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

Throughout my 21 previous years as a teacher, I have really struggled to provide meaningful (and timely!) feedback to my students on their lab reports. Teaching IB Chemistry has really forced me to get better - and I have. Yet I still feel like this is an area for more improvement.I've got a series of blog posts planned to share some ideas with you - and hopefully garner some discussion that will be helpful for me also! First I'd like to share the mechanics of how I provide feedback.

I have a first day routine that I am very proud of. I have used it for 25 years and I think I finally have it down pat. I have spoken to students from 20 years ago at reunions and they tell me that they still remember the first day of chemistry so I think it is pretty good.

A great book for summer reading is "Rust: the longest war". Cars rusting! Bridges collapsing! Rust, and corrosion in general, is probably the most important topic that is not on most people's radar. This is definitely something people should be paying more attention to.

A few weeks ago I posted some updates from the chemistry summer camp I hosted in my district in June.

In Chemical Mystery #5, I used chemistry to give the illusion that water can be lit on fire. The trick involves the use of hexane (C₆H₁₄) which is flammable, less dense than water, and immiscible with water. In the video below you can see how to set up and carry out this demonstration.

The video below displays a neat trick you can do for your students. What do you suppose is the secret behind this trick? Hint: It has to do with chemistry!

The American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) website is the official source for information on Modeling Instruction^TM (MI).  Whether you are an experienced Modeler or simply interested in learning more about MI, I encourage you to visit the newly redesigned site and check out the availabl

Yesterday I posted an overview of the Chemist

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When I applied to college more than ten years ago, I wrote about my desire to be a political science major. Well, clearly that didn’t happen since I’m writing for ChemEdX. After my first organic chemistry course, I was hooked on the power that understanding the world through chemistry could provide.