decoration on my door. I don’t even wear a Christmas #nerdytshirtFriday.

Fig 1 - Examples of Christmas chemistry activities on social media.

December is a busy time for many educators as we try to wrap up content before a long break and maybe incorporate fun activities into the curriculum. There are concerts, field trips, projects, presentations, and even variety shows to “celebrate the season.” However, I find that when schools try to get into the “holiday spirit”, they may unintentionally create an environment where students and teachers may feel excluded.

Though many decorations including Christmas trees, holly, and mistletoe, are Pagan in origin, they are recognized and treated as Christmas symbols. Ignoring or downplaying their relationship to Christmas further isolates students and faculty whose traditions do not include those symbols. Attempting to modify displays by adding a test tube rack with different colored liquids for a chemistry themed menorah or encouraging Jewish students to make menorah or Jewish star as ornaments does not necessarily encourage inclusivity. Instead this creates a false equivalency between the two holidays. Chanuka is not the Jewish Christmas and having students make ornaments minimizes the significance of both holidays to their respective groups. It also does not recognize the myriad of other cultures and belief systems that we have in our classrooms. Our students embody diverse backgrounds and experiences including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, 7th Day Adventists, and atheists, that do not celebrate Christmas on December 25. No specific holiday or even religions as a whole have a monopoly on joy, happiness, and giving.

As a public school educator and especially as one from a religious minority, I am particularly sensitive to ensuring students from all backgrounds feel included in the classroom. Previous students and friends have reached out to me to describe their relationship with celebrating Christmas in the classroom. Liz told me she felt left out because while teachers did many activities in class that centered around Christmas, there was no way to celebrate Chanukah besides singing the dreidel song at holiday concerts. Noah said that he felt left out growing up and it definitely took away from his classroom experience. Megan was told she had to play along for fear of discrimination. Dave and Daniel discussed how they’ve been called a Grinch or a Scrooge when they did not share in the holiday cheer.

Even for those students who do observe Christmas, it is not guaranteed that a classroom activity is welcomed. Just as some adults stress over holidays, some of our students do as well. Students come into the holidays with baggage and stress that we do not always know about and activities in the classroom can make it worse. Students who are not financially secure might worry about celebrating Christmas similar to their classmates. Making an ornament in class when they cannot afford a Christmas tree can increase student anxiety and feelings of isolation. Other students have complicated family situations that can range from divorced parents where students have to split their time making a fun holiday stressful, to LGBTQ+ students who are not accepted at home and might be worried about their mental and even physical safety.

Many of our students who are the least excited about Christmas and the December break are often the ones that most need the structure of school and the learning that ensues. I encourage all teachers, in any content area, to make your classrooms safe for students to learn and take academic risks.

When people, including educators, are in the majority they do not always understand the perspective and experience of those in the minority. In that light, I ask that you think about the 1987 Supreme Court decision in Edwards v Aguillard: “Families entrust public schools with the education of their children, but condition their trust on the understanding that the classroom will not purposely be used to advance religious views that may conflict with the private beliefs of the student and his or her family. Students in such institutions are impressionable and their attendance is involuntary.”

So what can you do in December? Teach as usual. Wrap up a unit. Allow students to catch up on missed work or reassess concepts on which they have not yet achieved proficiency. Have a whiteboard meeting. Tie an activity into your curriculum. Make oobleck to talk about non newtonian fluids. Discuss cross linked polymers when you make instant snow. Watch a segment of “Making Stuff: Smarter” and then Flinn's canning jar “magic trick” to introduce IMFs. Grow CuSO₄ crystals and test their different properties. Watch segments from “Mystery of Matter” and have a debate over which scientist had the greatest impact on our modern understanding of chemistry. Allow students time to create a mini science fair where they research and create their own projects and present them. Introduce them to scientific journal articles from places such as AAAS’s Science in the Classroom and have them create solutions to problems and present to other classes. Have students create a magic show based around chemistry concepts including IMFs, density, acid/bases, chemical reactions and be able to explain the science of their trick. Have a frank conversation about equity and inclusion in the classroom, in the field of chemistry, and in science as a whole.

As for me, I will keep the day before December break as I would any other class day.  That and maybe wear a purely science themed winter solstice nerdy t-shirt. 

Fig. 2 - My nerdy solstice shirt.

