Students Using and Understanding Chemistry
The March 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: demonstrations of magnetism and oxidation; the peer-review process; understanding how students learn organic mechanisms; multimedia- and computer-based learning; real-life chemistry activities; using games to teach chemistry; teaching kinetics; spectroscopy; analytical determinations; organic synthesis laboratories; distilling the archives: chemistry and paint.
Cover: Demonstrations of Magnetism and Oxidation
Iron supplement tablets containing iron(II) sulfate can be used in chemistry demonstrations as a convenient, household source of small quantities of iron(II) ions. In Demonstrations of Magnetism and Oxidation by Combustion of Iron Supplement Tablets, Max J. Palmer, Keri A. Martinez, Mayuresh G. Gadgil, and Dean J. Campbell discuss how the changes in color and magnetic susceptibility during iron supplement tablet combustion enable such tablets to be used in interesting demonstrations of oxidation and magnetism. For example, a viscous mixture of iron oxides, corn syrup, and water oozes upward toward a strong neodymium alloy magnet, as shown on the cover. The iron oxides were produced by burning four supplement tablets containing iron(II) sulfate; the resulting combustion products were combined with about eight milliliters of corn syrup and about one milliliter of water.
For additional experiments with magnetism and oxides of iron at ChemEdX, see: Tom Kuntzleman’s Investigations of Hematite Beads and Chemistry Comes Alive! Ferrimagnetism: Hematite and Magnetite: Part 1 and Part 2.
Commentary
John M. Risley, an associate editor for the Journal of Chemical Education, gives an inside tour of the peer-review process in The Role for Associate Editors at the Journal of Chemical Education.
Understanding How Students Learn Organic Mechanisms
A Comparison of How Undergraduates, Graduate Students, and Professors Organize Organic Chemistry Reactions ~Kelli R. Galloway, Min Wah Leung, and Alison B. Flynn
Compromised Structures: Verbal Descriptions of Mechanism Diagrams ~ Gautam Bhattacharyya and Michael S. Harris
Concept-Oriented Task Design: Making Purposeful Case Comparisons in Organic Chemistry ~ Nicole Graulich and Michael Schween
Multimedia- and Computer-Based Learning
Making Sense of Phenomena from Sequential Images versus Illustrated Text ~Karina C. Scalco, Vicente Talanquer, Keila B. Kiill, and Marcia R. Cordeiro
Facilitating Students’ Interaction with Real Gas Properties Using a Discovery-Based Approach and Molecular Dynamics Simulations ~Chelsea Sweet, Oyewumi Akinfenwa, and Jonathan J. Foley, IV
Developing and Demonstrating an Augmented Reality Colorimetric Titration Tool ~Nicholas Yee Kwang Tee, Hong Seng Gan, Jonathan Li, Brandon Huey-Ping Cheong, Han Yen Tan, Oi Wah Liew, and Tuck Wah Ng
Real-Life Chemistry Activities
Chemistry and Art: Removal of Graffiti Ink from Paints Grounded in a Real-Life Scenario ~Joan M. Esson, Rachael Scott, and Carrigan J. Hayes
Discovering the Chemical Elements in Food ~ Antonio Joaquín Franco-Mariscal
Preparation of a Polymeric Foam: An Activity Designed to Increase Teachers’ Awareness of the Utility of Condensation Polymerization ~John Cullen and Fraser J. Scott
Using Games To Teach Chemistry
Chemical Pursuit: A Modified Trivia Board Game ~ Blakely M. Adair and Lyle V. McAfee
Clash of Chemists: A Gamified Blog To Master the Concept of Limiting Reagent Stoichiometry ~
Nathalie V. le Maire, Dominique Ph. Verpoorten, Marie-Laure S. Fauconnier, and Catherine G. Colaux-Castillo
Teaching Kinetics
Exploring Exponential Decay Using Limited Resources ~ Ed DePierro, Fred Garafalo, and Patrick Gordon
Making Enzyme Kinetics Dynamic via Simulation Software ~ Jeffrey P. Potratz
First Order Kinetics Visualized by Capillary Flow and Simple Data Acquisition ~ Lea Festersen, Peter Gilch, Anna Reiffers, and Ramona Mundt
Spectroscopy
Learning To Read Spectra: Teaching Decomposition with Excel in a Scientific Writing Course ~ Andrew W. Muelleman and Rainer E. Glaser
