Editorial pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
2014 and Volume 91 in Review Norbert J. Pienta* Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2556, United States ABSTRACT: The highlights of 2014 and Volume 91 of the Journal of Chemical Education are reviewed. KEYWORDS: General public • “What Does a Student Know Who Earns a Top Score on the Advanced Placement Chemistry Exam?” by Jennifer Claesgens, Paul L. Daubenmire, Kathleen M. Scalise, Scott Balicki, Perman Gochyyev, and Angelica M. Stacy4 • “Guide To Developing High-Quality, Reliable, and Valid Multiple-Choice Assessments” by Marcy H. Towns5 • “Evidence-Based Approaches to Improving Chemical Equilibrium Instruction” by Jodi L. Davenport, Gaea Leinhardt, James Greeno, Kenneth Koedinger, David Klahr, Michael Karabinos, and David J. Yaron6 • “Trends in Ph.D. Productivity and Diversity in Top-50 U.S. Chemistry Departments: An Institutional Analysis” by Sandra L. Laursen and Timothy J. Weston7 The Journal participates in several annual fetes by publishing thematic content relating to chemistry events. “Chemists Celebrate Earth Day” is an ACS event that brings focus to environmental topics, such as clean air, water, and energy. The 2014 themeThe Wonders of Waterfeatured the unique properties of water that are crucial for life and a cleaner environment. The April issue included articles on water and environmental chemistry, and virtual content on water properties and water in the environment from the JCE archive is available.8 Likewise, the Journal celebrated “National Chemistry Week 2014: The Sweet Side of Chemistry Candy” with articles from JCE on candy, chocolate, chewing gum, ingredients (dyes, flavorings, sugar), and food chemistry.9 In this December issue, we include two commentaries related to the International Year of Crystallography 2014 (IYCr2014):10 Simona Galli discusses some historical perspectives on crystallography,11 and Ilia Guzei provides an account of crystal growing activities and a related contest (featured on the December cover).12 Just as large, colorful crystals bring the microscopic world to our senses, the subject for the cover of the August issue, 3D printing, extends that technique into chemistry, offering a unique approach to fabricate plastic models of molecules and extended solids. In the article “3D Printed Molecules and Extended Solid Models for Teaching Symmetry and Point Groups”, authors Vincent F. Scalfani and Thomas P. Vaid13 describe the preparation of a series of digital 3D design files of molecular structures for teaching topics such as symmetry and point groups. To end, all that remains are the acknowledgments that begin with our authors, who bring their perspectives, innovations, and
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igital publication of journals makes it more challenging to note the benchmarks and time-related events. The December issue marks the completion of Volume 91, and your Editor takes this opportunity to provide a summary, bring focus to some noteworthy highlights, and offer thanks to all involved in the various steps of this endeavor. To begin, those who still receive a print copy might have noticed that there has been some increased “heft” to the issuesoverall, this volume likely has more peer-reviewed content than any of its predecessors. The increase is not the result of an editorial relaxation of standards; the rate of acceptance has actually decreased, although we have experienced a slow increase in submissions. In 2014, Journal staff continued to institute processing changes and improvements that will shorten time to publication henceforth, beginning with many of the manuscripts in the second half of this year. Just to be sure, our commitment remains focused on quality, and we expect that our readers were not disappointed. As an example, September 2014 contains content for a Special Issue, a collection of material focused on advanced placement chemistry. The College Board released a new framework for the advanced placement (AP) chemistry course and exam emphasizing big ideas, enduring understandings, and science practices.1 In response to a call for papers on the AP chemistry curriculum and assessment redesign, chemistry educators at the high school and college levels contributed papers that share ideas, best practices, perspectives, and recommendations for action. Guest editor Greg Rushton introduces the collection of 20 articles, op-ed pieces, and laboratory experiments with an editorial.2 Selections of topics and guest editors for future Special Issues are in progress or being plannedadditional suggestions should be made to the Editor or to an Editorial Advisory Board member. In addition to this special topic, Journal content was highlighted via an ACS Publications innovation, the ACS Editors’ Choice, which gives free public access to new research of importance to the global community. Thus, one new peerreviewed research article from any ACS journal is selected to be freely available every day, based on recommendations by the scientific editors of ACS journals. Five JCE articles were acknowledged in this way over 2014: • “Development of the Bonding Representations Inventory To Identify Student Misconceptions about Covalent and Ionic Bonding Representations” by Cynthia J. Luxford and Stacey Lowery Bretz3 © 2014 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: December 9, 2014 2007