Resources about holiday celebration in the classroom:

ADL winter holidays

ADL “THE DECEMBER DILEMMA”

Balancing Holidays in the Classroom  

Religious Holidays - Teaching Tolerance

Problems with the Christmas Curriculum

This year, I was presented with an opportunity to join a small cohort of chemistry teachers that would implement, customize, and review interactive video-based lab investigations available from Pivot Interactives.

Now that I have integrated several of their activities into my classroom throughout the past few months, I have realized that Pivot Interactives is different than any instructional resource I have seen. As a result, I cannot help but share some of my own experiences, useful things to know about this resource, and encourage you to give it a look. Whether you are searching for ways to make your assessments more authentic, develop lab skills, or increase opportunity for meaningful science investigation, I am confident you will find value in this resource for your classroom.

What is Pivot Interactives?

Matthew Vonk, one of the co-founders of Pivot Interactives, wrote a ChemEdX blog post in April describing the interactive video experiments. Based on my own experience, I tend to describe Pivot Interactives as a web-app that provides teachers and students with a variety of high-resolution interactive videos that are creatively designed in a way that allows students to record and analyze data, manipulate variables, compare their predictions to observation, and ultimately apply their understanding in an authentic setting. It was Peter Bohacek (co-founder) who described it to me in a similar manner a few months back and I immediately became intrigued.

So, what do I mean by interactive videos anyway? What kind of witchcraft allows someone to change the contents of a video? While you cannot literally manipulate the content of what is recorded in the videos, they are interactive in the sense that you can use on-screen tools to make precise and accurate measurements and choose from multiple videos within the same experiment to simulate the act of changing variables. For example, I recently had my students apply their understanding of enthalpy of reaction by mixing different concentrations of HCl and NaOH. Students could measure the enthalpy change by mixing 0.5 M, 1.0 M, or 2.0 M solutions and use that information to predict what the final temperature of the solution would be. But what about making measurements? While many of the videos contain carefully embedded measuring devices already, most allow students to make actual measurements by manipulating on-screen tools. An example of this is a density activity where several rare coins and ingots made from unknown materials are placed on a scale and students can access a ruler to measure the dimensions of the object. This specific activity helped me easily evaluate my students’ ability to make appropriate measurements, just like any in-class lab would.

pivot interactives

Image taken from Pivot Interactives activity on density

If you are like me, this is the part where you start asking yourself, “Wait…doesn’t PhET already allow us to essentially do the same thing?” This is a reasonable question considering online simulations like PhET allow you to choose from a variety of concepts, manipulate variables, and even make measurements. While Pivot Interactives may share some similar features with interactive simulations on the PhET site, its real value is grounded in its ability to replicate actual lab experiences that can supplement instruction in ways I continue to find opportunity for.

As I gain more experience incorporating these activities, I’ve started to notice some of the underlying benefits that Matt and Peter mention in their blog.

• Quick data collection means students have time to focus on experimental design, analyzing data, and error analysis. Considering the variety of labs we do, big or small, how much time is lost due to students’ lack of experience with lab equipment, misunderstanding of how to execute the lab, or even the natural amount of time it takes to perform the lab? Since many labs are completed shortly before the end of the period, we are often forced to wait another day to analyze and interpret the data. Helping students develop these lab skills and improve recall of what they investigated the other day is important and most certainly has its place. However, is every single lab done in class so valuable and effective at building these skills that we cannot imagine a scenario where it could not be supplemented in some way to allow for more quality instructional time?

• Slow-motion and time-lapse show details that would be missed during real-time data collection. Observing certain phenomena in slow-motion can have obvious benefits.  Just look at all the slow-motion chemistry videos on YouTube. Additionally, a time-lapse of certain reactions can allow for more effective time in class. For example, many teachers do some version of a stoichiometry lab where students make a precipitate but are forced to let it dry overnight so students can come back the next day and determine their yield. A time-lapse of this reaction and drying process allows the entire process to occur within minutes while still serving the same purpose, with respect to applying an understanding of chemistry.

• Interactive measurement tools can be more concrete, less black-boxy, than electronic data collection. Making measurements from actual lab equipment within the video that reflect the same tools in our lab can help build a sense of familiarity. Then, when the time comes for students to use these tools in class, it is likely to seem less foreign to them and may actually improve their ability to use the tools effectively.

