Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers
by J. Emory Howell
David Olney—On Laboratory Work The View From My Classroom feature article which appears in this issue (page 1343) was authored by a teacher who is familiar to many of our readers and who is widely respected for his years of leadership in the high school science teacher community. If you haven’t met Dave Olney, a brief biographical sketch appears at the end of his article (page 1345). Through his article, “On Laboratory Work”, Dave shares insights and useful ideas that can benefit beginning and experienced teachers alike. Something else that makes the article special is that Dave had just retired from full-time teaching when he wrote it. At a time when a large number of experienced teachers are retiring it is inspiring to see the wisdom acquired over a career being passed on to teachers who have years of teaching ahead of them. Dave has not retired from active service to the chemical education community, however. He is active in both NEACT and his local ACS section. We wish you the best in retirement, Dave, and hope that other retired teachers with ideas and experiences to share will follow your example.
Other Articles of Interest In This Issue There are two other Secondary School Feature articles appearing in this issue (see shaded area on this page). Also —as is true each month—there are many other articles that are likely to be helpful or interesting to high school teachers. In the September and October issues we reminded readers about the use of the high school logo, t, in the Table of Contents and In This Issue. Although it designates articles that appear to be of special interest to high school teachers, individual tastes and needs vary considerably. It is likely that you will not be interested in all the articles marked with the logo and you may be interested in others that are not marked. I welcome your thoughts on how well the articles indicated with the logo fit your needs and interests as a high school or prehigh school teacher. Do you feel the logo is being applied to too many articles, not enough articles, or about the right number each month? Please respond directly to me at the address listed below.
Introducing David Byrum In this issue we are introducing the new editor of the View From My Classroom feature column. Be sure to read his introduction on page 1343. In the introduction he invites reader response to one of three categories, based on years of teaching experience. I encourage you to respond to David even if you do not wish to submit your experiences in manuscript form. If enough responses are received it may be possible to combine them into a manuscript or David may choose to summarize the responses through a column. Of course, ideas for full manuscripts are always welcome. David can be reached readily by both email and conventional mail as indicated at the bottom of his introduction.
Paths to Contact the High School Chemistry Editor J. Emory Howell Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5043 email:
[email protected]; phone: 601/266-4375; fax: 601/266-6075
Secondary School Feature Articles
t On Laboratory Work, by David Olney, p 1343. t Science on Wheels, by Juan L pez-Garriga et al., p 134 t The Membrane Analogy for Surface Tension in Liquids, by Francisco Arn iz, p 1358.
Applications and Analogies Mission Statement—A Correction The mission statement printed in the September issue (p 1042) stated that the applications given as examples were published in the Journal. Not all applications appearing in the list have been published in JCE. Many of them were written by feature editor Ron DeLorenzo and have appeared in widely used textbooks. The sentence preceding the list should have read “Examples of other interesting applications include:” In response to a request from audience members when he spoke at the College of New Rochelle recently, Ron has compiled the full collection of his essays onto a single floppy disk. For ordering information please contact him directly (Ron DeLorenzo, Department of Chemistry, Middle Georgia College, Cochran, GA 31014). During the past 20 years more than 120 Applications and Analogies feature articles have been published in JCE. More than half have been analogies, but the number of applications published is quite large. Three examples of applications published in JCE are cited in the mission statement. This month’s issue includes an analogy, written by Arnáiz (p 1358). If you have an idea for an application or an analogy that you would like to have considered for publication you are encouraged to contact Ron directly.
A Plethora of Resources—JCE Online Pleth-o-ra (n.): a profuse quantity or fullness. JCE Online fits the definition well and many of the resources are potentially useful for high school teachers. If you haven’t visited http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu recently, grab your mouse and let’s take a quick tour of some of the rescues. Clicking on JCE Software takes us to the CD-ROM/Video Page where we can view descriptions of high-quality, economical, peer-reviewed software. The descriptions are illustrated with color pictures, some of which lead to a quicktime movie of a demonstration or an animation. Try clicking on Chemistry Comes Alive!, Volume 1 and view the demonstration if your computer accommodates quicktime movies. Even if it does not, the still pictures are outstanding. Returning to the JCE Online page, let’s click on JCE Internet, and then click on Resources When the resources page comes on-screen click on Hal’s Picks first and read his introduction before looking at some of the interesting book reviews he provides each month. Then, return to the Resources page and click on More JCE Internet News… The Web sites listed have been reviewed by chemical educators. Scroll down to Mark Winter’s “Web Elements” if you are not already familiar with this outstanding resource. Stay as long as you wish and enjoy the rest of your tour.
Vol. 74 No. 11 November 1997 • Journal of Chemical Education
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