Blogs

ChemEd X contributors offer their ideas and opinions on a broad spectrum of topics pertaining to chemical education.

Blogs at ChemEd X reflect the opinions of the contributors and are open to comments. Only selected contributors blog at ChemEd X. If you would like to blog regularly at ChemEd X, please use our Contribution form to request an invitation to do so from one of our editors.

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UNO Out Game
UNO OUT…..Demystifying Stoichiometry
// Tuesday, February 25, 2025 • Nina Hike
I enjoy playing UNO, a popular card game by Mattel, with my family. Students enjoy playing UNO with their friends during lunch or at the end of the day at my school. As a teacher, I have also experienced students having difficulty using dimensional analysis to solve stoichiometry problems. Students have issues with setting up and solving stoichiometry problems.
"Don't Let Acids Make You Salty" title over colorful pH chart
APTeach - Don't Let Acids Make You Salty
// Sunday, February 16, 2025 • Shifra Yonis
In February 2025 we discussed using particle diagrams, calculations, and titration curves to support student understanding of acids, bases, and buffers.  
Teaching metric system with climate change
Incorporating Climate Change Into Lessons on Metric Prefixes
// Sunday, January 12, 2025 • Tom Kuntzleman
There’s some recently published research on climate change1 that you can easily incorporate into your next lesson on metric conversions and unit analysis. The article gives a report on ocean heat content (OHC) measurements.
preview image with snowflakes and text: "The Diamonds of Winter"
The Diamonds of Winter
// Thursday, January 9, 2025 • Tom Kuntzleman
Would you like to take a walk with me through the chemical winter wonderland of snowflakes? Well, we chemists know that the stunning six-sided symmetry of snowflakes (Figure 1) results from repeated arrangement of water molecules into a hexagonal crystal structure (Figure 2).
preview image: Application of the Ideal Gas Law and Avogadro's Hypothesis with 3 flasks
Application of the Ideal Gas Law and Avogadro’s Hypothesis
// Monday, December 30, 2024 • Michael Jansen
I teach the Gas Laws as the final topic in students’ first Chemistry course.1 The KMT, Avogadro’s Hypothesis, the Combined Gas Law, and the Ideal Gas Law take three 70-minute class periods at most.
periodic table signal flags
Printable Signal Flag Periodic Table
// Monday, December 16, 2024 • Joseph Lomax
Those who have been following my posts may know that I demonstrated a 20-person Titration Flowchart at the 28th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) in Lexington[1]. Based on a Chemical Education Xchange blog post[2], I
Storylines: What are they and how do they work? preview image
Storylines: What are They and How do They Work?
// Saturday, November 23, 2024 • Shifra Yonis
Storylines seem to be the new buzzword in chemistry education. Biology teachers have had access to storyline curriculums since the early 2000s, but chemistry (and physics) have only had wholly developed (and widely available) storyline curricula since 2019. Since then, the number of free, widely available curriculums has grown.