Chemical Education Today edited by
Erica K. Jacobsen Associate Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Laura E. Slocum
Special Issues;IYC Style
Assistant Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Erica K. Jacobsen and Laura E. Slocum
A favorite game for our family to play recently has been Apples to Apples (junior edition). The game is designed around making comparisons, thus, the reference “apples to apples”. The premise of the game is simple: you hold a hand of five red cards, each with the name of a person, place, thing, or event. One player then draws a green card that has a word that can be used to describe a person, place, thing, or event. Each of the other players then selects one of their five red cards that they feel best matches the descriptive word on the green card. The player who chose the green card then decides which red card they think best matches the descriptive word. A bit of it is luck of the draw. For example, a potential hand of red cards might be: gummi bears, taking a bath, oatmeal, picnics, and mittens. If the green card drawn were “spooky”, which red card would you choose? Some funny situations can follow, but it is usually safe to say your card will not be deemed the best match. At other times, you might have a couple of options to choose from, say, if “in the basement” and “monsters” were part of your hand. A previous column (1) focused on the matchmaking that Journal staff do when they plan and lay out an issue. I stated, “As articles accepted for publication progress through the system, each is tentatively slotted into a particular issue. Matches are made between related articles if possible, and you'll commonly find them juxtaposed in an issue.” A large part of that issue planning for me in past years was connected with the two special issues published each year, a Chemists Celebrate Earth Day (CCED) issue in February, and a National Chemistry Week (NCW) issue in October. Besides any articles we invited authors to write for those issues, article scheduling always involved at least a bit of luck of the draw with what showed up as submitted and accepted manuscripts. Would there be any additional articles that tied in with the American Chemical Society's (ACS) choice of CCED and NCW themes for that year? That idea is turned on its head this year, with the arrival of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC), which really has turned every 2011 issue of JCE into a “special issue”. ACS has four quarterly themes associated with the year: water in the environment, alternative energy, materials, and health. JCE staff are working on coordinating special material for each month's issue to key to these special quarterly themes, bringing you a year's worth of IYC resources to help readers communicate the overall IYC theme, “Chemistry;our life, our future”, to others. You will still find several articles in this issue that have an Earth Day flavor, but you can also expect to see others in the coming months. Two that caught my eye are both laboratory experiments related to the production of biofuels. van Seters et al. share the experiment “Build Your Own Second-Generation Bioethanol Plant in the Classroom!” (DOI: 10.1021/ed100791w). Students use facial tissues, an example of cellulosic waste, to generate bioethanol. The authors specifically describe it as appropriate for the secondary school classroom. A second experiment involves
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Figure 1. Students compare the flammability and viscosity of vegetable oil (left) and biodiesel (right) by lighting miniature oil lamps filled with each sample and observing the length of time it takes Pasteur pipets filled with each sample to drain. See Bladt, D.; Murray, S.; Gitch, B.; Trout, H.; Liberko, C. Acid-Catalyzed Preparation of Biodiesel from Waste Vegetable Oil: An Experiment for the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88; DOI: 10.1021/ed9000427.
the use of waste vegetable oil to produce biodiesel, which students then subject to flammability and viscosity tests (Figure 1) (DOI: 10.1021/ed9000427). The title labels it as “An Experiment for the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory”, but as is the case for many JCE articles, it has potential for adaptability to other levels. NSTA 2011 National Conference The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Conference will be held in San Francisco, California, during March 10-13, 2011. Several JCE-related presentations are currently on the schedule: • Gel Filtration Chromatography: An Experiment for High School and College Natural Science Laboratory Programs (Thursday, March 10, 9:30-10:30 a.m.) • The Chemistry of Sherlock Holmes (Thursday, March 10, 3:30-4:30 p.m.) • Enhancing Scientific Literacy in a Senior-Level Ecology Classroom (Thursday, March 10, 12:30-1:30 p.m.) • Spice Up Your Science Night (Friday, March 11, 5:00-6:00 p.m.) • Explore the Chemistry Education Digital Library (Sunday, March 13, 9:30-10:30 a.m.)
If you plan to attend one of these sessions, please check the final conference schedule for any schedule changes or cancellations. Additional information is available at the conference Web page: http://nsta.org/conferences/2011san/ (accessed Dec 2010). As always, Laura and I encourage JCE authors to consider sharing their articles at conferences such as NSTA, to reach an even wider audience with their work. The deadline for proposals for the 2012 national conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, is April 15, 2011. The 2013 national conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas.
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r 2010 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc Vol. 88 No. 2 February 2011 10.1021/ed101125n Published on Web 12/09/2010
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Laura's Take on the Issue Robert E. Buntrock's book review of The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (DOI: 10.1021/ ed101094h) is wonderful and thoughtful. I really enjoyed this book and recommended it highly to my advanced placement chemistry students when they were putting their holiday wish lists together a couple of months ago. In the spring, the science faculty at my school honors the graduating seniors that are members of the Science National Honor Society with a book appropriate to their science interest and this book will be my recommendation for those with a chemistry interest. Another article encouraged me and also reminded me about how important it is to give back to those that have helped us to become the teachers that we are today: Jorge Ibanez's article, “Spreading the Good News of Chemistry: Macroscale Appreciation for a Microscale Approach” (DOI: 10.1021/ed1010745). In his article, he describes how others got him started in chemistry and then how he has shared his passion and what he and others have learned about microscale and green chemistry with others. I had the opportunity to meet Jorge back in 2001 at a summer conference and I have learned much from him over the years. While reading his article, I was reminded that as we celebrate the International Year of Chemistry, I want to consistently look for opportunities, in every way, to share my passion for chemistry.
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One way to share with others is at one of the many conferences that are coming this spring and summer. Erica and I will be at the ACS National Meeting in Anaheim, CA, for High School Day on Sunday, March 27th. I am the Education Program Chair for the ACS Central Regional Meeting (CERM) (2), June 8-10th, which will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). There will be symposia and workshops for high school teachers all three days of the conference. Also, as you make your summer plans, keep in mind ChemEd 2011 will be held July 24-28th at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan (3). I am looking forward to seeing you and hearing about how you are celebrating IYC 2011. Precollege Chemistry Featured Article 5Loyson, P. Chemistry in the Time of the Pharaohs. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88; DOI: 10.1021/ed100492a. Literature Cited 1. Jacobsen, E. K. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1021; DOI: 10.1021/ ed085p1021. 2. 42nd Meeting of the ACS Central Region. http://cerm_regional. sites.acs.org/ (accessed Dec 2010). 3. ChemEd 2011 Conference. http://www.semcto.com/chemEd2011. html (accessed Dec 2010).
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