(e)Xplore ChemEd X published collections such as activities, articles, demonstrations, and assessment tools.
The Xplore area includes 'published' ChemEd X resources such as activities, articles, demonstrations, and assessment tools. The Search service is also in the Xplore area.
Observing the floating and sinking behavior of diet and sugared sodas is a classic chemistry demonstration. Learn how to perform this experiment as a quantitative lab that can be accomplished as an at-home activity!
ChemEd X Talks with Katy Dornbos about how she has transformed the way she is assessing her students - particularly on exams. Her new method of assessing was born from her desire to decrease student stress, minimize her grading time and keep the questions challenging enough to encourage deep thinking. You can watch the edited recording of Katy's Talk here.
The February 2021 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: classic demonstrations, teaching during COVID-19, encouraging future scientists, games for teaching organic chemistry, student understanding of bonding, project-based learning, safety, computer-aided instruction, scientific literature, curriculum innovations, examining assessment, material science, research experiences, laboratory experiments, from the archives: teaching with household materials.
Chad Husting presented in a ChemEd X Talk and spoke about how he has transitioned to standards based grading during a pandemic! He shared some tips that have solved many of the problems that teachers struggle with including having a mix of face to face and virtual students and keeping up with late work, make-up work and missing assignments! You can watch the edited recording of Chad's Talk here.
This demonstration offers an alternative to the disappearing rainbow demonstration using readily accessible materials.
Some of the challenges associated with virtual instruction include connecting with students and checking for understanding in real time. On February 2nd, Michael Farabaugh presented a ChemEd X Talk about how he uses the interactive features of Nearpod to create formative assessment items that provide valuable feedback and facilitate student participation. You can watch the edited recording of Michael's Talk and access the lesson he shared during the presentation here.
The authors revisit "flattening the curve" demonstrations published during 2020 to see how they could represent the impact of vaccinations on the COVID 19 battlefront. These demonstrations do not demonstrate the mechanisms of vaccines themselves, but are rather analogies to their potential effect on a population. In these analogies, gas production still represents illness, but this time people are represented by objects added to the solutions which either enable gas production (unvaccinated individuals) or do not enable gas production (vaccinated individuals). These simple experiments are best used as stand-alone demonstrations, and links to videos are included in this writeup.
On January 26, 2021, Melissa Hemling presented a ChemEd X Talk about “whiteboarding” in a hybrid or virtual classroom. Students collaborate in small groups on classkick.com to digitally analyze data, create and modify models, and/or complete practice problems. Melissa shares how she uses the digital whiteboards to gauge student understanding and pinpoint misconceptions like she did pre-COVID. You can watch the edited recording of Melissa's Talk and access the document she shared during the presentation here.
Providing students with meaningful feedback greatly enhances their learning and achievement. With the move to online and hybrid formats, teachers have had to scramble to modify their usual process for communicating that feedback. On January 21, 2021, Ariel Serkin presented in a ChemEd X Talk about the process she is using and how she is providing feedback to her students remotely. You can watch the edited recording of Ariel's Talk and access the document she shared during the presentation here.
The January 2021 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Modern chemistry programs must include the skills and techniques that enable their graduates to perform experiments safely, and, in response to a call for papers, scientists and educators from around the world have contributed articles to a special issue on Chemical Safety Education: Methods, Culture, and Green Chemistry. The articles in the issue are broadly distributed among topics covering resources, green chemistry, safety culture, and pedagogy. This issue is a resource for ideas and discussion to encourage "a new way to look at safety", with a focus on assessing hazards, minimizing risk, and valuing a strong chemical safety culture.