• Freedom from practical constraints means students can see dangerous, time-consuming, expensive experiments, and multiple trials. Sure, students can learn about density with samples of copper, aluminum, and other inexpensive materials we have laying around. But what about gold or silver? Sorry, but my students are not putting their hands on my gold! How cool would it be if students could investigate how the density of an actual Olympic gold medal differs from a fake one? What about the reactions students do not get to experience due to the hazardous nature of certain chemicals or the amount of money it costs to buy a certain reactant? High-quality videos can allow for these opportunities so that students get to see the beautiful yellow precipitate of lead (II) iodide, or the fascinating appearance of pure silver coming out of a solution of silver nitrate.

What are some ways Pivot Interactives can supplement my instruction?

Like any worthwhile educational resource, its goal is not to replace the good things you already do. Rather, it should be viewed as purely supplementary to your instruction. So, here are a few ways Pivot Interactives can make the good things you do even better.

• Using Pivot Interactives instead of word problems—making assessment more authentic. At some point, we all check for understanding. To do so, we typically write word problems that ask to apply some recently-learned concept. Whether they are on a piece of paper, embedded within a PowerPoint, or created in a Google Form, our questions are often separate from actual experience. While we should expect students to be capable of answering questions that describe some hypothetical scenario, short in-class activities where students can apply understanding to concrete examples can easily supplement our options as teachers. Just the other week, I replaced one of my paper-pencil quizzes with a Pivot Interactives video that asked one meaningful question centered on the ability to apply a concept to an actual situation. Word problems will never go away, but some of our questions can become more authentic.

• Flipped Labs—Though I have yet to pursue this option as part of my instruction, I love its potential and can easily imagine integrating this next year once I get more experience with the activities. The rationale behind it is fairly simple. Labs—especially inquiry-based labs—take a lot of instructional time. As a result, critical parts of an investigation, like experimental design and data analysis, are often left for students to complete at home or allocated for yet another day. However, these features are typically the most challenging aspects of an investigation for students. Allowing students to measure, observe, and record data outside of class can allow for more instructional time spent on helping students through these processes. An insightful post on how some AP physics teachers have decided to utilize Pivot Interactives for certain labs using a flipped model can be found HERE. 

• Using Pivot Interactives as a digital lab notebook. Another great post on how this topic was creatively pursued can be found HERE. 

• Bringing opportunity to students. As much as we would love for all classrooms to be fully stacked with all the latest data-measuring tools/software or a stockroom full of endless chemicals, we know this is not the case. Consequently, many teachers cannot pursue creating investigations for a variety of chemistry topics, simply due to the lack or abundance of the necessary tools. With Pivot Interactives, teachers can pursue certain labs they may not have otherwise even thought about and students can experience the same chemistry in action. Additionally, the fact that Pivot Interactives is accessible via iPad, PC, Chromebook, Mac, or even a phone, allows for more opportunity for everyone. 

• Connecting the macroscopic and sub-microscopic levels. The videos in Pivot Interactives can serve as an accurate and efficient way to supplement notes or discussion. When giving direct instruction, I will often find myself placing too much emphasis on the particle level without providing a visible connection to the macroscopic level. To do this, I might show a demo or play some video from YouTube. However, since the videos in Pivot Interactives are of high quality and tend to be rather short, you can easily exit out of your notes and reveal the macroscopic implications of what takes place at the particle level.

What’s the thing I like the most?

As a teacher, having the freedom to create or edit something within my instruction based on the needs of my students is incredibly important to me. So, when I found out the activities in Pivot Interactives are completely customizable, I was thrilled. By default, all the activities are naturally set up as investigations with a variety of questions. However, once a certain topic captures your attention, you can move the entire investigation into your class library and remove, add, or edit questions as you see fit. You can ask virtually any type of question along with inserting your own media and mathematical equations. Having this option has allowed me to make use of this resource beyond the lab setting and into other important areas of instruction such as assessment, practice problems, and notes. For any resource, the more ways it can meaningfully enhance my instruction, the more valuable it becomes.

As the team at Pivot Interactives continues to improve the capabilities of their product and expand the number of chemistry-based investigations, the better it will become at supporting quality chemical education. Considering this is the first year they launched activities for chemistry, I am excited to watch and participate in its growth. Give the Pivot Interactives website a look and even request a free trial to see the potential value it could provide for your classroom!

