ChemEd X contributors and staff members are continually coming across items of interest that they feel others may wish to know about. Picks include, but need not be limited to, books, magazines, journals, articles, apps—most anything that has a link to it can qualify.
Many Picks can be purchased from Amazon. Using the Amazon links on those pages help to support ChemEd X.
A fantastic resource to help you learn more about how to teach climate change and global warming is described.
In “A Global Warming Primer”, Jeffrey Bennett provides a template for conversation about the most pressing global environmental issue of our time. The author also recommends a link to the ACS Climate Science Toolkit that offers many useful resources for learning about and teaching the concepts related to climate science.
A simulation for studying Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution Curves, as the previous used online simulation was no longer working due to Java issues.
Each week I decided to put on paper, or in a blog, one concrete action that I could take that I was pretty sure would help at least one student. After almost three years and close to a hundred entries, the entries were separated into categories by multiple people. The result was pretty clear....my biggest struggles were with assessment.
According to the app store description, Chemical Formula Challenge is "An educational game to improve your ability to form chemical formulas from chemical names. You can either play it yourself or challenge a friend". The app features different levels of play such as easy, normal, and hard regarding the difficulty of the ions. As an example, beryllium chloride is considered "easy" while lead II nitride is considered "hard". The app then gives the user several ions to choose from and the user must then select the correct number of ions needed to balance the formula correctly.
I was at a workshop recently, when a friend suggested I read, Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Atkins, Oxford University Press. The friend suggested the book would not take long to read, and given the name included the phrase "A very short introduction" who was I to argue? So I bought the Kindle Version of the book for about $7 U.S. and got to reading.
If this is a site all about chemistry teaching, what in the world does a book called "10% Happier" have to do with anything? Let me explain....I'll try the short, condensed, one page executive summary.
Women’s History Month (March 1 - 31, 2017) honors the contributions of women to American culture and society. The American Chemical Society has selected some women scientists that contributed to important discoveries during times of rampant gender discrimination. Consider sharing these with your students.
This week, one of my students alerted me to some mobile apps featuring chemistry. One, in particular, seems to be mostly free and incorporates a hands-on approach to conducting virtual laboratory experiments. The app is called BEAKER - Mix Chemicals and is offered by THIX on the Apple and Google Play Stores. My student demonstrated how the app works and I gotta say - it's pretty sleek.
Chem 101 is a FREE (for a limited time) app for any apple or android device designed to improve engagement in college chemistry courses. Although the intended audience is college level, there are modules appropriate for high school as well. Students can use the app to practice on their own, or instructors can create in-class or at home assignments.