Josh Kenney's blog

Josh Kenney shares three simple and inexpensive demonstrations using Elmer’s glue.

YouTube Shorts are 60-second vertical aspect ratio videos that are meant for cell phone viewing. Since they are shorter and easier for students to access than traditional YouTube videos, Josh Kenney has started creating more of them for his blended chemistry class. Check out some of his tips for creating effective chemistry tutorials with YouTube Shorts.

As an advanced language model trained by OpenAI, ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize the way you teach chemistry. In this blog post, Josh Kenney and Ben Meacham explore 10 ways that ChatGPT can make teaching chemistry easier and more engaging for both you and your students.

In a classic demonstration of energy conservation, smashing two large steel ball bearings generates sufficient heat to burn a hole through a piece of paper. Josh Kenney found this demonstration underwhelming because the paper doesn't look burned. So, he upgraded the experiment by covering the paper in Elmer's Color Changing Glue. Now, a spectacular color change reveals the increase in heat!

TikTok and YouTube Shorts are video sharing platforms for short-form, vertical aspect videos. Both of these services are growing more quickly in popularity compared to more traditional video formats. Josh Kenney shares some of the ways that he is using short-form videos in his chemistry class and shares a free resource (an exam review worksheet that links to a YouTube Shorts playlist through a QR code).

Early Middle College High Schools are growing in popularity. They are an alternative public high school program where students earn up to 60 college credits while completing their high school diploma. Here, the author describes some lessons learned while teaching at an early college program that helps prepare students for college and careers.

Practice problem answer keys that provide correct and incorrect answers increase student metacognition and lead to more thorough learning.

Recently, Josh Kenney took time from his regular scheduled chemistry curriculum to investigate a student's claim that chocolate cake was an acid-base indicator.