Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Erica K. Jacobsen
Wear Chemistry Where? They’re taking over. My chemistry wear has consumed an entire dresser drawer and appears to be on the move. JCE logo shirts, a photochromic shirt from the Institute for Chemical Education, “Periodic Table and Chairs”, even a shirt with an iron-on transfer of one of my favorite JCE covers. While student teaching, I was fortunate enough to meet the late Glenn Seaborg at an American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting. His neckwear of choice? A periodic table tie, with an additional square with the symbol “Sg” (for Seaborgium) hand-painted on the tie. I shared the experience with my students and used it as an opportunity to talk to them about the thencurrent controversy over the name of element 106. Chemistry wear can be worn anywhere. Shirts and such tend to invite comment. We wear our subject (our hearts as well?) on our in shade… sleeves. It informally shares chemistry with the public. National Chemistry Week (NCW) annually provides chemistry educators with the same opportunity. Are you using the opportunity? What is your local ACS section doing? What are you doing in your classes? In the classes of your local elementary school? Both JCE and ACS share a large number of resources for National Chemistry Week, freshly created every year. Themes from past years have covered a broad range. This year is no exception: the 2003 theme for October 19–25 is “Earth’s Atmosphere and Beyond”. Teachers will have no problem picking and choosing from the theme to match their own personal interests and situations. You might focus on a single, very important gas found in the atmosphere: oxygen. Stephen W. Wright offers an excellent Classroom Activity “Where There’s Fire There’s....” (p 1160A). Students prepare small jars of oxygen and carbon dioxide gas from household chemicals. They then compare the combustion of items such as a glowing wooden toothpick and a lit birthday candle in these two gases, as well as in jars of room air and exhaled breath. The Activity accompanies Wright’s Tested Demonstration, “A Method for Generating Oxygen from Consumer Chemicals” (p 1158). Need an eye-catching demo to capture the interest of those who have never even heard of NCW? Try his instructions for burning steel wool in oxygen—you’ll only need household materials! A sure chemistry conversation starter in your school (or any multistory building) would be the construction of the water barometer described by de Grys (p 1156). Take 30 feet of inexpensive hardware tubing, stoppers, water, and a bucket, and turn it into a science event. Students are often
Secondary School Featured Articles 䊕 Where There’s Fire There’s…, by Stephen W. Wright, p 1160A. 䊕 Thirty Feet and Rising: Constructing and Using a Water Barometer To Explore Chemical Principles, by Hans de Grys, p 1156. 䊕 JCE Resources for Chemistry and the Atmosphere, by Erica K. Jacobsen, p 1106.
surprised that air pressure can hold up such a tall column of water– even though they bear the same weight on their bodies every day. It gives a fresh view on the atmosphere around us. Mark Michalovic moves from the idea of the store Bed, Bath, and Beyond to the NCW theme “Earth’s in sun! Atmosphere and Beyond” in “News from Online: The Chemistry of Beyond” (p 1119). Could you share a handout of his Web sites during NCW? People with a little extra Web surfing time on their hands can take a look at how the stars in the night sky are closely connected with chemistry. ACS local sections are sponsoring a NCW poster contest for grades K–12. See http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/ s/1/acsdisplay.html?id=c373e9f6c752fbcc8f6a4fd8fe800100 (accessed Aug 2003) for additional information. The link provides official rules and guidelines, contact information for your local NCW coordinator, as well as over 20 poster ideas to help get students started. NCW is here! Are you wearing your subject on your sleeve? It really is the perfect fit. Help Wanted Do you plan to attend the NSTA National Convention next spring in Atlanta? Would you like to? JCE will be there and needs your help. We’re looking for Journal subscribers who know all the great things JCE has to offer to teachers and are willing to share their ideas with others. The JCE exhibit booth will be open during the four days of the convention, April 1–4, 2004. We would like volunteers to assist our own staff. In exchange for a commitment to work several hours at the booth, volunteers would receive an exhibitor registration, giving the user all the same benefits as an attendee registering the usual way. People familiar with products from the Institute for Chemical Education are welcome as well, since ICE products will also be available at the JCE booth. Please contact Erica Jacobsen (
[email protected]) if you are interested.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 80 No. 10 October 2003 • Journal of Chemical Education
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