Chemical Education Today
Letters
W
Using Chemistry Comes Alive! in the Classroom This letter is a testimonial for the JCE Software CD series “Chemistry Comes Alive!” (1–6). I purchased these CDs a year ago, and they have exceeded my expectations for usefulness in the classroom during the past school year. I hope to encourage other teachers to purchase at least one to incorporate in their curriculum. The CDs allow the teacher to present demonstrations that are easier to see and quicker to prepare than live demonstrations. Students respond well to the visual appeal, and the time required to prepare a classical demonstration can be better used preparing the lesson plan containing the short film clip. I have created a short lesson plan that I used this year on thermodynamics that took ten minutes of classroom time and incorporated three 30-second clips on the crystallization of a supersaturated solution of sodium acetate. In each class I had at least one student excited enough by the presentation to ask if we could do it in our classroom. See Web site: http://www.jce.divched.org/JCESoft/CCA/lessons/ccaLesson01/ index.html. Supplemental Material A lesson plan on thermodynamics is available at http:// www.jce.divched.org/JCESoft/CCA/lessons/ccaLesson01/ index.html. W
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
•
Literature Cited 1. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive!, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software, 2000, SP 18. 2. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive!, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software, 2000, SP 21. 3. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W. Chemistry Comes Alive!, Vol. 3 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software, 2000, SP 23. 4. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W.; Bain, G.; Bruce, K. Chemistry Comes Alive!, Vol. 4 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software, 2000, SP 25. 5. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W.; Trammell, G.; Johnson, K. Chemistry Comes Alive!, Vol. 5 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software, 2001, SP 29. 6. Jacobsen, J. J.; Moore, J. W.; Browne, L. M.; Zimmerman, J. F. Chemistry Comes Alive!, Vol. 6 [CD-ROM]; J. Chem. Educ. Software, 2000, SP 30. Martin Bartholow Shawnee Mission North High School 7401 Johnson Drive Shawnee Mission, KS 66202
[email protected] Vol. 81 No. 7 July 2004
•
Journal of Chemical Education
951
