JCE 91.03—March 2014 Issue Highlights

Journal of Chemical Education March 2014 Cover

Teaching Chemistry and Making a Difference

The March 2014 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. The March issue features: changing the curriculum to make connections, forensic chemistry, computer-based learning, hands-on activities and labs for introductory chemistry, teaching physical chemistry, organic and biochemistry labs, and the mole concept.

Editorial

Norbert J. Pienta, Editor-in-Chief of JCE, muses on Teaching General Chemistry and Making a Difference.

Cover

In The Biology and Chemistry of Brewing: An Interdisciplinary Course, Paul D. Hooker, William A. Deutschman, and Brian J. Avery describe a rigorous course developed as a collaborative effort between a chemistry program and a biology program. The course is primarily laboratory- and inquiry-based and includes two different small-scale (one-gallon) fermentations undertaken by students with a background of one year of general chemistry and general biology.

Chemical Education Research

The article Development of the Bonding Representations Inventory To Identify Student Misconceptions about Covalent and Ionic Bonding Representations by Cynthia J. Luxford and Stacey Lowery Bretz
 was recently selected as an ACS Editors’ Choice article and is freely available to all interested readers.

Changing the Curriculum To Make Connections

Developing and Implementing a Reorganized Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum Based on the Foundational Chemistry Topics of Structure, Reactivity, and Quantitation
 by Chris P. Schaller, Kate J. Graham, Brian J. Johnson, M. A. Fazal, T. Nicholas Jones, Edward J. McIntee, and Henry V. Jakubowski


SQER3: An Instructional Framework for Using Scientific Inquiry To Design Classroom Demonstrations
 by Donna M. Chamely-Wiik, Jerome E. Haky, Deborah W. Louda, and Nancy Romance


Forensic Chemistry

Offering a Forensic Science Camp To Introduce and Engage High School Students in Interdisciplinary Science Topics 
by Linda Ahrenkiel and Martin Worm-Leonhard


CSI–Chocolate Science Investigation and the Case of the Recipe Rip-Off: Using an Extended Problem-Based Scenario To Enhance High School Students’ Science Engagement
 by Peter D. Marle, Lisa Decker, Victoria Taylor, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, David Khaliqi, Janel E. Owens, and Renee M. Henry


Activities for Middle School Students To Sleuth a Chemistry “Whodunit” and Investigate the Scientific Methodby Audrey F. Meyer, Cassandra M. Knutson, Solaire A. Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Sarah M. Gruba, Ben M. Meyer, John W. Thompson, Melissa A. Maurer-Jones, Sharon Halderman, Ayesha S. Tillman, Lizanne DeStefano, and Christy L. Haynes

Detecting Art Forgeries: A Problem-Based Raman Spectroscopy Lab 
by Sara E. Nielsen, Jonathan P. Scaffidi, and Ellen J. Yezierski

Computer-based Learning

uRespond: iPad as Interactive, Personal Response System by 
Samuel P. Bryfczynski, Rebecca Brown, Josiah Hester, Andrew Herrmann, Danielle L. Koch, Melanie M. Cooper, and Nathaniel P. Grove


Social Networking as a Platform for Role-Playing Scientific Case Studies
 by Andrea M. Geyer


Offering Remotely Triggered, Real-Time Experiments in Electrochemistry for Distance Learners
 by Sachin Saxena and Soami P. Satsangee


Implementation of Online Poster Sessions in Online and Face-to-Face Classrooms as a Unique Assessment Tool
 by Jessica L. Menke

Hands-On Activities and Labs for Introductory Chemistry

Quantifying the Soda Geyser
 by Christopher J. Huber and Aaron M. Massari


Studying Crystal Structures through the Use of Solid-State Model Kits
 by Deborah Polvani Sunderland

Determining the Mass and Time of Release of Acetaminophen from Gel Capsules
 by K. Christopher Smith and Diana Cedillo

A Stimulating Chemistry Program for Compulsory School Students: Four Hands-On Experiments Investigating Proteins
 by Martin Lundqvist

Teaching Physical Chemistry

Thermodynamics

Visualizing the Entropy Change of a Thermal Reservoir by Elon Langbeheim, Samuel A. Safran, and Edit Yerushalmi

Spontaneity and Equilibrium: Why “ΔG < 0 Denotes a Spontaneous Process” and “ΔG = 0 Means the System Is at Equilibrium” Are Incorrect
by Lionel M. Raff


A Simple Method To Calculate the Temperature Dependence of the Gibbs Energy and Chemical Equilibrium Constants
by Francisco M. Vargas

Expansion Work without the External Pressure and Thermodynamics in Terms of Quasistatic Irreversible Processes
by Klaus Schmidt-Rohr


Quantum Mechanics

Using Quantum Games To Teach Quantum Mechanics, Part 1
by Ross D. Hoehn, Nick Mack, and Sabre Kais


Using Quantum Games To Teach Quantum Mechanics, Part 2
by Ross D. Hoehn, Nick Mack, and Sabre Kais


Organic and Biochemistry Labs

Nature’s Antidepressant for Mild to Moderate Depression: Isolation and Spectral Characterization of Hyperforin from a Standardized Extract of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
by Bopha Chrea, Juliette A. O’Connell, Orlando Silkstone-Carter, John O’Brien, and John J. Walsh


Modified Birch Reduction for the Introductory Undergraduate Organic Laboratory
 by Heba Abourahma, Lynn Bradley, Nichole M. Lareau, and Megan Reesbeck


Design and Characterization of a Zn2+-Binding Four-Helix Bundle Protein in the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory
by Brian J. Stockman, Jill S. Asheld, Paola J. Burburan, Ana Galesic, Zohar Nawlo, and Kylie F. Sikorski

From the Archive: The Mole Concept    

This issue contains the article Unpacking the Meaning of the Mole Concept for Secondary School Teachers and Students
by Su-Chi Fang, Christina Hart, and David Clarke. Some articles in past issues of JCE on the mole concept include:

The Atomic Mass Unit, the Avogadro Constant, and the Mole: A Way To Understanding by Andrzej Barański


What’s the Diagnosis? An Inquiry-Based Activity Focusing on Mole−Mass Conversions
by Laura B. Bruck and Marcy H. Towns


Developing an Intuitive Approach to Moles by Hans de Grys and Dawn M. Wakeley

With over 1000 Issues of JCE Available, There’s Always More to Explore

You will find all of the articles mentioned above, and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available.

The January 2014 issue will be available as a free sample issue for the entire year. If you like what you read, subscribe! If you have something to share, write it up!