Chemical Education Today edited by
Erica K. Jacobsen Editor, JCE Secondary School Chemistry
Laura E. Slocum
The Constant of Change
Associate Editor, JCE Secondary School Chemistry
Erica K. Jacobsen and Laura E. Slocum
“The only constant is change” sprang to mind while reading the draft version of this month's issue of JCE. Wi-fi connection at the ready, I turned to the Internet for information about its originator. (It was apparently a popular activity this month; see Editor-in-Chief Norb Pienta's column in this issue.) The Greek philosopher Heraclitus surfaced in connection with variants of the quote. A choice on the first page of the Google search results that appealed to me was a philosophy essay, which used the illustration of a river in a discussion of the quote (1). Even though the waters constantly change, it is still the same river. Smaller changes to JCE have been occurring throughout my years here. New feature columns have been added, current columns tweaked, the appearance and organization of the table of contents adjusted, and so on. An even larger change is upon us, as this is the first issue of JCE copublished between the ACS Publications Division and the ACS Division of Chemical Education. It has resulted in new workflows and an overall evaluation of how things have been done and how they should best be done in the future. It is likely changes both big and small are still to come. However, even though changes eddy and swirl around how JCE works, to use the illustration mentioned above, JCE remains the same river. It still remains the premier publication for chemical educators. Its content is still written by teachers, for teachers. The authors of articles in this issue still share great ideas that have worked in their own classrooms, for you to consider using in yours. Two examples that caught my eye are described below. Branan and Morgan describe “mini-laboratories” to supplement conventional laboratories (DOI: 10.1021/ed8000073). They share the example lab Banding Together where students make observations of temperature changes when stretching and relaxing rubber bands (see Figure 1). The lab experience itself really is “mini”, but can stimulate valuable discussion as students work through a series of questions, including a culminating final question. Occasional use of this style of lab may be one option to reduce the burden of lab report grading that Laura discusses later in this column. More than two dozen mini-laboratories are available at http://www.mini-labs.org/ (accessed Nov 2009). Driscoll, Gelabert, and Richardson (DOI: 10.1021/ed800021f) describe how their institution fosters connections across disciplines through the use of learning communities. Students still take standard courses, such as a first-year general chemistry course and microeconomics. However, various pairs of courses are linked through concurrent enrollment in a reflective tutorial, which explores connections of the two subjects and includes an experiential component, such as various hands-on community projects and field trips.
Figure 1. Qualitatively detecting the temperature change associated with stretching a rubber band (J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 138).
preservice teachers and a second JCE Classroom Activity reprint collection. We will also see you at the Spring 2010 ACS High School Day Program in San Francisco and at our usual booth at the NSTA 2010 national conference in Philadelphia. Laura's Take on the Issue We can probably all agree that lab reports are a necessary and required part of high school chemistry courses. However, grading them requires a substantial investment of time and effort. I just spent about 26 hours grading 124 lab reports. That is two sets of lab reports for two different courses, and I know that the number of reports I am grading is low compared to many of you. Lab report grading is the only thing I really dislike about teaching and the one area of teaching where I am always looking for a “simpler” approach. I found Gragson's and Hagan's idea of peer-review, much like the approach of this Journal as it reviews submitted articles, intriguing and one that I am going to try in my Introduction to Organic Chemistry class when they turn in their lab reports. The students already do some of this in their AP English Literature classes, so they will not be completely surprised by reviewing each other's work. However, I have never had them do this with their lab reports, so some definite direction and guidelines will be necessary. In the article, Gragson and Hagan (DOI: 10.1021/ed800015t) provide directions for how they guide their students through this process. I will mold their directions, which were used for physical chemistry lab reports, to fit my course and students. I am really looking forward to trying this process with my advanced students this semester and then later in the spring term with my first-year students. Secondary School Featured Article
JCE's Secondary School Chemistry Section
5 Myers, R. J. One-Hundred Years of pH. DOI: 10.1021/ed800002c.
As a brief update, Laura Slocum and I both continue to serve the high school readership of the Journal. This will include my serving on Norb Pienta's new editorial board as an Associate Editor in the high school and precollege areas. Laura and I are both working on projects started even before the transition, including outreach to
Literature Cited
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Journal of Chemical Education
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1. The Daily Philosopher: The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change. http://www.thedailyphilosopher.org/daily/000011.php (accessed Nov 2009).
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Vol. 87 No. 1 January 2010 pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc r 2009 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. 10.1021/ed800031d Published on Web 12/18/2009