Using Project-Based Learning To Design, Build, and Test Student-Made Photometer by Measuring the Unknown Concentration of Colored Substances ~ Chansyanah Diawati, Liliasari, Agus Setiabudi, and Buchari
Paired Light-Emitting Diodes for Educational Purposes: Comment on “Demonstrating Basic Properties of Spectroscopy Using a Self-Constructed Combined Fluorimeter and UV-Photometer” ~ Robert Koncki, Marta Pokrzywnicka, and Łukasz Tymecki
Correction to “Demonstrating Basic Properties of Spectroscopy Using a Self-Constructed Combined Fluorimeter and UV-Photometer” ~Eivind V. Kvittingen, Lise Kvittingen, Thor Bernt Melø, Birte Johanne Sjursnes, and Richard Verley
Analytical Determinations
Determining the Antifungal Agent Clioquinol by HPLC, the Not So Pure Preparation: A Laboratory-Based Case Study for an Instrumental Analytical Chemistry Course ~Peter M. Schaber and Geoffrey Hobika
Quantitative Determination of Aluminum in Deodorant Brands: A Guided Inquiry Learning Experience in Quantitative Analysis Laboratory ~Victoria Sedwick, Anne Leal, Dea Turner, and A Bakarr Kanu
Physicians as the First Analytical Chemists: Gall Nut Extract Determination of Iron Ion (Fe2+) Concentration ~Mary T. van Opstal, Philip Nahlik, Patrick L. Daubenmire, and Alanah Fitch
Speciation and Determination of Low Concentration of Iron in Beer Samples by Cloud Point Extraction ~ Lida Khalafi, Pamela Doolittle, and John Wright
Organic Synthesis Laboratories
Exploiting Carvone To Demonstrate Both Stereocontrol and Regiocontrol: 1,2- vs 1,4-Addition of Grignard Reagents and Organocuprates ~ Thai Phat Truong, Sophia J. Bailey, Alexandra E. Golliher, Erika Y. Monroy, Uttar K. Shrestha, and William A. Maio
Undergraduate Organic Experiment: Tetrazole Formation by Microwave Heated (3 + 2) Cycloaddition in Aqueous Solution ~ Heather DeFrancesco, Joshua Dudley, and Adiel Coca
Synthesizing a Berberine Derivative and Evaluating Antimicrobial Activity To Reinforce with Students the Potential Significance of Small Chemical Structure Changes for Biological Systems ~ Catarina A. B. Rodrigues, Iris Neto, Patricia Rijo, and Carlos A. M. Afonso
Distilling the Archives: Chemistry and Paint
In Chemistry and Art: Removal of Graffiti Ink from Paints Grounded in a Real-Life Scenario, Joan M. Esson, Rachael Scott, and Carrigan J. Hayes discuss an activity inspired by the vandalism of a modern art painting with graffiti ink. Using paint to teach chemistry has also been featured in other JCE articles, including:
Chemistry and Art in a Bag: An Easy-To-Implement Outreach Activity Making and Painting with a Copper-Based Pigment ~ Anne C. Gaquere-Parker, N. Allie Doles, Cass D. Parker
Synthesis of Copper Pigments, Malachite and Verdigris: Making Tempera Paint ~ Sally D. Solomon, Susan A. Rutkowsky, Megan L. Mahon, Erica M. Halpern
Colorful and Creative Chemistry: Making Simple Sustainable Paints with Natural Pigments and Binders ~ Jillian L. Blatti
JCE Classroom Activity #110: Artistic Anthocyanins and Acid–Base Chemistry ~ Jenna Lech and Vladimir Dounin
Pigments of Your Imagination: Making Artist's Paints ~ Nancy S. Gettys
Art, Meet Chemistry; Chemistry, Meet Art: Case Studies, Current Literature, and Instrumental Methods Combined To Create a Hands-On Experience for Nonmajors and Instrumental Analysis Students ~ Delana A. Nivens, Clifford W. Padgett, Jeffery M. Chase, Katie J. Verges, and Deborah S. Jamieson
Crime Scene Investigation in the Art World: The Case of the Missing Masterpiece ~ Katharine J. Harmon, Lisa M. Miller, and Julie T. Millard
On ChemEdX, chemistry and art have been discussed:
The Intersection of Art and Chemistry ~ MeyersChemistry
The Interface of Art and Science ~ Erica Posthuma-Adams
Using the Journal to Understand Chemistry
With 95 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education to examine, you will always find 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.
Do you have something to share? Write it up for the Journal! For some advice on becoming an author, it’s always very helpful to read Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary. In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including recently updated: Author Guidelines and Document Templates.