Promoting Engagement in Critical Thinking

The December 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: wetting modification by photocatalysis, innovative approaches to promote student engagement, connecting concepts with real-world applications, examining outreach and peer-led team learning, exploring polymer chemistry, understanding kinetics, computer-based learning tools, cost-effective equipment, exploring the archives: carbohydrates.

Editorial 

Norbert J. Pienta highlights Journal of Chemical Education content in 2018 and acknowledges contributors to the Journal in Volume 95 in Review.

Cover: Wetting Modification by Photocatalysis 

Photoactive semiconductor oxides, such as titanium dioxide, display intriguing wetting properties: their surface can be modified by functionalization with organic moieties to prepare superhydrorepellent materials, whereas, upon light irradiation, these materials become superhydrophilic through photocatalysis. In Wetting Modification by Photocatalysis: A Hands-on Activity To Demonstrate Photoactivated Reactions at Semiconductor Surfaces, Luca Rimoldi, Tommaso Taroni, and Daniela Meroni present a laboratory activity aimed at providing students with basic knowledge about photocatalysis and surface science. The cover shows the process of photocatalytic lithography, in which patterned surfaces are prepared with superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic contrast. Upon irradiation through a paper photomask, the irradiated areas become superhydrophilic, while the covered areas retain their superhydrophobicity. These contrasting properties are revealed by pouring an aqueous dye solution on the film.

For another article on surface chemistry and wetting in this issue, see: Simple Experiment to Determine Surfactant Critical Micelle Concentrations Using Contact-Angle Measurements ~ Mahmoud Y. Alkawareek, Boshra M. Akkelah, Sara M. Mansour, Hamza M. Amro, Samer R. Abulateefeh, and Alaaldin M. Alkilany

Innovative Approaches To Promote Student Engagement

A Nonlinear, “Sticky” Web of Study for Chemistry: A Graphical Curricular Tool for Teaching and Learning Chemistry Built upon the Interconnection of Core Chemical Principles ~ James D. Martin and Katherine A. Nock

Using Text Messages To Encourage Meaningful Self-Assessment Outside of the Classroom ~ Deborah G. Herrington and Ryan D. Sweeder

Modifying Laboratory Experiments To Promote Engagement in Critical Thinking by Reframing Prelab and Postlab Questions ~ Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez and Marcy H. Towns

Strategies for Training Undergraduate Teaching Assistants To Facilitate Large Active-Learning Classrooms ~ Suzanne M. Ruder and Courtney Stanford

Connecting Concepts with Real-World Applications

The Chemistry Connections Challenge: Encouraging Students To Connect Course Concepts with Real-World Applications ~ Barbora Morra

Using Classical EDTA Titrations To Measure Calcium and Magnesium in Intravenous Fluid Bags ~ Irene W. Kimaru, Anthony T. Corigliano, and Fang Zhao

Adsorption of Common Laboratory Dyes Using Natural Fibers from Luffa cylindrica ~ Obradith Caicedo, Jency Devia-Ramirez, and Andrés Malagón

Challenges of Globalization and Successful Adaptation Strategies in Implementing a “Scientific Writing and Authoring” Course in China ~ Kaidi Yang, Cun-Yue Guo, and Rainer E. Glaser

Connecting Key Concepts with Student Experience: Introducing Small-Molecule Crystallography to Chemistry Undergraduates Using a Flexible Laboratory Module ~ Shao-Liang Zheng and Michael G. Campbell

Examining Outreach and Peer-Led Team Learning

College Students Teaching Chemistry through Outreach: Conceptual Understanding of the Elephant Toothpaste Reaction and Making Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream ~ Justin M. Pratt and Ellen J. Yezierski

Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry I: Interactions with Identity, Academic Preparation, and a Course-Based Intervention ~ Regina F. Frey, Angela Fink, Michael J. Cahill, Mark A. McDaniel, and Erin D. Solomon

Exploring Polymer Chemistry

Demonstration of Polymer Photodegradation Using a Simple Apparatus ~ Thiago A. Cacuro, Amanda S. M. Freitas, and Walter R. Waldman

