September 2022 Xchange

The September 2022 Xchange highlights just some of the contributions that have recently been published on ChemEd X. We hope you will take a moment to check in and see what you may have missed.


The Trials and Tribulations of a Teacher During COVID Times! Yvonne Clifford provides readers with some tips and concrete, workable ideas that have helped to fulfill her desire to provide a chemistry program that is both interesting and rigorous. This is Part 1 of a four part series. Also read Part 2: Motivating Students While In COVID Times: Striving “Above and Beyond” For Students And Teachers Alike		motivating-students-while-covid-times-striving-“above-and-beyond”-students-and-teachers-alike.png

bretztalk.png	ChemEd X Talk: Assessment Tools to Examine Students’ Reasoning with Multiple Representations of Bonding Learning chemistry requires students to become fluent in the symbolic language of chemistry. Developing expertise requires that students move beyond manipulating equations and symbols to create explanations with particulate models of matter to explain their observations in the laboratory. Failure to accurately interpret and connect these multiple representations of matter and Johnstone’s Domains – macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic - is one source of students’ misconceptions. We hope you will join us on September 29th at 8pm EST to learn more about this topic from Stacey Lowery Bretz.

Using Information from the 2022 AP Chemistry Reading to Improve Exam Performance Michael Farabaugh outlines mistakes and misconceptions that were encountered during the 2022 AP Reading and offers suggestions for improving performance on the AP Chemistry exam.		using-information-2022-ap-chemistry-reading-improve-exam-performance.png

finding-flash-rocks.jpg	Finding Flash Rocks Flash rocks were discussed in a previous post as stones made of quartz that produce light by triboluminescence when struck together. This post provides some description of their origins and tips on how to find them, making connections to some of their properties.

Atomic Structure Interactive Notebook Nora Walsh outlines the interactive notebook pages she uses for her unit on Atomic Structure. All of the documents and foldables are available for download. Access all of the units she has published so far!		unit-2-–-atomic-structure-preview.png

using-my-marbles-connecting-surface-area-and-calorimetry-temperature-curves-and-thermochromic-cups.jpg	Using My Marbles: Connecting Surface Area and Calorimetry with Temperature Curves and Thermochromic Cups The importance of surface area can be illustrated by adding spherical solids at known sizes and temperature to other substances at different temperatures and then monitoring the rates of temperature changes of the system over time. Larger spheres (with less surface area per sample) exchanged heat with water more slowly than smaller spheres, and less thermally conductive glass spheres exchanged heat with water more slowly than iron spheres. Additional, more colorful demonstrations are described in which small glass spheres cool thermochromic plastic cups more quickly than larger glass spheres.

Apply for the 2023 PAEMST Cycle The 2023 cycle for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching has opened. Learn more about the application, the process, some helpful tips, and reasons why you should apply.		apply-2023-paemst-cycle.png

what_not_to_do_lab.png	What Not To Do Lab This post was originally published here in August 2015. Doug Ragan shares how he has used the cartoon as an ice breaker. With more than 30 safety violations shown, each student introduces themselves and then lists a safety infraction being shown on the cartoon.

The Teacher Page - An Organizational Tool This post was originally published here in September 2017. The Teacher Page includes all of the notes needed to set up, run, and clean up a particular experiment. It includes a record of where the lab was obtained, a list of chemicals including amounts and their location in the stockroom, notes of any issues experienced (good & bad) and notes of things that might be tried in the future. This will save you much time and repeated effort!		teacher-page-organizational-tool.png

2022-reader-survey.png	ChemEd X 2022 Reader Survey Our ChemEd X team is looking for feedback from readers to assist in planning future content and professional development for our ChemEd X community. Our goal is to provide you with meaningful and quality content that best fits your needs.

ChemEd X Call for Contributions ChemEd X invites practitioners in the chemical education community to share their experiences, knowledge and the resources they use in their classroom and laboratory.		chemed-x-call-contributions.png

We hope you enjoy the content mentioned here and other content at ChemEd X. If you find ChemEd X content useful, please consider purchasing a subscription to help support ChemEd X using our online store. In addition to supporting the free content we make available, you will also get access to our complete video collection and other titles to help in teaching and learning chemistry. If you would like to contribute content, begin with the contribute page. For other questions or comments, please use our contact form.