Organic Chemistry

Student generated reaction pathways flowchart
Creating an Organic Chemistry Reaction Pathways Flowchart as a Unit Summary
// Friday, January 27, 2017 • LowellThomson
As a teacher, there are certain things I think I do well, and other areas where I think I can improve. One of these areas is helping students make connections between topics - especially at the end of a unit. Can I get students to see the proverbial "Big Picture"?
Especially JCE: September 2016
// Thursday, September 15, 2016 • Erica K. Jacobsen
“You sank my battleship!” Do you remember this line from a classic commercial featuring the board game Battleship? It sat in my family’s game closet when I was a kid, but it’s popping up again recently, with chemistry twists.
molecular models
Identifying Organic Functional Groups Activity
// Monday, September 12, 2016 • mamorgan@me.com
In a previous post I talked about an equation balancing lab that I have been doing with my students involving building molecular models.
Chemical Detectives app
Using "Chemical Detectives" iPad App to Practice Spectroscopy
// Friday, January 29, 2016 • LowellThomson
The new IB curriculum includes compound identification using NMR, IR and Mass spectroscopy. My current high school lab does not have any of these available. And that's no surprise, given the cost of these machines is far out of our budget.
Chairs
A Thing for Chairs!
// Thursday, July 9, 2015 • Julia Winter
Esoteric. That’s the word I put on the board before I teach Newman projections and cyclohexane chair conformers every fall.
Distillation of ethanol
The power of seeing the chemistry in action
// Tuesday, January 21, 2014 • LowellThomson
As I maneuver through the school year, a certain rhythm develops. The start of the year brings the excitement of new classes and new students. I'm often trying new things in the fall as I've reflected on the previous year's teaching over the summer.