Increasing Chemistry Content Engagement by Implementing Polymer Infusion into Gatekeeper Chemistry Courses ~ Cherie M. Avent, Ayesha S. Boyce, Richard LaBennett, and Darlene K. Taylor

Using Potentiometric Electrodes Based on Nonselective Polymeric Membranes as Potential Universal Detectors for Ion Chromatography: Investigating an Original Research Problem from an Inquiry-Based-Learning Perspective ~ María Cuartero and Gastón A. Crespo

Understanding Kinetics

Using Symbolic and Graphical Forms To Analyze Students’ Mathematical Reasoning in Chemical Kinetics ~ Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez, Stephanie Santos-Diaz, Kinsey Bain, and Marcy H. Towns

Rhodium-Catalyzed C–H Amination: A Case Study of Selectivity in C–H Functionalization Reactions ~ James B. C. Mack, T. Aaron Bedell, Ryan J. DeLuca, Graham A. B. Hone, Jennifer L. Roizen, Charles T. Cox, Erik J. Sorensen, and J. Du Bois

An Open-Source, Cross-Platform Resource for Nonlinear Least-Squares Curve Fitting ~ Andreas Möglich

Computer-Based Learning Tools

Using Software Tools To Provide Students in Large Classes with Individualized Formative Feedback ~ Sebastian Hedtrich and Nicole Graulich

A Toolkit to Quantify Target Compounds in Thin-Layer-Chromatography Experiments ~ Niamh Mac Fhionnlaoich, Stuart Ibsen, Luis A. Serrano, Alaric Taylor, Runzhang Qi, and Stefan Guldin (available to non-subscribers as part of ACS AuthorChoice program)

Biomolecules Come Alive: A Computer-Based Laboratory Experiment for Chemistry Students ~ Naomi L. Haworth and Lisandra L. Martin

Cation−Π Interactions in Biochemistry: A Primer ~ Miguel O. Mitchell and John Means

3-D Topo Surface Visualization of Metal Ion Anti-buffering: An Unexpected Behavior in Metal–Ligand Complexation Systems ~ Garon C. Smith, Md Mainul Hossain, and Daniel D. Barry

Constructing the Phase Diagram of a Single-Component System Using Fundamental Principles of Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics: A Spreadsheet-Based Learning Experience for Students ~ Arthur M. Halpern and Charles J. Marzzacco

Using the Principles of Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics To Calculate the Melting and Boiling Points, Enthalpies and Entropies of Fusion and Vaporization of Water, and the Freezing Point Depression and Boiling Point Elevation of Ideal and Nonideal Aqueous Solutions ~ Arthur M. Halpern and Charles J. Marzzacco

Cost-Effective Equipment

Combining the Maker Movement with Accessibility Needs in an Undergraduate Laboratory: A Cost-Effective Text-to-Speech Multipurpose, Universal Chemistry Sensor Hub (MUCSH) for Students with Disabilities ~ Ronald Soong, Kyle Agmata, Tina Doyle, Amy Jenne, Tony Adamo, and Andre Simpson

Low-Cost Equipment for Photochemical Reactions ~ Heiko Hoffmann and Michael W. Tausch

Simple Acid Vapor Method for Production of HCl and DCl Gas for IR Spectroscopy ~ Han Jung Park, Neethu M. Kurien, and Thomas R. Rybolt

A Simplified Technique for the Collection of an HCl/DCl Gas Mixture ~ Nicholas Bigham, Michael Denchy, and Jeb Kegerreis

Exploring the Archives: Carbohydrates

The December issue includes Protein N-Glycans: Incorporating Glycochemistry into the Undergraduate Laboratory Curriculum by Victoria R. Kohout, Zachary J. Wooke, Andrew G. McKee, Megan C. Thielges, Jill K. Robinson, and Nicola L. B. Pohl, a laboratory involving cutting-edge methods and techniques related to carbohydrates. In a recent review article in Chemical Reviews on Incorporating Carbohydrates into Laboratory Curricula,  Jennifer Koviach-Côté and Alyssa L. Pirinelli noted that “it is increasingly important that carbohydrates are brought into undergraduate and earlier education to bring more exposure and understanding to the field.” Content in past issues of JCE that involve carbohydrates include:

Activities and Demonstrations

JCE Classroom Activity: Calories - Who's Counting? ~ JCE staff

JCE Classroom Activity: Popcorn—What’s in the Bag? ~ Marissa B. Sherman and Thomas A. Evans

