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The January 2014 issue marks the start of the 91st volume of the Journal of Chemical Education. This issue plus the content of all past volumes are available online to subscribers.
The January 2014 issue will be available as a sample issue for the entire year, so the full text of all articles can be accessed without a subscription.
Cover: JCE Chemical Education Xchange Web site—ChemEd X
The panels on the cover show an alcohol-soaked fuse placed on a small mound of ammonium dichromate and ignited. The orange ammonium dichromate decomposes to form nitrogen, water vapor, and greenish-black chromium(III) oxide. The cover images are from one of the many videos available here, at the JCE Chemical Education Xchange Web site. ChemEd X aims to foster sharing of digital resources, information, and ideas among chemical educators.
Creation of an American Association of Chemistry Teachers
The Editorial and a series of Commentaries discuss the American Chemical Society’s newly created American Association of Chemistry Teachers. See:
The Role of Elementary and Secondary Schools and Their Teachers of Chemistry by Norbert J. Pienta
Creation of an American Association of Chemistry Teachers by George M. Bodner
Welcome Home by Deanna M. Cullen
From Occupation to Profession: A Perspective on the American Association of Chemistry Teachers by Gregory T. Rushton
Of Compliments and Complements—International Perspectives on the American Association of Chemistry Teachers by Peter G. Mahaffy
Secondary School Chemistry: Past and Future
From the Beginning: The Journal of Chemical Education and Secondary School Chemistry by Joseph J. Lagowski
Chemistry in Past and New Science Frameworks and Standards: Gains, Losses, and Missed Opportunities by Vicente Talanquer and Hannah Sevian
Chemical Education Research
Gaining Insights from a Case Study of High School Student Performance in Dual-Credit College Chemistry Courses by Jacob White, Robert Hopkins, II, and Denise Shockley
The Science Advancement through Group Engagement Program: Leveling the Playing Field and Increasing Retention in Science by Donna M. Hall, Amanda J. Curtin-Soydan, and Dorian A. Canelas
Computer-Based Learning
A Comparison of the Usage of Tablet PC, Lecture Capture, and Online Homework in an Introductory Chemistry Course by Kevin D. Revell
Protein Structure and Function: An Interdisciplinary Multimedia-Based Guided-Inquiry Education Module for the High School Science Classroom by Casey M. Bethel and Raquel L. Lieberman
Ion Association versus Ion Interaction Models in Examining Electrolyte Solutions: Application to Calcium Hydroxide Solubility Equilibrium by M. Isabel Menéndez and Javier Borge
Computational Study of Environmental Effects on Torsional Free Energy Surface of N-Acetyl-N′-methyl-l-alanylamide Dipeptide by Silvia Carlotto and Mirco Zerbetto
Photosynthesis in Dynamic Animations by Milada Teplá and Helena Klímová
Teaching Concepts
A Teaching Sequence for Learning the Concept of Chemical Equilibrium in Secondary School Education by Marco Ghirardi, Fabio Marchetti, Claudio Pettinari, Alberto Regis, and Ezio Roletto
Charting an Alternate Pathway to Reaction Orders and Rate Laws in Introductory Chemistry Courses by Gregory T. Rushton, Brett A. Criswell, Nicole D. McAllister, Samuel J. Polizzi, Lamesha A. Moore, and Michelle S. Pierre
Teaching Thermodynamics and Kinetics to Advanced General Chemistry Students and to Upper-Level Undergraduate Students Using PV Diagrams by Srinivasan S. Iyengar and Romualdo T. deSouza
Facets of van der Waals Radii That Are Not Commonly Included in Undergraduate Textbooks by Philip A. W. Dean
Hands-on Activities
Antimicrobial Properties of Spices: An Activity for High School or Introductory Chemistry or Biology by Anne M. Sousa and Walter R. Waldman Journal of Chemical Education 2014 91 (1), 103-106
Using Paper-Based Diagnostics with High School Students To Model Forensic Investigation and Colorimetric Analysis by Rebekah R. Ravgiala, Stefi Weisburd, Raymond Sleeper, Andres Martinez, Dorota Rozkiewicz, George M. Whitesides, and Kathryn A. Hollar
Modeling Electron Density and Atomic Orbitals Using Marbles and Carbon Paper: An Exercise for High School Students by Zephen Specht and Duke Raley
General Chemistry Laboratory Experiments
Microfluidics for High School Chemistry Students by Melissa Hemling, John A. Crooks, Piercen M. Oliver, Katie Brenner, Jennifer Gilbertson, George C. Lisensky, and Douglas B. Weibel
A General Chemistry Laboratory Experiment Relating Electron Configuration and Magnetic Behavior by Wayne H. Pearson
Pyrolysis of Oxalates, a Convenient Method To Synthesize Powdered Cobalt and Nickel with Catalytic Activity: A Laboratory for General or Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory by Denis M. Zhilin and Ralf M. Peetz
Organic Chemistry Laboratories
Using Whiskey-Flavoring Compounds To Teach Distillation and IR Spectroscopy to First-Semester Organic Chemistry Students by Hayley Wan, Nada Djokic, Brenna Arlyce Brown, and Yonghoon Kwon
A Research Module for the Organic Chemistry Laboratory: Multistep Synthesis of a Fluorous Dye Molecule by Michael C. Slade, Jeffrey R. Raker, Brandon Kobilka, and Nicola L. B. Pohl
Sustainable Polymers in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory: Synthesis and Characterization of a Renewable Polymer from δ-Decalactone and l-Lactide by Deborah K. Schneiderman, Chad Gilmer, Michael T. Wentzel, Mark T. Martello, Tomohiro Kubo, and Jane E. Wissinger
Investigation of Epimer Formation in Amide-Coupling Reactions: An Experiment for Advanced Undergraduate Students by M. Jonathan Fray
Biochemistry
Illustrating the Effect of pH on Enzyme Activity Using Gibbs Energy Profiles by Stephen L. Bearne
Laboratories
A P450 Metabolism Experiment for Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratories by Reza Razeghifard, Catherine E. Chiafair, and Dimitrios G. Giarikos
An Introduction to Passive Ion Transport across Model Lipid Membranes for Undergraduate Students: Proton Permeation Measurements in Liposomes by Stefan Paula
From the Archives: Games in the Classroom
This issue includes an article heralding the Benefits of a Game-Based Review Module in Chemistry Courses for Nonmajors by Thomas W. Stringfield and Eugene F. Kramer. Some additional recent articles featuring instructive games include:
ChemOkey: A Game To Reinforce Nomenclature by Nusret Kavak
An Educational Card Game for Learning Families of Chemical Elements by Antonio Joaquín Franco Mariscal, José María Oliva Martínez, and Serafín Bernal Márquez
Go Chemistry: A Card Game To Help Students Learn Chemical Formulas by Todd A. Morris
Author Resources
If you are considering writing an article for JCE, there are numerous author resources available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including recently updated: