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Quantum mechanics is a proverbially and quintessentially challenging topic. It is the poster-child of difficulty in chemistry. Setting up the discussion for the four quantum numbers is fraught with potential and confusion. In this post learn about a different way to teach about orbitals.
Navigating the waters through a year with multiple hurdles can be difficult but not impossible with microscale chemistry and standards based grading.
Teaching during COVID was challenging; however, a few positive results surprisingly emerged. For one, Josh Kenney filmed a small library of chemistry lab videos for use in virtual chemistry labs after his school switched to remote learning. At first, he wasn't sure if he would continue to use those videos when his district returned to in-person instruction until he discovered that they would make excellent pre-lab assignments.
FERPA allows a faculty to record class meetings and share them with students registered in that section of the course, but that doesn't mean a faculty should. Read more about why or why not.
Whether in the classroom or in the online format, students typically struggle to envision the infamous Rutherford (aka Geiger-Marsden) gold foil experiment. A short video was created that describes the experimental design and set up. Enjoy...
Michael Jansen contemplates his student's reaction to a last minute switch to an old school delivery of a lesson.
Inspired by a recent article in the Journal of Chemical Education, Tom Kuntzleman attempted to extract lithium from a coin battery, and to use the extracted lithium to produce a pink flame.
When introducing acid-base theory, the concept of indicators and their pH color changes is usually discussed. To illustrate some color transitions to students, a classroom demonstration has been devised based on a memorable scene from Disney’s 1964 movie Mary Poppins.
Chad Husting uses a few simple gas law experiments to introduce his students to the particulate level of chemistry.
A primary goal of modern education is to prepare students for a globally competitive society. Importantly we must ask questions such as, “who is doing the hard intellectual work in the classroom?” and "what does doing hard intellectual work look like?"