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed500870b | J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 2007−2008
Journal of Chemical Education
Editorial
(9) A virtual issue of archival content about candy and other confections can be found at http://pubs.acs.org/page/jceda8/ ncw2014.html (accessed Nov 2014). (10) For information about the International Year of Crystallography 2014, see http://www.iycr2014.org/ (accessed Nov 2014). (11) Galli, S. X-ray Crystallography: One Century of Nobel Prizes. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91; DOI: 10.1021/ed500343x. (12) Guzei, I. Celebrating the International Year of Crystallography with a Wisconsin High School Crystal Growing Competition. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91; DOI: 10.1021/ed500792y. (13) Scalfani, V. F.; Vaid, T. P. 3D Printed Molecules and Extended Solid Models for Teaching Symmetry and Point Groups. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (8), 1174−1180.
scholarship to the Journal. That this volume has more quality peer-reviewed content than ever comes from their contributions and those who support the mission of JCE: the “army” of reviewers who are called upon to evaluate and provide constructive criticism for the submissions; the Associate Editors (Marcy Towns, Greg Rushton, Deanna Cullen, Reneé Cole, Arthur Halpern, John Risley, and Cheryl Frech), who adjudicate submissions and manage the revisions through the system; and the editorial staff (Mary Saecker, Jon Holmes, Bernadette Caldwell, Randy Wildman, Sullins Benson, and Jayne Plymale) who manage the work, keep the entire system working, and meet the deadlines. The Editor gratefully acknowledges the support and advice of the ACS Journals Division administration and staff, the JCE Board of Publication, and the JCE Editorial Advisory Board. That the Journal continues to flourish is due to our loyal readers and subscribers, the international chemistry education community that we seek to serve. Of course, Volume 92 begins another cycle in just a few weeks.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. Biography Norbert J. Pienta is Professor and Director of General Chemistry at the University of Georgia, where he teaches and conducts research and scholarship about the teaching and learning of chemistry, devising methods, instruments, and analytics to characterize student learning and increase student success. He currently also serves as the editor-inchief for the Journal of Chemical Education.
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REFERENCES
(1) For College Board’s changes to AP Chemistry, see: http:// advancesinap.collegeboard.org/math-and-science/chemistry (accessed Nov 2014). (2) Rushton, G. T. Introducing the Journal of Chemical Education’s “Special Issue: Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry”. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (9), 1273−1275. (3) Luxford, C. J.; Lowery-Bretz, S. Development of the Bonding Representations Inventory To Identify Student Misconceptions about Covalent and Ionic Bonding Representations. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (3), 312−320. (4) Claesgens, J.; Daubenmire, P. L.; Scalise, K. M.; Balicki, S.; Gochyyev, P.; Stacy, A. M. What Does a Student Know Who Earns a Top Score on the Advanced Placement Chemistry Exam? J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (4), 472−479. (5) Towns, M. H. Guide To Developing High-Quality, Reliable, and Valid Multiple-Choice Assessments. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (9), 1426−1431. (6) Davenport, J. L.; Leinhardt, G.; Greeno, J.; Koedinger, K.; Klahr, D.; Karabinos, M.; Yaron, D. J. Evidence-Based Approaches to Improving Chemical Equilibrium Instruction. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (10), 1517−1525. (7) Laursen, S. L.; Weston, T. J. Trends in Ph.D. Productivity and Diversity in Top-50 U.S. Chemistry Departments: An Institutional Analysis. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91; DOI: 10.1021/ed4006997. (8) A virtual issue of archival content about water and it properties can be found at http://pubs.acs.org/page/jceda8/earthday2014.html (accessed Nov 2014). 2008
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