JCE 93.09 September 2016 Issue Highlights

Mary Saecker | Wed, 09/14/2016 - 12:23
Journal of Chemical Education September 2016

Engaging Student Interest and Inquiry

The September 2016 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: copper chemistry; safety; using brewing to teach chemistry; 3D-printed models; learning using games; open-ended approaches to teaching; innovative methods to teach biochemistry; polymer chemistry; organic synthesis labs; teaching physical chemistry; chemistry field trips.

Identifying Organic Functional Groups Activity

Michael A. Morgan | Mon, 09/12/2016 - 15:53
molecular models

In a previous post I talked about an equation balancing lab that I have been doing with my students involving building molecular models. This time I would like to focus on another lab that I have developed for my model kits.

Time required: 

15 minutes prep and 30 minutes for students to observe the molecules.

Early Use of AP Insight with Honors Chemistry: Atomic Mass, Mass Spectrometry, and Dalton's Postulates

Allison Tarvin | Mon, 09/12/2016 - 15:12
AP Insight

College Board offers an excellent online resource for teachers and students. It's not free, but my school district pays the bill. AP Insight provides curriculum outlines, teaching ideas and resources, student handouts, and digitally-graded assessments. I have elected to begin using the resources in first semester honors chemistry.

Using IUPAC's Isotopes Matter as a Digital Learning Tool

Michelle Okroy | Mon, 09/05/2016 - 15:25
Isotopes Matter

Isotopes Matter is a digital learning tool, developed by IUPAC Isotopic Periodic Table, designed to explain isotopes as well as their importance. This resource incorporates mass spectroscopy data into each of the key ideas as well as provides multiple examples as to how varying isotopes are commonly used.

Time required: 

Using Isotopes Matter and the class discussion: 55-60 minutes

Big Ideas at ChemEd X

Tom Kuntzleman | Sun, 09/04/2016 - 14:12
Shultz's JCE article

In the article “Reactions Catalyzed by an Assault on a Favorite Principle”1, Emeric Schultz (who incidentally taught me General Chemistry, was my undergraduate advisor, and is now a dear friend and colleague) argues the following:

“Although I have read and heard about ‘big ideas’ in chemistry, I have never seen a commensurate effort to work toward a high school chemistry program that starts from…big ideas and works down.”

Big Ideas – Missing in Action in the Chemistry Curriculum

Emeric Schultz | Fri, 09/02/2016 - 12:59
Big Ideas

The genesis of this paper started with a request from a former student, Thomas Kuntzleman, now a professor of chemistry. He asked if I would consider submitting my thoughts about ‘big ideas’ in chemistry. In his email he attached a paper that I had written for the Journal of Chemical Education six years earlier1. That article was submitted the year after I retired and was a response to a submission questioning the utility of the Principle of Le Châtelier.