Largest Periodic Table - World Record Attempt

Deanna Cullen | Wed, 01/30/2019 - 11:42

The American Chemical Society Western Michigan Section is planning a special International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT) celebration to be held at Grand Valley State University in Michigan on October 19th. The highlight of the celebration will be the unveiling of the largest periodic table in hopes of setting a Guinness World Record. Schools and groups are invited to help with the IYPT project by making one of the 118 elements.

Boltzmann Bucks—Helping Students Conceptualize Entropy

Ben Meacham | Tue, 01/29/2019 - 16:43

If you are looking to go beyond using traditional, arguably misleading, definitions of entropy involving “disorder” and “messy bedroom” analogies, the Boltzmann Bucks game fits the bill. The game, pulled from a Journal of Chemical Education article, provides a wonderful opportunity for students to more accurately conceptualize entropy.

The Blue Butterfly Effect

Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 01/28/2019 - 18:59

The June, 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education contains an article that describes a simple, yet fascinating experiment that you and your students are going to love! It involves the use of butterfly wings from the genus Morpho. I obtained some of these wings and enjoyed experimenting with them. You will too!

Capping Off a Unique Redesign of the Laboratory Curriculum

David Frohnapfel | Wed, 01/16/2019 - 11:43

A few years ago, the faculty in our department at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania decided to switch to an atoms first approach to the General Chemistry course. We took advantage of this change to systematically redesign the first semester of the laboratory curriculum to be a true “laboratory course” that focuses on laboratory practices, techniques, and equipment rather than on chemical theory.

NSF Engineering Research Center RET Opportunity

The Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR), an NSF Engineering Research Center at Purdue University, is hosting an exciting Research Experience for Teachers (RET) during the summer of 2019.