first-year undergraduate

Resources for Teaching Chemistry Online

Deanna Cullen | Wed, 12/30/2020 - 11:16

resources-teaching-chemistry-online.png

Near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic ChemEd X began compiling a list of both new and previously published ChemEd X posts and resources that might be useful to teachers while teaching remotely. Topics include Technology & Teaching Resources, Strategies and Tips for Teaching Online, Lesson Ideas Suitable for Online Instruction and more. This list continues to grow. Readers are encouraged to check in often to find new content and to comment with additional resources that we can add to our list.

Service Dogs in the Chemistry Lab

Melanie Harvey | Sun, 02/21/2021 - 20:20

service-dogs-chemistry-lab.jpg

Service animals will continue to become more common in chemical laboratories. It is important that chemistry faculty and departments are prepared to safely accomodate students with service dogs in laboratory courses.

Teach Them to Study (because they don't know how)

Josh Kenney | Mon, 02/15/2021 - 14:28

teach-them-study-because-they-dont-know-how.jpeg

Self-quizzing is an effective study strategy that leads to longer-term memory retention than other methods. However, when I surveyed my student's preferred study method, self-quizzing did not make the list. In this post, I'll describe self-quizzing and how to support and encourage students to use it.

Learning to Walk Before Running a Marathon

Francisco Villa | Mon, 02/15/2021 - 13:25

learning-walk-running-marathon.jpg

What would be a useful infrastructure to help modernize undergraduate labs and perhaps give students more experience/skills- especially those serving student populations with low socio-economic status? This blog offers a practical solution.

Zoom Study Hall: Time and Place for Students to Study Online

Thomas Cox | Fri, 02/12/2021 - 18:32

zoom-study-hall-time-and-place-students-study-together-online-environment.png

Think back to when most college students across the country were on campus working together on group projects and studying together in the library. So how can this be recreated now that online instruction is the current operational mode? One solution may be Study Hall over Zoom.

Journey with Standards Based Grading with Chad Husting

Deanna Cullen | Thu, 02/11/2021 - 12:57

journey-standards-based-grading-chad-husting.png

Chad Husting presented in a ChemEd X Talk and spoke about how he has transitioned to standards based grading during a pandemic! He shared some tips that have solved many of the problems that teachers struggle with including having a mix of face to face and virtual students and keeping up with late work, make-up work and missing assignments! You can watch the edited recording of Chad's Talk here.

The Disappearing Rainbow Demonstration - A colourful variant using red cabbage extracts

Iain Smellie | Mon, 02/08/2021 - 13:06

disappearing-rainbow-demonstration-colourful-variant-using-red-cabbage-extracts.png

This demonstration offers an alternative to the disappearing rainbow demonstration using readily accessible materials.

How Does the Rainbow Candy Experiment Work?

Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 02/08/2021 - 07:10

how-does-rainbow-candy-experiment-work.png

Have you seen the rainbow candy experiment? It's a very simple experiment that involves pouring water into a plate that has M&M's candies or Skittles arranged in a pattern. Very curious shapes of sharply divided regions form spontaneously. How does this happen?!

Plating Pennies with Tin

Tom Kuntzleman | Tue, 02/02/2021 - 10:06

plating-pennies-tin.png

Learn how to give pennies a beautiful, silvery-colored plating.

Explaining Scientific Research Communication in the Age of COVID-19

Melanie Harvey | Sat, 01/30/2021 - 23:10

explaining-scientific-research-communication-age-covid-19.jpg

Students were asked to watch a short video that describes the ways scientific information is communicated, how those pathways usually function and how they were altered by the pandemic. Students were then asked to discuss a series of questions about experts, peer review, and the issue of releasing research results prior to peer review because of the urgent need for useful information related to the pandemic.