Learning How to Do Chemistry
The June 2020 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: innovative curriculum; exploring kinetics; engaging organic chemistry activities; molecular structure and symmetry; polymer chemistry; technology-based instruction; synthesis laboratories; undergraduate research experiences; from the archives: bath bombs and cosmetics chemistry.
Cover: Scientific Photography
Evoking affective responses from students studying chemistry may heighten their curiosity and further engage their interest in the subject, motivating them to delve deeper. In Integrating Aesthetics Education into Chemistry Education: Students Perceive, Appreciate, Explore, and Create the Beauty of Chemistry in Scientific Photography Activity, Yizhou Ling, Jiamin Xiang, Kai Chen, Junyao Zhang, and Hongyan Ren describe microscale lab activities in which students photograph precipitation reactions using a smartphone with magnification. Students observe changes in color, shape, texture, and opacity in various reactions of metal salts with sodium hydroxide solutions, including with cobalt chloride (pictured on the cover), ferrous sulfate, and copper sulfate. Using a wider lens to perceive the complexity and beauty of chemical reactions coupled with an aesthetic approach to wonder why and how these changes occur can stimulate experimental inquiry, affective response, and creative outcomes, including high-quality scientific photography.
From the archives: the power of Communicating Science through Photography as discussed by science photographer Felice Frankel
Commentaries
As circumstances keep developing during these times of disruption, Tom Holme discusses the Communication and the Chemistry Education Conference Pause of 2020 in this month’s editorial.
In a commentary, Michael K. Seery argues for Establishing the Laboratory as the Place to Learn How to Do Chemistry.
Innovative Curriculum
Johnstone’s Triangle as a Pedagogical Framework for Flipped-Class Instructional Videos in Introductory Chemistry ~ Riley J. Petillion and W. Stephen McNeil
Hands-On Spectroscopy: Inside and Outside the First-Year Laboratory ~ Christine Mundy and Marietjie Potgieter
Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry: A Five-Day Course for High School Students ~ M. Kyle Hadden and Angela M. Zaino
The American Chemical Society Exams Institute Undergraduate Chemistry Anchoring Concepts Content Map V: Analytical Chemistry ~ Thomas A. Holme, Christopher Bauer, Jaclyn M. Trate, Jessica J. Reed, Jeffrey R. Raker, and Kristen L. Murphy
Developing and Evaluating a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Training Course in the Chemistry Department of a Large American University ~ Franziska K. Lang, Christopher A. Randles, and Kathleen A. Jeffery
Exploring Kinetics
Sizzle and Fizzle of Bath Bombs: An Inexpensive and Accessible Kinetics Experiment ~ Meaghan Cabassa and Beth L. Haas
A Closer Examination of the Mechanism of the Hydrogen Peroxide Iodine-Clock Reaction with Respect to the Role of Hypoiodite Species ~ Ben Ruekberg
Kinetic Analysis of the Redox Reaction in an Aqueous Vanadium–Oxalate System ~ Ken Elen, An Hardy, and Marlies K. Van Bael
Engaging Organic Chemistry Activities
Local and Timely Class Project Promotes Student Engagement in a Nonmajors’ Course: Organic Chemistry at the North Carolina State Fair ~ Lucie Ciccone and Maria T. Gallardo-Williams
Organic Chemistry I Cassino: A Card Game for Learning Functional Group Transformations for First-Semester Students ~ Peter T. Bell, Bernat A. Martinez-Ortega, and Ashlee Birkenfeld
Molecular Structure and Symmetry
Designing Three-Dimensional Models That Can Be Printed on Demand and Used with Students to Facilitate Teaching Molecular Structure, Symmetry, and Related Topics ~ Anton V. Savchenkov
Computer-Aided Identification of Symmetry Relating Groups of Molecules ~ Gabriella N. Ruiz and Timothy C. Johnstone
Polymer Chemistry
Photo-Cross-Linked Hydrogel Replication of Small Objects: A Multistep Final Project for Undergraduate Polymer Laboratories ~ Aaron Alford, Racquel Caviedes, and Eugenia Kharlampieva
Simulating the Effects of Excluded-Volume Interactions in Polymer Solutions ~ Elon Langbeheim
Technology-Based Instruction
An Arduino-Based Talking Calorimeter for Inclusive Lab Activities ~ Victor V. Gomes, Sofia C. F. Cavaco, Carmen P. Morgado, João Aires-de-Sousa, and Julio C. B. Fernandes
Teaching Principal Component Analysis Using a Free and Open Source Software Program and Exercises Applying PCA to Real-World Examples ~ Laı́s Feltrin Sidou and Endler Marcel Borges
Synthesis Laboratories
A Semester-Long, Organic Chemistry Laboratory Structured around Unknown Analysis and Resynthesis as a Bridge to Guided-Inquiry ~ Tanja Kovacevic, Austin Skinner, John D. Fisk, Vanessa Fishback, and Scott M. Reed
Preparation and Thermochromic Switching between Phosphorescence and Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence of Mononuclear Copper(I) Complexes ~ Christoph Förster and Katja Heinze
Synthesis and Use of a Nickel Oxidation Catalyst Using Glove Box Methods ~ Charles J. Weiss and Lon A. Porter, Jr.
