Xplore ChemEd X

Nina shares a stoichiometry lesson using UNO cards.

Given the success of the first installment of Five for the First, I thought I would write a follow-up column highlighting five more activities I do during the first week of school! These are activities I have used to set up my classes for success.

I teach an introductory college chemistry course for non-science majors called Chemistry of Everyday Things. Most of my students have little prior science experience, and they often begin the course intimidated by chemistry.

Many of us are tasked with planning or teaching chemical quantities and stoichiometry. To support your planning, help you refresh your stoichiometry unit, or provide extra resources to use in your classroom, I have collected some favorite posts on stoichiometry.

Co-Authored by Iain A. Smellie* and Iain L. J. Patterson* *University of St Andrews, School of Chemistry, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9ST, United Kingdom

The purpose of this article is to show how a microtitration can introduce Honors Chemistry students to titrations.

The disappearing rainbow¹ is a wonderful chemistry demonstration previously featured here on ChemEdX.^2-4 In this experiment, a colorless solution of NaOH is poured into a row of flasks, each containing a different acid–base indicator.

  Egg-lectrons and McLewis Structures: More Representations of Electron Arrangements in Atoms and Molecules Co-Authored with Ali Patel* *Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

In 2015, I began making chemistry videos to reduce the amount of in-class lecturing during exam review. Some students needed a detailed reteach of specific content, others only needed a refresher, and still others grew frustrated when I retaught concepts they already understood well. Creating videos provided the flexibility to meet all of these needs.

I’m just old enough that I never kept a paper gradebook. When I was a student in school, my grades were on paper and arrived in the mail. As a teacher, my grades have always been entered into the computer and sent off to the world with a click of a button. Parents and students know the grade as soon as I share it. 

As teachers, we’ve all faced the challenge of aligning our grading practices with school policies and our colleagues’ approaches. In my own school, for instance, we’ve settled on a grading system that is 80% summative (quizzes, tests, labs) and 20% formative (everyday classwork and homework).