Chemical Education Today edited by
Erica K. Jacobsen Associate Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Laura E. Slocum
Marbling Marathon
Assistant Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Erica K. Jacobsen and Laura E. Slocum
For several springs over the past few years, I've been part of a marathon. Not your usual sort of marathon, but one involving chemicals, with lots of science teachers as the participants. A paper marbling marathon. One of our most effective draws at the JCE booth at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) national conference has been a hands-on demonstration of JCE Classroom Activity #89 “Colorful Lather Printing” (1). This has become one of our signature activities and is one of the most talked about hands-on activities we've shared anywhere. The booth's front table is always strewn with at least one or two plates full of our latest swirl of shaving cream and food coloring and cardstock squares chronicling our multiple marbling attempts throughout the three-day exhibit schedule (Figure 1). Sometimes we will even marble conference name badges. Inevitably, a passerby will glance at the front table, slow down, and ask “What are you doing?” With that, I'm off and running again, demonstrating with another plateful and explaining how this fun activity can teach some serious science to students of all ages. This spring at the 2010 conference in Philadelphia, at the end of my demonstration, a visitor gladly took a copy of the activity and asked, “Whoever thought that up?” It was difficult to give just one answer. My standard description of JCE is that it is written by teachers, for teachers. In the case of the written activity, I referenced the authors, who include Susan Hershberger and Mickey Sarquis. I could not say that they're the first people who ever marbled paper with shaving cream and food coloring, but they were the first to synthesize a hands-on JCE Classroom Activity manuscript, with an explanation of the science behind it, and a full exploration of paper, shaving cream, water, and food coloring in the form of a ready-to-use student handout. Each spring I'm surprised at how many people we meet who have never
seen the activity, and I'm happy to share it with them during the marbling marathon. After returning from the conference, I noticed an advertisement in the newspaper for a new Kool-Aid product: FunFizz Drink Drops. My first question was “Whoever thought that up?” This sounded suspiciously like Fizzies, a drink tablet product introduced in the 1950s and later brought back on the market, highlighted by Brian Rohrig in his JCE Classroom Activity #31 “Fizzy Drinks: Stoichiometry You Can Taste” (2). I purchased a packet (in the name of science) and my children and I investigated the ingredients label and how they worked. Sure enough, two ingredients were citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, as with the Fizzies. The Drink Drops do offer an easier way to illustrate a Fizzies-style product in connection with the Classroom Activity using a locally purchased product instead of having to purchase Fizzies from the Internet. Angela King's monthly JCE Research Advances column often features descriptions of research that can prompt the same question, “Whoever thought that up?”, which is an excellent way to share cutting edge research with students. I was interested in this month's discussion (DOI: 10.1021/ed100234u) of “a bowl-shaped molecule that pulls carbon dioxide out of the air” and its potential connections with global warming. The molecule had been discovered “while doing research unrelated to global climate change. Carbon dioxide was collecting in the molecule, and Gale realized that it was coming from air in the lab.” What a serendipitous discovery, with possible future potential by other researchers mentioned in the report. American Chemical Society Fall 2010 High School Day in Boston Sally Mitchell, chair of the upcoming High School Day Program in Boston to be held Sunday, August 22, 2010, has
Figure 1. JCE Classroom Activity #89 “Colorful Lather Printing” (1) shares a fast and easy way to marble paper using shaving cream and food coloring.
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Vol. 87 No. 6 June 2010 pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. 10.1021/ed100360h Published on Web 04/23/2010
Chemical Education Today
something deliciously exciting in store on the schedule. Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, will be speaking at the program. The Journal will also be part of the program, with our own food-related presentation “Connecting Candy to Chemistry: Ready-to-Use Resources from the Journal of Chemical Education”. Hope to see you there. Laura's Take on the Issue After returning from the Spring American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in San Francisco, I find myself filled with mixed emotions. There is the excitement of new ideas and things to come, especially the changes that are continuing to happen at the Journal and within the ACS Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED). However, there is also the reminder that the semester is rapidly drawing to a close and I still have a good bit of material to cover in my classes. In addition, my biochemistry students have a molecular modeling project that is looming before them. While in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to meet a couple of the people that work for ACS Publications, which now co-publishes JCE with DivCHED. We talked at length about what makes the Journal so special for high school teachers. One of these people specifically mentioned that he is really looking forward to meeting more high school teacher subscribers and hearing more directly from them. He was particularly excited about the symposium that Erica and I will cochair this summer at the 21st Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE), “Views from the Classrooms of Conant and Regional Award Winners”. I am looking forward to this symposium too, especially after attending Jeff Hepburn's Conant Award presentation at the High School/College Interface Luncheon during the High School Day program in San Francisco. Those of you who can attend the symposium are in for a real treat. You will be able to see presentations by Conant and Regional winners that may have only been given during their award presentations and also learn more about the selection process for these awards. We hope to tape this symposium and make it available for those of you who are unable to join us at the BCCE in Denton, Texas. We will keep you posted about where and how to find this as the summer progresses. This symposium and us working to tape it and make it available for those who cannot attend are two new opportunities
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coming for high school teachers that are connected with the Journal. Within DivCHED, more high school teachers are becoming involved in the Division, including two high school teachers running for counselor/alternate counselor positions this fall. A counselor/alternate counselor is an elected member of the Executive Committee of DivCHED and the counselor also serves on a committee in the ACS and reports information back to the Division from the Society. It is a chance to learn more about both DivCHED and ACS, and to have a voice within these two organizations. I find this very encouraging and I am looking forward to seeing the other new directions DivCHED takes as they continue to move forward. As a reminder, high school teachers can be members of DivCHED without being member of the ACS and information about membership in DivCHED can be found on the DivCHED Web site (3). As you may already know, I use lots of molecular models and molecular modeling tools and programs in all of my classes and my students especially like Jmol computer models. In Gutow's article “Easy Jmol Web Pages Using the Jmol Export to Web Function” (DOI: 10.1021/ed100283v), he describes how Jmol “makes it easier to use live 3-D visualization as part of Web-based tutorials, interactive textbooks, or student projects.” These are all ways that my students use Jmol. The article has given me some even more straightforward ways to direct my biochemistry students on how to incorporate the live 3-D models that they will now create into their final student projects. Precollege Chemistry Featured Article 5 Rhodes, M. M. A Laboratory Practical Exam for High School Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87 (DOI: 10.1021/ ed100200k). Literature Cited 1. Hershberger, S. A. S.; Nance, M.; Sarquis, A. M.; Hogue, L. M. Colorful Lather Printing. J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84, 608A–608B. 2. Rohrig, B. Fizzy Drinks: Stoichiometry You Can Taste. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1608A–1608B. 3. ACS Division of Chemical Education Web Site. http://www. divched.org/ (accessed Apr 2010).
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