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JCE Chemical Education Xchange

Contribution Guidelines

Contribution Guidelines

Scope

JCE Chemical Education Xchange has been developed as a venue to allow for discussion, exchange of ideas and resources, and collaboration among chemistry educators. Registered users may download resources, participate in discussions and contribute unique content. The following manuscript types may be submitted.

  • Articles providing a venue for exchanging ideas and resources valuable to the chemical education community. Topics relevant to teaching and learning chemistry at the precollege level, including pedagogical methods and related research are welcome.
  • Demonstrations of chemical phenomena with reliable instructions that educators can emulate to engage students’ interest
  • Laboratory Experiments that have been successfully used with students to investigate chemical phenomena as well as to develop skills with laboratory techniques, equipment, or instrumentation; notes for instructors and descriptions of hazards allow educators to readily adapt the labs to their teaching objectives and local conditions
  • Activities that explore chemistry concepts with inquiry-based methods, facilitating active learning in classrooms, labs, and informal settings. These activities do not require laboratory equipment or instrumentation. They utilize everyday items and/or manipulatives and may be done safely outside of the laboratory.

If you would like to contribute, you must first be a registered user of JCE Chemical Education Xchange. Then, you can send a request for an invitation to contribute. If invited, you will be asked to include the information discussed below for each type of manuscript.

Manuscript Preparation Details

The elements described below may appear in any type of manuscript.

Titles should clearly and concisely reflect the emphasis and content of the manuscript and be accessible to a broad audience. The title should not contain jargon, symbols, trademark or institution names, or abbreviations. A well-crafted title aids in successful information retrieval.

Manuscript Summary: The summary should be no more than 200 words long and should summarize the important points made in the manuscript. The summary may contain an abstract graphic, but should not contain other figures, schemes, structures, tables, equations, or cited literature. The summary is basically a "teaser" to encourage readers to explore the article further.

Graphical Abstract: A small graphic is suggested that summarizes the article pictorially. This graphic appears with the summary; it can be useful to encourage readers to read the full version of the manuscript. This image could show a compelling final result; pose a question that the manuscript answers; show a summarizing flowchart or categorization scheme, a chemical structure of the main compound of the manuscript, or a major influence to society brought about by the manuscript’s topic. It could be composed of pieces of other figures in the manuscript or be a unique image. The image should be concise and simple in appearance so as to maintain high impact.

Keywords: Authors should indicate at least three keywords that will allow for searching the content on the site.

Acknowledgments: Include grant and other financial support, technical assistance, colleagues’ advice, and so forth. 

References: Place any resources used in the creation of the piece in this section, include literature cited, notes, and URLs.

General Information:

  • Place tables, figures and graphs (with titles) in the body of the text where they are referred to.
  • Use abbreviations and acronyms sparingly and define them at their first occurrence in the text.
  • Do not use trademark symbols.
  • Whenever possible, use systematic nomenclature as recommended by IUPAC for chemical compounds and SI units.
  • Place legends for graphs within the main body of the graph.
  • Graphs containing similar information should be of similar size.

Live Demonstrations, Inquiry Activities and Laboratories

The precollege section aims to help teachers at all levels to make effective use of demonstrations, activities and laboratories by providing (a) complete, accurate instructions, (b) a list of convenient sources for all equipment and supplies, (c) brief explanations of the chemistry involved, (d) a description of how a demonstration, an activity or a laboratory has proven useful in teaching,(e) all suggested safety precautions and (f) identification of standards addressed. It is not appropriate to submit demonstrations, activities or laboratories that have yet to be tested in the classroom.

Instructions for Submitting Demonstrations: Submitted manuscripts should be complete, so that no other information is necessary for a teacher to present the demonstration. Submitted demonstrations should be live. Computer simulations, videos, and other forms of multimedia demonstrations, which provide a useful supplement to the real thing, should be submitted as Technology, Software or Video. The demonstrations will be checked to make certain that they work as described. Requirements for the demonstration include:

  • Suggestions for use of the demonstration within the chemistry curriculum
  • Background information on the chemistry of the demonstration
  • Safety concerns
  • Expected time required
  • List of required supplies and chemicals (reference possible sources of chemicals or supplies that might not be readily available)
  • Acknowledgements, if any
  • It is suggested that manuscripts include references that lead the interested reader to further information of the subject, and citations of previous demonstrations, activities and/or laboratories on the same or a closely related topic. Many excellent “new” demonstrations are derived from classics, but reference must be made to previous work.

Instructions for Submitting Inquiry Activities: Submitted manuscripts should be complete, so that no other information is necessary for a teacher to utilize the activity in their classroom. Requirements for the activity include:

  • Student Activity Worksheet to be handed out to students while performing the activity, including any necessary data entry tables and questions that lead the student to draw conclusions about the activity and then to extend the information gained from the activity to new situations
  • Supporting material, including Instructor Information referencing background information on the chemistry of the activity, list of required supplies and chemicals (reference possible sources of chemicals or supplies that might not be readily available), safety concerns, expected time required for completion, what the student will observe, tips to using the activity, sample student data and answer keys
  • Acknowledgements, if any
  • It is suggested that manuscripts include references that lead the interested reader to further information of the subject, and citations of previous demonstrations, activities and/or laboratories on the same or a closely related topic. Many excellent “new” activities are derived from classics, but reference must be made to previous work.

Instructions for Submitting Laboratory Experiments: Submitted manuscripts should be complete, so that no other information is necessary for a teacher to utilize the activity in their classroom. Requirements for the laboratory include:

  • Student Laboratory Page(s) to be handed out to the students while performing the laboratory, including step by step procedures, any necessary data entry tables, questions that lead the student to draw conclusins about the laboratory and then extend the information gained from the laboratory to new situations.
  • Supporting material, including Instructor Information referencing background information on the chemistry of the activity, list of required supplies and chemicals (reference possible sources of chemicals or supplies that might not be readily available), safety concerns, expected time required for completion, what the student will observe, teaching tips, sample student data and answer keys.
  • Acknowledgements, if any
  • It is suggested that manuscripts include references that lead the interested reader to further information of the subject and citations of previous demonstrations, activities and/or laboratories on the same or closely related topic. Many excellent "new" laboratories are derived from classics, but references must be made.

Articles

The precollege section wishes to encourage collaboration among chemistry teachers. The Chemical Education Exchange provides a venue for exchanging ideas and resources valuable to the chemical education community. Topics relevant to teaching and learning chemistry, including pedagogical methods and related research are welcome. Requirements for these articles include:

  • Title of the manuscript
  • Summary of article content, including an abstract graphic if appropriate
  • Keywords
  • Description of supporting information, if any
  • Acknowledgment, if any
  • References: If the letter relates to a published item, include that citation in the references. In the event that a letter comments on a published item, the authors of the published piece(s) may be invited to provide a response, which may be published with the letter.

Only invited, registered users of JCE Chemical Education Xchange may contribute manuscripts. If you wish to contribute to JCE ChemEd X, please register an account and then use the Contribution Invitation form to request an invite.