Chemical Education Today edited by
Erica K. Jacobsen Associate Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Laura E. Slocum
Water, Water Everywhere
Assistant Editor, Precollege Chemistry
Laura E. Slocum and Erica K Jacobsen
As the International Year of Chemistry (IYC) is finally beginning, my teaching colleague and I are excited to be where we are in our various curricula. With water in the environment being the theme for the first quarter of IYC, he is particularly energized. We made some huge changes in several of our upperlevel science courses this year and one of them was to change the environmental science course to two different one-semester courses. The one in the spring, titled Environmental Science: Oceans, focuses on the impact of the oceans on our environment and our environment on the oceans. My colleague is amazed that the course that he put together is mirroring the start of IYC so well; his comment was, “I could not have done that so well if I had tried.” I know he could have because we have been very intentional about our first-year course and our modeling curriculum. We will be doing solution chemistry during this quarter of IYC in that course, as well as in my AP Chemistry course. After all of the snow that we have gotten here in the Midwest throughout December, solution chemistry and connecting it to colligative properties should be easy for the students. They will still struggle with some of the calculations, but they should not have any trouble with the concepts. We have seen so much salt on the roads and our cars that they will probably have to send the trucks out to clean up salt in the spring. Wait! Oh, no they won't! The salt will dissolve in the rainwater in the spring! There are so many wonderful ways we can talk about chemistry and connect it to water and our environment, as well as being reminded of all of the connections between our world and chemistry. In the photographs taken during my trip to Alaska in the summer of 2007 (see Figure 1), you can see three different connections between chemistry, water, and our environment. Another thing that I enjoy making connections to is the periodic table. There are so many articles and books on the periodic table that sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming. I am always looking for information on the periodic table and I like how George Kauffman reviewed (DOI: 10.1021/ed1011629) Selected Papers on the Periodic Table by Eric Scerri and pointed out to us the value of this work: “In selecting these articles and collecting them into a single modestly priced volume, Scerri has given to us, especially to us chemical educators, a multifaceted treatment of the historical development and most significant aspects of one of the central icons of chemistry.” Though this book may be more than my high school students are ready to tackle, it certainly appeals to me. As an educator, I am always looking for interesting and different ways to assess my students. Vachliotis, et al. (DOI: 10.1021/ed9000415) in their article “Exploring Novel Tools for 246
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Assessing High School Students' Meaningful Understanding of Organic Reactions” proposed some assessment questions that really appealed to me. I especially liked their systemic assessment questions that they illustrate in Figures 2, 3, and 4 of their article. It gives another approach to organic reactions and synthesis and could be quite helpful to those students that need more visual support in their instruction. Although I am not teaching organic chemistry this year, I have added this article to my course folder for next year and I am interested to try it with my students. Erica and I are looking forward to seeing any of you who are attending the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Anaheim, CA, for High School Day, on Sunday, March 27th. In our presentation, we will share ready-to-use resources from the Journal related to the “Being Naturally Resourceful” theme of the conference. I am also the Education Program Chair for the ACS Central Regional Meeting (CERM) (1), June 8-10, 2011, which will be held in Indianapolis, IN, on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). There are symposia and workshops for high school teachers all 3 days of the conference and Carolina Biological Supply is providing breakfast for all of the high school teachers on Friday morning. Also, as you make your summer plans, keep in mind ChemEd 2011, which will be held on July 24-28, 2011 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI (2). We are looking forward to seeing you this spring and summer. Erica's Take on the Issue The International Year of Chemistry (IYC) remains on the front burner for me. I am in the midst of preparing to host an IYC celebration for our local homeschool co-op next week, which will be the first week of 2011. As part of my planning process, I brainstormed hands-on activity ideas by scrolling through a list of published JCE Classroom Activities. The feature numbers over 100 items, including this month's “JCE Classroom Activity #108. Using Archimedes' Principle To Explain Floating and Sinking Cans” (DOI: 10.1021/ed100861h), so a wide array of ideas caught my eye. As I jotted down my favorites, I was struck by how many consumer items can be used to easily communicate chemistry to others. Just a few were winter deicing products, shaving cream and food coloring for paper marbling, homemade bath bubblers, and packing peanuts. Chemistry really is all around us! Two Letters to the Editor this month, “Getting Students of All Ages Excited about Fluorescence” (DOI: 10.1021/ed1007124) and “Fluorescence Using Turmeric” (DOI: 10.1021/ed1007603), extend fluorescence ideas using
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Vol. 88 No. 3 March 2011 pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc. 10.1021/ed2000044 Published on Web 01/19/2011
Chemical Education Today
Figure 1. (A) Mt. McKinley in Alaska on summer solstice; the snow on the mountain melts and runs down and into the river bringing silt with it. (B) River full of silt (across top half of picture) from the melting snow off the mountains running together with clean water in river from the lower land (bottom of picture). (C) Piece of an iceberg broken off of a glacier and floating in Prince William Sound.
everyday items described in a previously published JCE Classroom Activity (3) and a related Classroom Activity Connection (4). In my search for chemistry-themed snacks to offer at the IYC celebration, I stumbled across another fluorescencerelated idea: fluorescent ice cubes, made using tonic water, because the quinine-containing beverage appears bright blue under a black light (5). Precollege Chemistry Featured Article 5Sanger, M. J. JCE Classroom Activity #108. Using Archimedes' Principle To Explain Floating and Sinking Cans. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (DOI: 10.1021/ed100861h).
r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
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Literature Cited 1. ACS Central Regional Meeting 2011. http://cerm_regional.sites.acs. org/ (accessed Jan 2011). 2. ChemEd 2011 Conference. http://www.semcto.com/chemEd2011. html (accessed Jan 2011). 3. O'Hara, P. B.; St. Peter, W.; Engelson, C. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 48A-48B; DOI: 10.1021/ed082p48A. 4. MacCormac, A.; O'Brien, E.; O'Kennedy, R. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87, 685-686; DOI: 10.1021/ed100262t. 5. Helmenstine, A. M. How To Make Glow in the Dark Ice. http:// chemistry.about.com/b/2010/05/13/how-to-make-glow-in-the-darkice.htm (accessed Jan 2011).
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