Synthesizing CeO2–NiTiO3/Attapulgite and Investigating the Conversion Rate of NOx, Sulfur Resistance, N2 Selectivity, and Stability of the Catalyst through Applied SCR by Upper-Level Undergraduate Students ~ Aijuan Xie, Yuwei Tao, Wanqi Zhang, Xiaoxiao Duo, Jianing Chang, Bing Xue, Shiping Luo, and Guoping Zhou
Undergraduate Research Experiences
Comprehensive Training of Undergraduates Majoring in Chemical Education by Designing and Implementing a Simple Thread-Based Microfluidic Experiment ~ Longfei Cai, Zhuang Ouyang, Xinrong Huang, and Chunxiu Xu
Development of a Large-Enrollment Course-Based Research Experience in an Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory: Structure–Function Relationships in Pyrylium Photoredox Catalysts ~ Cole L. Cruz, Natalie Holmberg-Douglas, Nicholas P. R. Onuska, Joshua B. McManus, Ian A. MacKenzie, Bryant L. Hutson, Nita A. Eskew, and David A. Nicewicz
Investigating the Mechanism of Alkyne Hydrogenation through an Open-Ended, Inquiry-Based Undergraduate Research Project Exploring Heterogeneous Catalysis ~ Anne Mirich, Mackenzie Enmeier, Katie Cunningham, Kara Grossman, Grace Recker, Samantha Jarman, Tazah Weinmaster, Reba Mehaffey, Grayson Huldin, Giorgio Bacchin, Samaya Kallepalli, Laura Cogua, Lydia Johnson, and Bruce Mattson
Hydrothermal Synthesis and Characterization of Titanosilicate ETS-10: Preparation for Research Integrated Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory Course ~ Mariam N. Ismail
Participation of Undergraduate Students in a Controlled Feeding Study with Metabolomics Analysis to Enhance Learning of Metabolism ~ Michael R. La Frano, Samir Amin, and Rob K. Fanter
From the Archives: Bath Bombs and Cosmetics Chemistry
This issue includes an experiment by Meaghan Cabassa and Beth L. Haas on the Sizzle and Fizzle of Bath Bombs: An Inexpensive and Accessible Kinetics Experiment, which in part helps students see the connection between chemistry and everyday life. (In addition, this lab can be performed at home.) Other articles with connections to the cosmetics chemistry in past issues include:
JCE Classroom Activity #58: Bath Bubblers ~ Barbara Walker and Mary E. Harris
The Preparation and Testing of a Common Emulsion and Personal Care Product: Lotion ~ Suzanne T. Mabrouk
Making Usable, Quality Opaque or Transparent Soap ~ Suzanne T. Mabrouk
Green Soap: An Extraction and Saponification of Avocado Oil ~ Susan Sutheimer, Jacqueline M. Caster, and Simone H. Smith
JCE Classroom Activity #47: Brushing Up on Chemistry ~ Ashley Trantow
Chemistry Perfumes Your Daily Life ~ Anne-Dominique Fortineau
The Chemistry of Perfume: A Laboratory Course for Nonscience Majors ~ Jennifer L. Logan and Craig E. Rumbaugh
Using Flavor Chemistry To Design and Synthesize Artificial Scents and Flavors ~ Jessica L. Epstein, Michael Castaldi, Grishma Patel, Peter Telidecki, and Kevin Karakkatt
Chemistry of Cosmetics ~ J. Chem. Educ. Staff
Introducing Students to Rheological Classification of Foods, Cosmetics, and Pharmaceutical Excipients Using Common Viscous Materials ~ Célia Faustino, Ana F. Bettencourt, António Alfaia, and Lídia Pinheiro
JCE: A Constant Source of Ideas
Even in these times of disruption, there are always ideas for teaching and learning chemistry in the 97 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education —including the June 2020 issue described above. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available. (For more information on how to access the articles cited above, see Deanna Cullen’s post on Accessing Cited Articles.)
Do you have something to share? Write it up for the Journal! There’s even still time to consider submitting to the special issue of JCE on Insights Gained While Teaching Chemistry in the Time of COVID-19 (deadline is June 17, 2020).
Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary continues to provide excellent advice about becoming an author. In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS website, including the revised Author Guidelines and Document Templates. The ACS Publishing Center also has resources for preparing and reviewing manuscripts for ACS journals.