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Kinetics Review
In one of my last blog posts I wrote of how I sometimes enjoy ending a unit with a series of demonstrations and using them to elicit a dialog between the students and myself to check for understanding....
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Conversations, Confessions, Confusions (and hopefully some Clarity) on...
I have a confession to make: I don’t really understand how to correctly predict the electronic configurations (EC) of every element and ion. Until recently, I thought I had everything figured out. In...
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Clarifying Electron Configurations
The Aufbau Principle: the (n + l) RuleWe’ve all seen and use the so-called Aufbau Diagram (Figure 1). It is a mnemonic used to remember the order of “filling” of atomic orbitals during the construction...
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Is Your Department NGSS Ready? A Review of “What Professional Development...
With the end of the school year approaching, educators are not only developing their semester exams, they are preparing for the upcoming school year as well. Although each individual...
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Argument-Driven Inquiry in Chemistry: Lab Investigations for Grades 9 - 12
I have been on a mission lately to make scientists out of my students. I am long past my fears that they are not capable of discovering the world for themselves or that they won’t learn the content if...
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A Look Into My General Chemistry Reactions Unit- Supporting Students with...
Organic chemistry was when I fell in love with chemistry. Also known as Chem 210 at the University of Michigan, it was the first time I actually started to connect what was going on at the nanoscopic...
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Fun and Quick Rates Lab (No pun intended...)
What am I doing to help kids achieve?How do I know when they are there?What is the evidence? I am facing what many teachers are facing. It is AP week, I am trying to continue "as usual" with doing...
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JCE 93.05 May 2016 Issue Highlights
Thinking Like a ChemistThe May 2016 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: assessment & learning theories, science...
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Especially JCE: May 2016
I have no idea what the title is of the first Journal of Chemical Education article that I want to highlight this month. That’s because you haven’t written it yet.JCE editor-in-chief Norb Pienta shares...
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Building Summer Assignments for Next Year’s First-Year Chemistry Students
The countdown has begun…6 full days and two exam days left. Summer is in sight! Exhale. Almost.My school’s upper middle class student body is capable of more. Our new administrative team now strongly...
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Olympiad Laboratory Challenge Part II
For my students and me, the AP Chemistry exam does not mark the end of the school year. Once the AP exam is over, my students are exhausted but our class continues to meet for three more weeks. Each...
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Doc Saves Everyone – Applying BCA Tables to Titration Calculations
I recently stumbled across a blog about the use of BCA (Before Change After) tables for stoichiometry written by Lowell Thomson. I was thrilled to discover ChemEd Xchange! I wanted to share my...
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AP Chemistry Survey
Chemistry education faculty at Stony Brook and Carnegie Mellon University want to help AP chemistry teachers adapt to the new AP curriculum, and will create a new website to help support teacher needs:...
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Ways to recharge during the summer...consider joining the AACT or getting...
What am I doing to help kids achieve?How do I know when they are there?What is the evidence? This Saturday there was a teacher's day at the Regional ACS meeting in Kentucky. It is tough showing up on...
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PASCO Wireless Temperature Sensor, update on Classkick and with exams coming...
This past week, as part of our Thermochemistry unit, my students were completing one of my favorite Target Inquiry Labs entitled “ A Very Cool Investigation”. We were using calorimeters, dissolving...
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Jenelle Ball - An Inspirational Awardee
I met Jenelle Ball in Denver, CO at the Spring 2015 National ACS meeting. She is soft spoken and easy to get to know quickly. Jenelle’s biographical information is impressive. She earned a BS and MS in...
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Chemical Mystery #6: The Case of the Crushed Can
Have you ever seen experiments, such as the one here, that makes use of air pressure to crush a metal can? Such "can crush" demonstrations can be presented as a neat trick that you can do for your...
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Call for Contributions Fall 2016 - Big Ideas and Making Connections
What Is A Big Idea?“Big Ideas” are statements of the main principles on which the curriculum is focused. Having a theme anchor the curriculum helps students make connections within the chemistry...
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Solution to Chemical Mystery #6: The Case of the Collapsing Can
In Chemical Mystery #6, I used chemistry to crush a metal can. To do so, concentrated sodium hydroxide solution (about 35% NaOH by weight) was added to a can that was almost completely filled with...
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How do you teach resonance?
Today is my last full day of school for this academic year. I taught our school’s 1-semester Organic Chemistry course again this year and have been looking back on how I taught resonance. During our...
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