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Bubbly BBs and Vaccinated Mentos: Chemical Illustrations to Promote Public Health Measures

Dean Campbell | Mon, 02/01/2021 - 10:35

The authors revisit "flattening the curve" demonstrations published during 2020 to see how they could represent the impact of vaccinations on the COVID 19 battlefront. These demonstrations do not demonstrate the mechanisms of vaccines themselves, but are rather analogies to their potential effect on a population. In these analogies, gas production still represents illness, but this time people are represented by objects added to the solutions which either enable gas production (unvaccinated individuals) or do not enable gas production (vaccinated individuals). These simple experiments are best used as stand-alone demonstrations, and links to videos are included in this writeup.

Creating Interactive Particle Diagram Activities for Online Instruction

Michael Farabaugh | Mon, 08/31/2020 - 16:48

Many teachers have students draw models and diagrams to help them illustrate how matter behaves. Teachers can uncover and address possible misconceptions quickly using this strategy. The author describes how to create interactive particle diagram activities that are easy for students to use online. This strategy is applicable to almost any particle diagram and should be useful for teachers during virtual lessons.

Making a (big) eruption with chemistry!

Scott Balicki | Wed, 03/11/2020 - 16:44

As teachers, we can leverage fruitful discussions about chemical control with students to elicit more about students' initial ideas and ways of reasoning. From asking students to clarify their own thinking, we can identify students’ own productive ideas that we can capitalize on to advance their thinking.

Element of the Month - Iodine

Stephen Wright | Thu, 08/29/2019 - 18:37

In honor of the International Year of the Periodic Table: A familiarity with the chemistry of some of the elements more commonly encountered in everyday life is a valuable learning experience for all students. Iodine is the fifth in this series of elements to be discussed as part of the Element of the Month program. #IYPT

Detection of Nickel Cations in Coins

Andres Tretiakov | Tue, 05/07/2019 - 22:45

It is not known why people develop allergies to nickel and there is no cure. The best course of action to prevent an allergic reaction is to avoid contact with products containing nickel. This article will explain how to make an easy and cheap nickel detection device that will limit or eliminate the risks of exposure to sources of nickel using some interesting classic chemistry. 

Element of the Month - Nitrogen

Stephen Wright | Sat, 04/20/2019 - 17:09

In honor of the International Year of the Periodic Table: A familiarity with the chemistry of some of the elements more commonly encountered in everyday life is a valuable learning experience for all students. Nitrogen is the third in this series of elements to be discussed as part of the Element of the Month program. #IYPT