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Great Science Geek Gear

Chad Husting | Mon, 07/24/2017 - 10:56

Megan was watching a show about Nicola Tesla. She was so impressed that afterwards she decided Nicola needed an "emblem". She made one, put it on her Etsy site and the rest is history. The response was great and an idea was born. Nicola was the first of many emblems.  Megan said she is not sure if she is a nerd who loves art or an artist who embraced her inner geek. Either way, her stickers, posters, t-shirts, flashcards and designs are super cool.

Chemical Thinking Interactives

Kaleb Underwood | Tue, 07/04/2017 - 15:52

As part of a two-week Chemistry Modeling Workshop™ in Houston, TX, I had the opportunity to read the Journal of Chemical Education article “When Atoms Want” by Vicente Talanquer of the University of Arizona. I researched Dr. Talanquer and discovered he created a collection of simulations called Chemical Thinking Interactives (CTI). These digital tools illustrate many chemistry topics with a focus on the particulate nature of matter.

A Review of "A Global Warming Primer"

Hal Harris | Thu, 05/25/2017 - 14:20

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.

Action Research and Assessment

Chad Husting | Thu, 04/06/2017 - 17:39

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.

Chemical Formula Challenge

Doug Ragan | Thu, 03/23/2017 - 08:11

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.

Book Review: "Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins

Lowell Thomson | Sat, 03/18/2017 - 10:43

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.

10 Percent Happier

Chad Husting | Sun, 03/12/2017 - 10:45

 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.