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Making the Grade
I just finished reading Norb Pienta’s editorial in the June 2014 edition of JCE. He hits on a touchy subject between college chemistry instructors and their students...the grade. I remember being...
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The Interface of Art and Science
Toward the end of the school year we inevitably have disruptions to our normal instructional day. On one day in May, our classes were shortened to only fifteen minutes to accommodate for a series of...
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Rainbows in a Glass Density Demonstration
One day during class I presented the disappearing rainbow demonstration and explained the chemistry behind it. After doing so, I had a student ask me if a particular bartending trick called “rainbow...
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Modeling Instruction Pedagogy
I am enrolled in a Modeling Instruction Workshop in Michigan. We have only four days left of the 15 scheduled days. I had planned to blog about the workshop every day, but I found that it was difficult...
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Periodic Table of Apps
Earlier this week, I saw a tweet showing a compilation of apps entitled the Periodic Table of iPad apps (https://sjunkins.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/iste-posters-001.jpg). I thought that the poster...
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Back to School... with Candy
Making plans for back to school? Don’t forget the candy! It doesn’t sound like something a nutritionist would recommend, but what about a chemistry educator?Deanna Cullen recently sent an email to...
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Density "POGIL-Like" Activity
Although many students have been exposed to the concept of density before reaching my Chemistry class, I always start the year with this POGIL-like activity. This helps students start on the same page...
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Cautious Chemist Corner #1
I was at a chemistry teacher workshop recently and we participated in a common Hess’s Law laboratory. Part of the procedure required us to measure about 2 grams of solid NaOH and add it to 100 mL of...
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The Cautious Chemist Corner: Safety in the Classroom and Laboratory
Chemistry classroom accidents have been in the news too often recently. I hazard to suggest that there are smaller incidents that never make the news because there are luckily no serious injuries. We...
View ArticleTuesday at BCCE
Another fabulous day surrounded by chemistry teachers from high schools, 2 year colleges, and universities from all around North America! This morning I attended a workshop which presented 4 Target...
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Following BCCE 2014 From Afar
If you are like me and unable to attend BCCE 2014, there is still a way to be part of the action. Twitter! Even if you don't have a Twitter account, you can follow tweets from participants that are...
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Spotlight on AP Chemistry
Greg Rushton and I presented in the George Hague Memorial AP/IB Chemistry Symposium at the 2014 BCCE conference in Michigan. We are excited to highlight the first SPECIAL ISSUE of the Journal of...
View ArticleHigh School Science Research at the BCCE!
Hi. If you're at the BCCE and considering talks for Thursday morning, please consider coming to my talk at 10:15 in MAK A1117 (Erin Wasserman). I will be talking generally about high school enrichment...
View ArticleAl D Hyde and the Key Tones
Last full day of BCCE and what a day it was! Started the day with an amazing plenary speaker, Holly Walter Kerby and her work with Fusion Science Theater. She talked about the aspects of a good play...
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UNESCO/IUCr/RSC International Year of Crystallography Global Experiment
Students in your classes between 7 and 16 years of age can participate in a global experiment of the UNESCO/IUCr International Year of Crystallography....
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organic chemistry video tutorials
I have created a number of video turotials on topics that beginning organic chemistry students find challenging. My students have responded well to them, so I plan to submit these to ChemEd Xchange...
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The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll
The Higgs boson is one of our era’s most fascinating scientific frontiers and the key to understanding why mass exists. The most recent book on the subject, The God Particle, was a bestseller. Now,...
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Green Chemistry Resources from JCE & ChemEd X
ACS San Francisco High School Day, August 10, 2014Resources for greening up the chemistry classroom: Check out the JCE Classroom Activities. #105 ~ A Sticky Situation and #89 ~ Colorful Lather Printing...
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Flipped Learning Questions
I am preparing to teach a "blended" chemistry course this fall and I admit that I am a little nervous. Students will be expected to access some of the course material outside of class. It will be very...
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The power of twitter at #BCCE2014
On August 3-7 Grand Valley State University, www.gvsu.edu, hosted the 2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, www.bcce2014.org. For those that where able to attend like myself, a discussion I...
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