Chemical Education Today edited by
Erica K. Jacobsen Associate Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Laura E. Slocum
Treasure Hunting
Assistant Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Erica K. Jacobsen* and Laura E. Slocum
Jackpot! Our weekly trip to the library was nearly over as we headed out the door. However, the magazine exchange shelves in the entryway yielded one last treasure: a stash of back issues of my favorite quilting magazine. I thrive on these sorts of discoveries that I might stumble upon at the library, the thrift store, and the Web. A few weeks ago, a spur-of-the-moment trip to the thrift store netted a complete set of Acquire, a board game I'd played and enjoyed with friends, but is no longer produced and available through ordinary channels. The majority of the blogs I currently follow were found as a result of links that I happened to find while looking for something else. When purchasing an item on the Amazon Web site, I'm usually curious to see what it has to point out regarding “Customers who bought this item also bought...”. These sorts of discoveries can even happen as we peruse the table of contents of a new issue of a periodical, including the Journal of Chemical Education. When I saw the complete listing of the article titles that would appear in this month's issue, to begin writing this column, I first looked specifically for Terri Taylor's article “The International Year of Chemistry 2011;This Is Your Year!” (DOI: 10.1021/ed101038q). I'd read the piece in its early stages and knew it was coming up as an informative kick-off to JCE's coverage of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC) (Figure 1). Her description includes information about how IYC came about, the various agencies that are coordinating the event, and a preview of resources that will be available through the American Chemical Society (ACS). One resource she mentions that I'm looking forward to adding to my Web browser bookmarks bar when it launches January 1, 2011, is a link to 365: Chemistry for Life. The site “is designed to highlight a different topic (person, place, molecule, element, etc.) each day during IYC 2011” (1). This resource would be a great way to daily and easily share a new facet of chemistry with students or others around us. A related piece by ACS President Nancy B. Jackson also appears (DOI: 10.1021/ ed101044m). She emphasizes the idea that communicating science to the public must be a priority, with IYC giving all of us a great opportunity to do so. What next as I wander through the table of contents? Now I'm thinking about how I might choose to communicate chemistry to others, perhaps in the environment of the homeschool cooperative to which our family belongs. I've also signed up to decorate the public library's front entry display case for a month in 2011 for IYC, so I'm looking for ideas. “The Science of Chocolate: Interactive Activities on Phase Transitions, Emulsification, and Nucleation” (DOI: 10.1021/ ed100503p) naturally catches my eye. Rowat et al. describe a onehour presentation “on the science of chocolate for the general public, including children ages 6 and up”. They engage audience members through taste experiments and having children “become” molecules present in chocolate (Figure 2). Perfect;a way to communicate chemistry using a common, hands-on item. Or maybe
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Figure 1. Look for the International Year of Chemistry logo throughout the coming year to alert you to events and information to help all of us communicate chemistry. Visit http://www.chemistry2011.org/ (accessed Nov 2010) to find out more.
Figure 2. The authors of “The Science of Chocolate: Interactive Activities on Phase Transitions, Emulsification, and Nucleation” (DOI: 10.1021/ed100503p) use icons on children's T-shirts to help illustrate the properties of different ingredients in chocolate.
Werner and Hatton's “Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports: How Chemists Catch Users” (DOI: 10.1021/ed100525f). Taylor's article mentioned ACS's four quarterly themes for IYC, with the fourth quarter focusing on health. Perhaps a presentation could connect health and sports. Or, there could be another way to draw students in using science applications in sports. Hmm. A quick check on the JCE Web site shows that there was an entire National Chemistry Week issue focused on sports in October 2008. Another potential source I can look into. What are you doing for IYC? Let us know what you're planning or what you've already carried out. E-mail me at
[email protected] to share your news. ACS-Hach High School Chemistry Grants The application period for this year's round of ACS-Hach High School Chemistry Grants is fast approaching. Applications
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r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc Vol. 88 No. 1 January 2011 10.1021/ed1010807 Published on Web 11/19/2010
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are accepted annually February 1 through April 1. The online application requires only a one-page grant proposal and allows for a requested budget of up to $1500. A quick browse through the lists of past grant recipients reveals grant uses such as biodiesel in the high school laboratory, using JCE Web Software, clickers, digital balances, organic synthesis in high school, air quality monitoring, a modeling chemistry workshop, and more. You'll probably even see the names of educators you know on the list. Want to see your name on next year's list? Make a start with information on the application process at http://portal.acs.org/ portal/Navigate?nodeid=2245. Laura's Take on the Issue As 2011 begins, I am excited for several reasons. The International Year of Chemistry gives me an opportunity to talk about chemistry even more with those that I come into contact with each day. Plus, I am really looking forward to see what each day brings on the ACS's 365: Chemistry for Life Web site (1). A few of my students and I submitted some ideas and we cannot wait to see whether they will appear in 2011. I have been teaching my first-year course using a different approach this year, modeling, which I mentioned in the December 2010 column (2), so I had hoped students' misconceptions would be addressed sooner because of all the in-class discussion. However, I have continued to hear students say that water decomposes when it boils. We have discussed this for what seems like a million times and yet, just last week, I had three students say that water makes hydrogen and oxygen when it boils. Kristin Mayer's article “Addressing Students' Misconceptions about Gases, Mass, and Composition” (DOI: 10.1021/ed1005085) reminded me that I am not alone and not to beat myself up over my students' misconceptions. In her article, she shares about past research and the importance of addressing students' misconceptions
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with ways that directly contradict their misconceptions. Mayer suggests labs and provides research to show how these labs altered the students' learning. Bopegedera describes an interesting approach to spectroscopy in her article “A Guided-Inquiry Lab for the Analysis of the Balmer Series of the Hydrogen Atomic Spectrum” (DOI: 10.1021/ed1003146). I have tried several different and more traditional laboratories like this from various laboratory manuals with my advanced placement (AP) students over the years and they have consistently evaluated this lab as one of their least favorite. When I have asked them why they did not like these labs, the primary response has been that they felt like they were just “crunching numbers”. I want my students to get more out of their laboratory experiences than number crunching. I really like the idea of having students build their own spectrophotometer and then use it to gather their data. So, I am going to use this lab when we return from winter break in February and see what my AP students think about it this year. I am looking forward to their experience and hope that it will engage them more than the various labs that I have tried about emission spectra in the past. Precollege Chemistry Featured Article 5Mayer, K. Addressing Students' Misconceptions about Gases, Mass, and Composition. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87 (DOI: 10.1021/ed1005085). Literature Cited 1. ACS Web Site, 365: Chemistry for Life. http://portal.acs.org/ portal/PublicWebSite/global/iyc2011/CTS_035101 (accessed Nov 2010). 2. Slocum, L. E.; Jacobsen, E. K. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87 (12), 1282– 1283.
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