JCE Classroom Activity: Cabbage Patch Chemistry ~ JCE staff

Sugar Wordsearch ~ Terry L. Helser

CARBOHYDECK: a Card Game to Teach the Stereochemistry of Carbohydrates ~ Manuel João Costa

Variations on the “Blue-Bottle” Demonstration Using Food Items That Contain FD&C Blue #1 ~ Felicia A. Staiger, Joshua P. Peterson, and Dean J. Campbell

Carbohydrate Dehydration Demonstrations ~ David A. Dolson, Rubin Battino, Trevor M. Letcher, K. H. Pegel, and N. Revaprasadu

Sugar Dehydration without Sulfuric Acid: No More Choking Fumes in the Classroom! ~ Todd P. Silverstein and Yi Zhang; Sugar Dehydration without Sulfuric Acid ~ Todd P. Silverstein

Investigating the Hydrolysis of Starch Using α-Amylase Contained in Dishwashing Detergent and Human Saliva ~ Toratane Munegumi, Masato Inutsuka, and Yukitaka Hayafuji

Food Science and Nutrition

Science of Food and Cooking: a Non-Science Majors Course ~ Deon T. Miles and Jennifer K. Bachman

Design of a Food Chemistry-Themed Course for Nonscience Majors ~ Patrice Bell

Chemistry and Flatulence: An Introductory Enzyme Experiment ~ John R. Hardee, Tina M. Montgomery, and Wray H. Jones

Measuring Yeast Fermentation Kinetics with a Homemade Water Displacement Volumetric Gasometer ~ Richard B. Weinberg

Computational Chemistry Laboratory: Calculating the Energy Content of Food Applied to a Real-Life Problem ~ Dora Barbiric, Lorena Tribe, and Rosario Soriano

Carbohydrate Analysis: Can We Control the Ripening of Bananas? ~ S. Todd Deal, Catherine E. Farmer, and Paul F. Cerpovicz

An Alternative Procedure for Carbohydrate Analysis of Bananas: Cheaper and Easier ~ C. Michele Davis-McGibony, Randall R. Bennett, Arthur D. Bossart II, and S. Todd Deal

Blood Tests and Type

The A1c Blood Test: an Illustration of Principles From General and Organic Chemistry ~ Robert C. Kerber

Glycosyltransferases A and B: Four Critical Amino Acids Determine Blood Type ~ Natisha L. Rose, Monica M. Palcic, and Stephen V. Evans

Structures for the ABO(H) Blood Group: Which Textbook Is Correct? ~ John M. Risley

Engage the Resources of the Journal of Chemical Education

This issue of the Journal of Chemical Education marks 95 rich years of providing useful materials for chemical educators. As we look to 2019, we wish you a happy new year filled with many opportunities to enjoy chemistry, with JCE as one of your trusted resources. The 95 volumes of the JCE provide lots of chemistry to experience, 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.

What are conceptual models? What is modeling? What is Modeling Instruction—what is it like for teachers? For students? How does it work? Why does it work? What (if anything) does it have to do with NGSS?

The American Modeling Teacher’s Association (AMTA) is an organization committed to providing research-based pedagogical training and resources to science teachers. Each year AMTA offers many two and three week-workshops to train teachers in the award-winning Modeling Instructional methods. While nothing could ever replace a face-to-face Modeling Workshop, AMTA recognizes many teachers cannot commit several weeks in the summer to professional development. In an attempt to meet the needs of their members, AMTA has developed a series of distance learning modules teachers can virtually attend without leaving their homes. AMTA’s Introduction to Modeling Instruction distance learning course will focus on the role of models and modeling in learning as it relates to teaching STEM content in both formal and informal contexts. Participants will review fundamental theories of thinking and learning and examine the latest theoretical trends.

This course delves into the cognitive underpinnings of Modeling Theory—learning about some of the seminal theories upon which it is based, engage in Modeling discourse and practice discourse management. We will explore how Modeling uncovers the spectrum of middle and high school science topics, exploring how the energy storage, transfer and conservation models are uncovered in the various disciplines, and discussing the fundamental models of each of these disciplines with expert Modelers from physics, chemistry, biology, and middle school science. This is not a Modeling Workshop, but by the end of the course participants will have a good grounding in model-based cognition and instruction, and a working knowledge of how Modeling Instruction unfolds in the middle and high school science classrooms.

