Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Diana S. Mason
Disciplina, Praedisium, Civitatis: Attend a Summer Meeting and Open Up Your World1 It’s summer time! Do you have plans to cultivate your mind—or just chill out? There are many choices of conferences, workshops, and other academic programs to attend plus a multitude of summer courses, in-service workshops, and a whole bunch of recommended books (1). While this cannot be a complete list, some of the larger programs include the 17th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) in Bellingham, WA (see p 660 for an overview of the meeting; see p 692 for an excerpt of a presentation at the 15th BCCE); the Fall 2002 ACS meeting in Boston; Flinn Foundation workshops in 15 locations; and several ACS regional meetings. Those who are more adventurous may want to attend the 17th International Conference on Chemical Education in Beijing, China or the “down under” summer conference—The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Division of Chemical Education National Conference 2002, November 30–December 4 (well, at least it will be summertime there!). Also, don’t forget to make plans for ChemEd 2003, to be held at Auburn University, the farthest south of any ChemEd conference! For more information about these meetings, see Notes.2–10 Have you ever been to a Journal-sponsored workshop? At most ACS national meetings we present workshops, exhibit the printed Journal, demonstrate JCE Software, and share tested ideas proven to enhance your classroom’s learning environment. At the 17th BCCE we are presenting “Experiments for High School Chemistry That You Can Use” on Sunday, July 28; “Chemlab and JCE: The Easy Way to Find New, Peer-Reviewed Lab Experiments” on Monday, July 29; “Developing Demonstrations for the Classroom and the JCE Tested Demonstrations Feature” on Tuesday, July 30; and “Enliven Your Classroom with JCE’s Chemistry Comes Alive!” on Wednesday, July 31. Monday to Wednesday you can also find us at booth 60 in the exhibit hall. If you think that there is nothing in these programs for you, then you couldn’t be more wrong—these meetings are wonderful experiences. You always learn a great deal, meet wonderful people, and enjoy fabulous parties! (BCCE includes the forever infamous Mole Day Breakfast11 at 6:02 a.m. Wednesday, July 31.) Check out the individual conference(s) by visiting their Web sites and requesting a copy of the programs (many have PDFs available online.) The majority of the conferences encourage you to bring your family because there are always planned activities for old and young children alike to enjoy. Beyond the camaraderie, benefits from these conferences include recharging the mind, relaxing the stress, and realigning your curriculum. Sharing with other like-minded educators with similar interests and goals is a remarkable experience. Maybe you won’t improve your Latin, but you might gain new insights into teaching chemistry. Valete! (2, 3).12
Secondary School Features 䊕 The 17th BCCE, p 660; http://chem.wwu.edu/acs/bcce. 䊕 Summer Reading, Recommendations by Dick Pagni, Hal Harris, Brian Coppola, and Jeff Kovac, p 648.
Notes 1. The University of Texas’ motto. This is Edwin W. Fay’s Latin version of the Republic of Texas President Mirabeau Lamar’s phrase, “Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.” The motto is roughly translated as “Education, the safeguard of democracy.” (The Alcalde, 2002, 90, 88 published by The Ex-Students’ Association of The University of Texas.) 2. The 17th BCCE will be held in Bellingham, Washington, July 28–August 1, 2002; see p 660 or http://chem.wwu.edu/acs/bcce (accessed Apr 2002). 3. The Fall 2002 ACS national meeting will be held in Boston, MA, August 18–22, 2002; http://chemistry.org/portal/ Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=meetings\boston2002\index.html (accessed Apr 2002). 4. Information about Flinn Foundation Summer Workshops is at http://www.flinnsci.com/ (accessed Apr 2002). 5. The Great Lakes Regional ACS Meeting will be held in Minneapolis, MN, June 2–4, 2002; http://www.chem.umn.edu/glrm (accessed Apr 2002). 6. The Northwest Regional ACS Meeting will be held in Spokane, WA, June 19–22, 2002; http://www.gonzaga.edu/inlandacs/ norm/norm.htm (accessed Apr 2002). 7. The Central Regional ACS Meeting will be held in Ypsilanti, MI, June 26–29, 2002; http://cerm.emich.edu (accessed Apr 2002). 8. The International Conference on Chemical Education (ICCE) will be held in Beijing, China, August 6–10, 2002; http:// www.iupac.org/symposia/conferences/17icce (accessed Apr 2002). 9. More information about the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) conference is at http://www.deakin.edu.au/fac_st/bcs/ RACI_ChemEd/index.html (accessed Apr 2002). 10. Information about ChemEd ’03 is at http:// www.auburn.edu/ausim/chemed.htm (accessed Apr 2002). 11. More information regarding the Mole Day Foundation is at http://www.moleday.org/ (accessed Apr 2002). 12. “Be Strong!” from the Latin, valere, “to be strong”, also the root for valence.
Literature Cited 1. Pagni, D.; Harris, H.; Coppola, B.; Kovac, J. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 648. 2. Atkins, P. W. The Periodic Kingdom. 1995, BasicBooks, a member of the Perseus Books Group, p 138. 3. Mason, D. Valete. “the reACT2ant” 2001, 8 (3), 3. Published by the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 79 No. 6 June 2002 • Journal of Chemical Education
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