Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Erica K. Jacobsen
Join Us in Communicating Chemistry Staffing the Journal of Chemical Education booth at teachers’ conferences keeps you on your toes. It’s a bit like “Stump the Band”, where audience members call out tunes for a band to play with little or no preparation. But this game is “Stump Erica—Can she really answer any question?” I field the regular ones, no problem: What is JCE? How do I sign up for a subscription? For other questions, I get to know the answers over the span of the conference: Where is the nearest bathroom? Where is the booth that’s giving away the free [fill-in-the-blank]? At the past National Science Teachers Association meeting in Anaheim, I heard a question that is not one of the most frequent, but one that I love to discuss with attendees, “Who writes your curriculum?” That is, who writes the articles that appear in JCE? The brief version of my answer: You do. In a past Especially for High School Teachers column, I encouraged high school teachers to submit articles to JCE (1). I discussed many of the benefits of submitting items for publication, as well as one reason high school teachers may find it difficult—time. But, in the midst of summer, as your schedule dials down from “insane” to merely “hectic”, let’s revisit the topic. I want you to write for everyone. Are writing mechanics holding you back? Churchill (p 1022) describes an interesting exercise performed with graduate students. The students were non-native English speakers honing their ability to produce clear scientific writing. Churchill states “Condensing text to retain the same meaning and facts leads to writing that is clearer and more persuasive.” To that end, the students’ writing improvement was quantified by a reduction in word count from one draft to another. The instructor and fellow students gave feedback on the initial draft. He also says “reading the primary scientific literature, as well as other sources such as Chemical and Engineering News, provides students with examples of how to write science content effectively.” These are excellent suggestions for potential JCE authors as well. Have a science colleague provide content feedback. Ask an English teacher for comments on structure. Email me (
[email protected]) a draft to see before a formal submission. I would add another source to Churchill’s mention of reading material: read the Journal for other writing examples to see what makes a successful submission. Don’t feel that a submission has to be a word-perfect research report that’s next in line to win a Nobel Prize. JCE reaches multiple audiences in multiple ways. Goodney (p 1001) describes an easy way to bring a chemical equation to life using video and excerpts from a historical scientific work by Boyle. Cacciatore and Sevian (p 1039) share a way to bring together stoichiometry, green chemistry, and lab report writing. Many teachers mention how much they liked “The Strange Case of Mole Airlines Flight 1023” (2), a fun mystery puzzle that provides
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Secondary School Featured Articles 䊕 Summer Reading by Hal Harris, Cheryl Baldwin Frech, Jeff Kovac, Brian Coppola, and Dick Pagni, p 974. 䊕 Implementing the Science Writing Heuristic in the Chemistry Laboratory by K. A. Burke, Thomas J. Greenbowe, and Brian M. Hand, p 1032. 䊕 The Joy of Toys, on CD-ROM. Abstract of a Classroom Resource Compilation by Jon L. Holmes, p 1104.
practice in mole conversions and empirical formula calculations. I’ll bet you have something just as useful in your curriculum to share with a wider audience. Help your students improve their ability to communicate science to others, as well. Renaud, Squier, and Larsen (p 1029) describe “elevator speeches” where each student prepares a one-minute speech explaining a science concept such as the second law of thermodynamics. Students could use this technique in class to review a unit’s vocabulary or concept list before a test. Please drop by the JCE booth at an upcoming conference. We’re always at BCCE, ChemEd, NSTA, and ACS. Maybe you’ll overhear a visitor asking “Who writes articles for JCE?” Help me out. Let them know your answer: “I do.” National Chemistry Week—We Need Your Ideas By the time you read this, we’ll be putting the final touches on our October issue lineup for National Chemistry Week (NCW) 2006 “Your Home–It’s All Built on Chemistry”. The American Chemical Society selected “The Many Faces of Chemistry” for 2007, focusing on chemistry-related careers, and “Having a Ball with Chemistry” for 2008, focusing on sports. We need ideas for articles and a JCE Classroom Activity that relate to the 2007 and 2008 themes. What would you like to see? Would you be willing to submit an article that relates to one of the themes? Or could you suggest a possible author? National Chemistry Week means a lot to us at JCE, and we’d like to provide the best issue possible for our readers. Please share your input! Be sure to check out our first Classroom Resource Compilation CD-ROM (p 1104). It’s an exciting collection of toyrelated resources from NCW 2005 “The Joy of Toys”. Literature Cited 1. Jacobsen, E. K. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 121. 2. Jones, Karl F. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 407–408.
Vol. 83 No. 7 July 2006
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Journal of Chemical Education
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