Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers
by Laura E. Slocum
Changes—Why Consider Them? A couple of years ago I started making small changes to the Secondary School Featured Articles order in which I teach some of the topics in my first-year chemistry course. I did this because I had noticed that when I followed ◭ The Chemical Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Mrs. Hudson’s Golden Brooch by Ken Shaw, p 443. the traditional chapter order of the text, I was transitioning back and forth between the “math-intensive” and less quantitative ◭ JCE Classroom Activity #101. The Secret of Smart Paper by Lynn Diener, Brian McCall, J. Aura Gimm, p 464A. topics. As I made each transition, many students became frustrated and rarely asked questions. Then after a few days, Another change that I have made is adding more most would settle into the new topic inquiry-based labs and activities to my classes, someand start asking questions again. But thing that I haven’t always found simple. However, I it was hard for me to see the confusion found Cacciatore’s and Sevian’s (p 498) research and in their eyes and not have them ask the suggestions for incrementally incorporating inquiry questions that were obviously there. So, into their curriculum very helpful. Their article also I wondered if changing the order of topmade me think about how changes do not need to ics would help keep my students more Microcapsules coated on a human always be “big” or done all at once, but I do need to focused and asking questions. hair. See Activity #101, The The first year I made changes in Secret of Smart Paper, to see how consider many things when I make changes—who small ways, more in the second, and microcapsules are used in everyday they will impact, how will they impact them, how to implement the change, how to pay for the change, etc. even more this year. I feel really com- materials. Curriculum changes abound. Share your thoughts on fortable with the changes, and I like curriculum changes by emailing Erica (
[email protected]) the changes in my students too. However, this means I am no or me (
[email protected]). longer teaching the textbook order of the chapters and some of my students—and many of the parents—were quite surprised Erica’s Take on the Issue that we “are not following the book”. Now I only teach metric Nostalgia took hold when George Sellers first shared his conversions as the students need them for the laboratory part of story with me about his “Nobel gift” of an Erector Set for Sir the course. But stoichiometry, both composition and reaction, Harold Kroto (p 412). It brought back visions from childhood comes all together as one unit at the beginning of second semesof my brother’s heavy wooden box packed with Erector Set ter. Solution concentrations then follow stoichiometry. Three components—all sorts of nuts, bolts, and slim metal pieces years later, I am still making sequencing changes to my first-year covered with holes. You could build pretty much anything, chemistry course because I have been making small incremental limited only by your imagination and the agility of your fingers. changes, and I know that my course is still not exactly where I I took Kroto’s advice and purchased a set for our family a month want it to be for my students. or two ago. Even younger elementary-aged children can benefit I mentioned the biggest change to this year’s sequence in from the practice of deciphering the pictorial directions and Laura’s Take in the February issue (1). That issue focuses on the skill of properly threading a nut and bolt and tightening it Earth Day, and I noted that I would celebrate it in the classroom just enough. This first “Teacher Talk” anecdote had a real effect for the very first time this year. The 100th JCE Classroom Activon me, and I hope the set will have a lasting impression on my ity: How Heavy Is a Balloon? (2) excited me and had a direct children. What experiences can you share? application to the gas laws. I knew that my students would love For more information about Kroto’s life, his fascinating the activity, but I did not want to just do the activity to celebrate work with fullerenes, as well as his thoughts on teaching and Earth Day: I wanted the activity to “match my curriculum”. So, I learning science and creativity, see Liberato Cardellini’s JCE purposely moved the section on gas laws to April to “fit” Earth article “Chemistry, Creativity, Collaboration, and C60: An Day. We have already done lots of stoichiometry and solutions Interview with Harold W. Kroto” (3). by that time, and I believe this will allow me to better connect the two topics for the students. Literature Cited Teaching in different sequences has been personally and 1. Jacobsen, Erica K. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 141. professionally invigorating. I find that by teaching the less “math 2. Johnson, Bettie Obi; Milligan, Henry Van. How Heavy Is a Balloon? ematically based” chemistry topics first, then when I move into Using the Ideal Gas Law. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 224A–224B. the more mathematical topics—stoichiometry, concentration, 3. Cardellini, L. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 751–755. and now gas laws—the students make the transition more easily. One way that I measure how they are doing is by their comSupporting JCE Online Material ments. So far this spring, I have not had one student say, “not http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2009/Apr/abs413.html more math!” That’s a very refreshing and encouraging change. Full text (HTML and PDF) with links to cited JCE articles At the end of the semester I will definitely evaluate reordering Blogged at http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/chemeddl/ topics more extensively for consideration in future years.
© Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 86 No. 4 April 2009 • Journal of Chemical Education
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