Course Objectives

1. Provide teachers with a thorough grounding in the theories in which Modeling Instruction is grounded and how it is situated within the NGSS.
2. Familiarize teachers with the classroom practices of Modeling Instruction, the rationale for these practices, how and when they are used and what the expected outcomes are.
3. Give teachers weekly opportunities (contextualized in physics, chemistry and biology) to experience Modeling strategies and, insofar as it is possible, to learn as students learn in a Modeling classroom.
4. Provide teachers with an opportunity to use what they are learning about modeling Instruction to design an instructional sequence for science learning using models and modeling.
5. Guide teachers in the use technology as a cognitive tool to support teaching and learning.
6. Provide teachers with a forum to discuss their own efforts to implement Modeling Instruction and/or share insights into student thinking and learning in their own classrooms to whatever extent they are able.

There is no textbook: all readings and course materials will be provided electronically. RegisterOnline, contact Wendy Hehemann at 480-854-4764 or wendy@modelinginstruction.org.

Technology is a regular part of students’ lives. From the constant presence of smartphones to the use of online tools to prepare or submit homework to the automatic understanding of the phrase “google it” to streaming digital content, it is woven into the fabric of their existence. Two articles in the December 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education focus on the use of technology with chemistry students both inside and outside of class time.

Using Text Messages To Encourage Meaningful Self-Assessment Outside of the Classroom (available to JCE subscribers) by Herrington and Sweeder outlines a system they implemented in university-level general chemistry courses with free-to-use Remind and Google Forms tools. If you haven’t heard of Remind or used it before (I’m included in that group), you can get a mini crash course on it using links at Remind’s Professional Development Resource Guide. The authors used it to easily send out text messages throughout the term to a classroom group outside of class time, with a link to a question within Google Forms each time. The choice of technology was based on the idea that it “meets our students where they are most comfortable.” Questions were designed by instructors to “go beyond typical multiple choice or calculations. … to elicit evidence about what students know and can do with that knowledge as well as provide students with an opportunity to self-assess their understanding and practice using their chemistry knowledge to construct explanations.” For example, a question asked them to relate the energy needed to break a particular bond to the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum through calculations, then to use their results as support for an explanation of why it is important to use sunscreen. Text messages on a particular concept were sent soon after that content was covered in class. Instructors viewed student responses to help inform teaching for upcoming class periods. They also used example student responses (made anonymous) during class time for group tasks and discussion, such as identifying claims, evidence, and reasoning, and how explanations could be improved.

The Chemistry Connections Challenge: Encouraging Students to Connect Course Concepts with Real-World Applications (available to JCE subscribers) by Morra aims for engagement by linking what they are studying in class to real-world examples, through regular Chemistry Connections digital slides. The author shared pre-generated slides during class to familiarize students with the format and gist of the Connections. Eventually, each student created his or her own slide, which was evaluated on a pass/fail system using a rubric. Students were given a chance to share their slides on a class Web site so fellow students could see them. Creators of particularly high-quality slides were invited to present their slides in class. Morra shares 15 PowerPoint student- and instructor-generated slides in the online Supporting Info. Although they are keyed toward Morra’s university-level introductory organic chemistry content, they provide some useful examples. In addition, the graphic in the abstract suggests other topic ideas of potential interest to students, such as gastronomy, cosmetics, and natural products. Classes could consider using ideas from the American Chemical Society’s ChemMatters magazine and infographics at Compound Interest.

More from the December 2018 Issue

Be sure to check out Mary Saecker’s round-up of this issue at JCE 95.12 December 2018 Issue Highlights, particularly if you were interested in the two articles mentioned in this post. Each month, Mary takes the individual pieces of the issue and ties them together into larger concept groupings. For example, you’ll find the Herrington and Sweeder text message article under the heading “Innovative Approaches To Promote Student Engagement,” with several other articles. Morra’s Connections Challenge idea is brought together with other articles and labs on “Connecting Concepts with Real-World Applications.”

Is there another article from the past that has led to you using technology in a different way in your classroom? Share! Add a comment to this post, or submit a contribution form if you'd like to write a longer blog post. Questions? Contact us using the ChemEd Xcontact form