Encouraging and Supporting Community of Effort
The July 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: artificial photosynthesis; developing laboratory skills through technology; using videos to enhance learning; smartphones in the laboratory; 3D printing as a teaching resource; exploring and understanding structure; making chemistry connections; research on inquiry; from the archives: elephant's toothpaste.
On the Cover: Artificial Photosynthesis
Artificial photosynthesis is a synthetic chemical process replicating natural photosynthesis to mass produce hydrogen as a clean fuel from sunlight-driven water splitting that separates water into its constituents, elemental oxygen and hydrogen. In both natural and artificial photosynthesis, an oxygen-evolving catalyst is needed to catalyze oxygen production from water. In the laboratory experiment, Facile Method To Study Catalytic Oxygen Evolution Using a Dissolved Oxygen Optical Probe: An Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory To Appreciate Artificial Photosynthesis, Genesis Renderos, Tawanda Aquino, Kristian Gutierrez, and Yosra M. Badiei present a simple approach for monitoring the catalytic oxygen-evolution reaction using a dissolved oxygen optical luminescent probe that can continuously measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen in aqueous solutions. The straightforward laboratory protocol allows students to relate fundamental topics such as thermodynamics, kinetics, redox and coordination chemistry, and catalysis to advances in current chemical research to help broaden their understanding of artificial photosynthesis. (Photograph courtesy of David Sullins Benson.)
Editorial
Stacey Lowery Bretz examines several articles that discuss Finding No Evidence for Learning Styles.
Developing Laboratory Skills through Technology
Using Digital Badges for Developing High School Chemistry Laboratory Skills ~ Naomi Hennah and Michael K. Seery (This article is available to non-subscribers as part of ACS Editors' Choice program.)
Development, Implementation, and Assessment of General Chemistry Lab Experiments Performed in the Virtual World of Second Life ~ Kurt Winkelmann, Wendy Keeney-Kennicutt, Debra Fowler, and Maria Macik
Development and Use of Online Prelaboratory Activities in Organic Chemistry To Improve Students’ Laboratory Experience ~ Jennifer L. Chaytor, Mohammad Al Mughalaq, and Hailee Butler
Using Videos To Enhance Learning
Customized Videos on a YouTube Channel: A Beyond the Classroom Teaching and Learning Platform for General Chemistry Courses ~ Jayashree S. Ranga
Contextualizing Learning Chemistry in First-Year Undergraduate Programs: Engaging Industry-Based Videos with Real-Time Quizzing ~ Sylvia Urban, Robert Brkljača, Russell Cockman, and Trevor Rook
Adopting Lightboard for a Chemistry Flipped Classroom To Improve Technology-Enhanced Videos for Better Learner Engagement ~ Fun Man Fung
Training Students To Use 3-D Model Sets via Peer-Generated Videos Facilitates Learning of Difficult Concepts in an Introductory Organic Chemistry Course ~ Ailen A. Gillette, Samantha T. Winterrowd, and Maria T. Gallardo-Williams
Smartphones in the Laboratory
Quantifying Protein Concentrations Using Smartphone Colorimetry: A New Method for an Established Test ~ Clifford T. Gee, Eric Kehoe, William C. K. Pomerantz, and R. Lee Penn
The Sound and Feel of Titrations: A Smartphone Aid for Color-Blind and Visually Impaired Students ~ Subhajit Bandyopadhyay and Balraj B. Rathod
3D Printing as a Teaching Resource
Three-Dimensional (3D) Printers in Libraries: Perspective and Preliminary Safety Analysis ~ Neelam Bharti and Shailendra Singh
3D Printing of Molecular Models with Calculated Geometries and p Orbital Isosurfaces ~ Felix A. Carroll and David N. Blauch
Studying Electrical Conductivity Using a 3D Printed Four-Point Probe Station ~ Yang Lu, Luciano M. Santino, Shinjita Acharya, Hari Anandarajah, and Julio M. D’Arcy
Rapid Access to Multicolor Three-Dimensional Printed Chemistry and Biochemistry Models Using Visualization and Three-Dimensional Printing Software Programs ~ Ken Van Wieren, Hamel N. Tailor, Vincent F. Scalfani, and Nabyl Merbouh
