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The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a common experiment performed in many science classes. This year, I adapted my somewhat free-wheeling “wing it” approach to this experiment to instead have students research, test, and adapt as needed. The students’ goal is to get the highest possible geyser.

Co-authored by Thomas Manning*, Paige Bland* *Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA

Various items (hot dogs, bananas, flowers, racquetballs, plastic cups) show properties akin to glass when chilled in liquid nitrogen.^1-4 Objects such as racquetballs and plastics behave in this manner because they are made of polymers, and polymers can become cooled below what is known as the glass transition temperature (T_g) for t

Co-Authored by Dean J. Campbell* and Kaitlyn Walls* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Do we all have a unit at the end of the semester that seems to change in depth every year, based on how the rest of the semester has shaken out? In my course progression, that unit is Reactions.

That it was the “Best Class EVER” seems to be the common refrain every year by most every student for 30 years after the Dry Ice Day and this year was no exception! Dry Ice is an exciting chemical to bring to the chemistry classroom because it affords endless possibilities for fun. I have a few fun activities that I do each year with my grade

Co-authored by Thomas Manning*, Paige Bland* *Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA

Dean J. Campbell* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Have you ever watched a video that claims amazing “science” only to question who would ever actually believe this stuff?

Sometimes the obvious is the most difficult to see. I was dealing with the topic of hybridization using my PowerPoints that you have seen from the Counting Orbitals II: Hybrids blogpost.  N.B: Our book uses steric number to describe the number of Valence Shell Electron Pairs

Thanks again for spending some time with me in this blog. Over the course of my posts, I will share some ideas (and hoping for feedback) about data-driven instruction in science. So what the heck do I mean when I say "data-driven"?  Or you might be asking, isn't all science instruction data-driven? When posting about data-driven

Co-Authored by Dean J. Campbell*, Kaitlyn Walls*, Q Ott*, and Zaman Shah* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois