Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Erica K. Jacobsen
A New Crop of Opportunities Strawberry Season Strawberry season for 2002 is now over. These words met my eyes when I logged onto the Web site for a nearby “youpick” farm, and they chilled my heart. No homemade strawberry jam this year. I had missed it. This past spring, I envisioned jars of jam lining my shelves. There would be enough to carry me over until next year. No need for store-bought jam. But when the season started, reasons to put off picking the berries came up. That morning was too hot. That day was for running errands. That week was taken up by a trip to the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. Finally the day seemed perfect. I could almost see the berries bursting with flavor and smell their sweet, fruity aroma. A quick trip to the farm’s Web site for travel directions yielded the bad news—season over. The words “National Chemistry Week for 2002 is now over” cannot be written yet. But don’t let it catch you unaware. This year marks a departure from its usual scheduled time in November. The celebration this year is slated for October 20–26. This allows it to coincide with Mole Day on October 23. This issue of the Journal is fairly bursting with articles and Activities to assist you in your celebration. This month’s Classroom Activity “Brushing Up on Chemistry” (p 1168A–B) directly complements this year’s NCW theme, “Chemistry Keeps Us Clean”. In the Activity, students prepare homemade toothpaste and compare it to commercial toothpaste. Hard-boiled eggs stained with food coloring serve as teeth to compare the cleaning power of the toothpastes. It marks the first publication for a new Journal staff member. Ashley Trantow, an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, spent this past spring working with the Journal as part of an independent study in chemistry. She assisted Nancy Gettys and me in all stages of the Activity’s production. Her participation culminated in her development of this month’s Activity. The husband-wife author team of Kimberly L. Kostka and David D. McKay brings a unique perspective to the article “Chemists Clean Up: A History and Exploration of the Craft of Soapmaking” (p 1172). She is a chemist; he is a historian. Together, they describe the forces that combined to make soap the common item it is today. Their personal experience with soapmaking within their own handmade soap company offered hands-on opportunities for photographs, which can be seen in the article. These articles and much, much more in this issue offer excellent opportunities to share the excitement of NCW with your students. Don’t let this issue pass you by without jumping in and taking your pick of the fruit. Use Your Chemagination October 2025. An issue of ChemMatters magazine arrives in the mailbox. An article featured on the colorful
Secondary School Featured Articles 䊕 News from Online: Cleaning Up: Soap, Detergent, and More, by Carolyn Sweeney Judd, p 1179. 䊕 Clean Chemistry: Entertaining and Educational Activities with Soap Bubbles, by Kathryn R. Williams, p 1168. 䊕 JCE Resources for Chemistry and Cleaning, by Erica K. Jacobsen, p 1162. 䊕 JCE Classroom Activity: #47. Brushing Up on Chemistry, by Ashley Trantow, p 1168A.
cover catches your eye. Its title: ________. Jump back to the current time. The blank for the title is left for high school students to fill in as they participate in Chemagination, a science essay and poster contest sponsored by the American Chemical Society. Their entry is not an ordinary essay and poster, however. Students use their chemical knowledge, creativity, and really, their “chemaginations”, to think about what new breakthrough in chemistry that is important to teenagers might exist in the year 2025. They then write an article about it that could appear in the October 2025 edition of ChemMatters and design the cover of that issue. This program has been piloted for the past three years in limited areas. During the coming year, it goes national for the first time. ACS local sections are encouraged to hold their own Chemagination contests with finalists progressing to their closest regional meeting. Regional finalists will continue on to a national competition in December 2002 in Washington, DC. See the News and Announcements feature (p 1199) of this issue and http://chemistry.org/oca/ (accessed August 2002) for additional information. Regional Meetings Regional ACS meetings have unfortunately not been very well-known for their offerings for elementary and high school educators. However, the upcoming Southeast Regional Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina promises to change that view. Elizabeth Martin of the College of Charleston has put together an ambitious two-day program of approximately 30 workshops and presentations that will interest teachers on all levels K–12. This portion of the meeting will be held on Friday and Saturday, November 15–16. A detailed description, including contact information, can be seen in News and Announcements (p 1199). Check out the ACS Regional Meeting Calendar for 2003 at http://chemistry.org/meetings/regional/ calendar.html (accessed August 2002). Are you located near any of the nine meetings planned for next year? Please consider assisting at a similar Educational Day event. Contact the ACS Office of Regional Meetings,
[email protected].
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 79 No. 10 October 2002 • Journal of Chemical Education
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