Exploring and Understanding Structure
Constructing Cost-Effective Crystal Structures with Table Tennis Balls and Tape That Allows Students To Assemble and Model Multiple Unit Cells ~ Catherine Elsworth, Barbara T. Y. Li, and Abilio Ten
Building the Periodic Table Based on the Atomic Structure ~ Mikhail Kurushkin
Addition to Orbital Battleship: A Guessing Game To Reinforce Atomic Structure—Recommendations on How To Organize Game Play of Orbital Battleship ~ Mikhail Kurushkin and Maria Mikhaylenko
Improving Translational Accuracy between Dash–Wedge Diagrams and Newman Projections ~ John M. Hutchison
Understanding Structure: A Computer-Based Macromolecular Biochemistry Lab Activity ~ Krystle J. McLaughlin
Combining Sustainable Synthesis of a Versatile Ruthenium Dihydride Complex with Structure Determination Using Group Theory and Spectroscopy ~ Christopher Armstrong, Jennifer A. J. Burnham, and Edward E. Warminski
Implementation of picoSpin Benchtop NMR Instruments into Organic Chemistry Teaching Laboratories through Spectral Analysis of Fischer Esterification Products ~ Kasey L. Yearty, Joseph T. Sharp, Emma K. Meehan, Doyle R. Wallace, Douglas M. Jackson, and Richard W. Morrison
Molecular Modeling of an Electrophilic Addition Reaction with “Unexpected” Regiochemistry ~ Katherine T. Best, Diana Li, and Eric D. Helms
Making Chemistry Connections
Understanding Photography as Applied Chemistry: Using Talbot’s Calotype Process To Introduce Chemistry to Design Students ~ Esther S. Rösch and Silke Helmerdig
Antonio de Ulloa and the Discovery of Platinum: An Opportunity To Connect Science and History through a Postage Stamp ~ Gabriel Pinto
Are Aqueous Solutions of Amphiprotic Anions Acidic, Basic, or Neutral? A Demonstration with Common pH Indicators ~ Jervee M. Punzalan and Voltaire G. Organo
Research on Inquiry
Decentering: A Characteristic of Effective Student–Student Discourse in Inquiry-Oriented Physical Chemistry Classrooms ~ Alena Moon, Courtney Stanford, Renee Cole, and Marcy Towns
Developing Students’ Scientific Writing and Presentation Skills through Argument Driven Inquiry: An Exploratory Study ~ Pınar Seda Çetin and Gülüzar Eymur
From the Archives: Elephant's Toothpaste
The demonstration fondly known as "Elephant's Toothpaste" is a perennial favorite. This issue includes Another Twist of the Foam: An Effective Test Considering a Quantitative Approach to “Elephant’s Toothpaste” by Franco Hernando, Santiago Laperuta, Jeanine Van Kuijl, Nihuel Laurin, Federico Sacks, and Andrés Ciolino. Additional activities and demonstrations that capitalize on the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in past issues include:
Demonstration of the Catalytic Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide ~ Alfred R. Conklin Jr. and Angela Kessinger
A Modified Demonstration of the Catalytic Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide ~ Carlos Alexander Trujillo
Using Elephant’s Toothpaste as an Engaging and Flexible Curriculum Alignment Project ~ Daniel S. Eldridge
Using a Hands-On Hydrogen Peroxide Decomposition Activity To Teach Catalysis Concepts to K–12 Students~ Viktor J. Cybulskis, Fabio H. Ribeiro, and Rajamani Gounder
Exploring the Gas Chemistry of Old Submarine Technologies Using Plastic Bottles as Reaction Vessels and Models ~ Ryo Horikoshi, Fumitaka Takeiri, Yoji Kobayashi, and Hiroshi Kageyama
Oxygen Bleach under the Microscope: Microchemical Investigation and Gas-Volumetric Analysis of a Powdered Household Product ~ Fernando S. Lopes, Alexandre L. B. Baccaro, Mauro S. F. Santos, and I. G. R. Gutz
Reactivity of Household Oxygen Bleaches: A Stepwise Laboratory Exercise in High School Chemistry Course ~ Masayoshi Nakano, Haruka Ogasawara, Takeshi Wada, and Nobuyoshi Koga
Elephant's Toothpaste at ChemEdX
Harry Potter and the Elephant Toothpaste Potion ~ Tom Kuntzleman
Chemistree Holiday ~ Deanna Cullen
JCE Can Help Support Your Teaching Efforts
With over 94 years of content from the Journal of Chemical Education available, you will always discover something useful—including 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.