Latest articles, blogs, and events from the chemical education community

The Wisconsin initiative for Science Literacy led by Bassam Shakhashiri has published Science Climate Concepts Fit Your Classroom - A Workbook for Teachers authored by Dr. Jerry Bell.

The beginning of the academic year is fast approaching and already I am meeting with a few students to sign them into certain classes and to talk about their career intentions upon graduating.

In Chemical Mystery #18: Peek A Boo Blue,¹ Blue Powerade is observed to change to green, and then to a yellow color. When the yellow-colored solution is disturbed by pouring it, it shifts back to green or blue-green.

PART 1: Why this lab is no good For many years I was troubled by this commonly used, straight-forward, interesting-to-carry-out, and engaging experiment¹. This analytical, mole concept-based activity can be found in pretty much any chemistry lab manual, from Grade 11 to first-year university.

Now that August is here, school is just around the corner. Therefore, I thought I'd share a new chemical mystery to get us all back in the spirit of teaching and learning. Can you use chemical principles to describe what happens in the experiment seen in the video below?

Co-authors: Rachel Barnard*, Samantha Cass, and Ryan Sweeder (*: corresponding author) Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University

I recently watched Veritasium’s Youtube video “The Biggest Myth in Education".

A proficient understanding of the periodic table is indispensable for students studying chemistry. Chemical properties, bonding, and reactions are routinely explained using the trends and patterns of the periodic table.

There is a growing interest in developing and offering Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for students at every level of undergraduate science education.

Good day, gentle readers: I attended Catholic elementary school in the mid 1960s into the 70s. Times were simpler. When I came home with a poor result, I got yelled at—or worse. I was blamed, and rightly so. Not the teacher.

Recently as I was mowing my lawn, I noticed that some of the florets on white clover have a slight pink or purple color (Figure 1). Because anthocyanins often impart red, blue, and purple color to plants, fruits, and flowers,^1,2 I wondered if these tiny pink florets in white clover contained anthocyanins.