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Doug Ragan has been working with the Alchemie team -- founded by a former chemistry teacher, Julia Winter -- for a number of years. They have been working over the last year on a new project, named Kasi, which delivers sound-based feedback to students as they learn with tactile pieces on a magnetic whiteboard. The goal is to build an accessible learning system that helps ALL students learn, and is particularly important for those with visual impairments.
Chad Husting shares a microscale Reactions Lab and outlines his goals and plans for labs in his classroom as he prepares for next school year.
Context-based chemistry aims to make chemistry learning more meaningful for students. With an emphasis on inquiry-based activities, context-based chemistry improves student interest and motivation in chemistry by linking content to real-world situations. Though the idea has been around for over 20 years, researchers are still learning the best strategies for teaching context-based chemistry. Here, we will explore some of the benefits and challenges unearthed up until this point.
Evaluations are part of everyday life. This multi-part blog has aimed to expand the collective understanding on what is evaluation and what are some ways that it is done.
It has been a challenging year. The challenge gave rise to a unique way to provide exams in a multitude of platforms. Check it out and do not be afraid to share some ideas of your own!
A Soviet era stamp featuring a quadruple bond.
This post describes a simple way to generate blue, green, orange, and yellow copper complexes, and to use these complexes to introduce students to the effect of temperature on chemical equilibria. The protcol avoids the use of caustic agents, allowing the experiments to be conducted by students as a laboratory-based investigation.
The diversification of STEM and STEM education is not going to happen overnight, but we all move it forward with what we do today. It is incumbent to us as educators to acknowledge and celebrate the different identities in our classrooms.
This post addresses concerns about the quality of the future of chemistry education in an online environment.
The many colors of springtime can be illustrated with photochromic pigments in commercial products. These products include UV beads, and more recently, photochromic glue. The glue can be used as a photochromic paint for paper or even eggs. The resulting colorful, decorative objects can be used to illustrate chemical discussions of aspects of photochemistry.