Teaching Chemistry and Making a Difference
The March 2014 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. The March issue features: changing the curriculum to make connections, forensic chemistry, computer-based learning, hands-on activities and labs for introductory chemistry, teaching physical chemistry, organic and biochemistry labs, and the mole concept.
Norbert J. Pienta, Editor-in-Chief of JCE, muses on Teaching General Chemistry and Making a Difference.
In The Biology and Chemistry of Brewing: An Interdisciplinary Course, Paul D. Hooker, William A. Deutschman, and Brian J. Avery describe a rigorous course developed as a collaborative effort between a chemistry program and a biology program. The course is primarily laboratory- and inquiry-based and includes two different small-scale (one-gallon) fermentations undertaken by students with a background of one year of general chemistry and general biology.
Chemical Education Research
The article Development of the Bonding Representations Inventory To Identify Student Misconceptions about Covalent and Ionic Bonding Representations by Cynthia J. Luxford and Stacey Lowery Bretz was recently selected as an ACS Editors’ Choice article and is freely available to all interested readers.
Changing the Curriculum To Make Connections
Developing and Implementing a Reorganized Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum Based on the Foundational Chemistry Topics of Structure, Reactivity, and Quantitation by Chris P. Schaller, Kate J. Graham, Brian J. Johnson, M. A. Fazal, T. Nicholas Jones, Edward J. McIntee, and Henry V. Jakubowski
SQER3: An Instructional Framework for Using Scientific Inquiry To Design Classroom Demonstrations by Donna M. Chamely-Wiik, Jerome E. Haky, Deborah W. Louda, and Nancy Romance
Offering a Forensic Science Camp To Introduce and Engage High School Students in Interdisciplinary Science Topics by Linda Ahrenkiel and Martin Worm-Leonhard
CSI–Chocolate Science Investigation and the Case of the Recipe Rip-Off: Using an Extended Problem-Based Scenario To Enhance High School Students’ Science Engagement by Peter D. Marle, Lisa Decker, Victoria Taylor, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, David Khaliqi, Janel E. Owens, and Renee M. Henry
Activities for Middle School Students To Sleuth a Chemistry “Whodunit” and Investigate the Scientific Method by Audrey F. Meyer, Cassandra M. Knutson, Solaire A. Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Sarah M. Gruba, Ben M. Meyer, John W. Thompson, Melissa A. Maurer-Jones, Sharon Halderman, Ayesha S. Tillman, Lizanne DeStefano, and Christy L. Haynes
Detecting Art Forgeries: A Problem-Based Raman Spectroscopy Lab by Sara E. Nielsen, Jonathan P. Scaffidi, and Ellen J. Yezierski
uRespond: iPad as Interactive, Personal Response System by Samuel P. Bryfczynski, Rebecca Brown, Josiah Hester, Andrew Herrmann, Danielle L. Koch, Melanie M. Cooper, and Nathaniel P. Grove
Social Networking as a Platform for Role-Playing Scientific Case Studies by Andrea M. Geyer
Offering Remotely Triggered, Real-Time Experiments in Electrochemistry for Distance Learners by Sachin Saxena and Soami P. Satsangee
Hands-On Activities and Labs for Introductory Chemistry
Quantifying the Soda Geyser by Christopher J. Huber and Aaron M. Massari
Studying Crystal Structures through the Use of Solid-State Model Kits by Deborah Polvani Sunderland
Determining the Mass and Time of Release of Acetaminophen from Gel Capsules by K. Christopher Smith and Diana Cedillo
Teaching Physical Chemistry
Visualizing the Entropy Change of a Thermal Reservoir by Elon Langbeheim, Samuel A. Safran, and Edit Yerushalmi
Using Quantum Games To Teach Quantum Mechanics, Part 1 by Ross D. Hoehn, Nick Mack, and Sabre Kais
Using Quantum Games To Teach Quantum Mechanics, Part 2 by Ross D. Hoehn, Nick Mack, and Sabre Kais
Organic and Biochemistry Labs
Nature’s Antidepressant for Mild to Moderate Depression: Isolation and Spectral Characterization of Hyperforin from a Standardized Extract of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) by Bopha Chrea, Juliette A. O’Connell, Orlando Silkstone-Carter, John O’Brien, and John J. Walsh
Modified Birch Reduction for the Introductory Undergraduate Organic Laboratory by Heba Abourahma, Lynn Bradley, Nichole M. Lareau, and Megan Reesbeck
Design and Characterization of a Zn2+-Binding Four-Helix Bundle Protein in the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory by Brian J. Stockman, Jill S. Asheld, Paola J. Burburan, Ana Galesic, Zohar Nawlo, and Kylie F. Sikorski
From the Archive: The Mole Concept
This issue contains the article Unpacking the Meaning of the Mole Concept for Secondary School Teachers and Students by Su-Chi Fang, Christina Hart, and David Clarke. Some articles in past issues of JCE on the mole concept include:
What’s the Diagnosis? An Inquiry-Based Activity Focusing on Mole−Mass Conversions by Laura B. Bruck and Marcy H. Towns
Developing an Intuitive Approach to Moles by Hans de Grys and Dawn M. Wakeley
With over 1000 Issues of JCE Available, There’s Always More to Explore
You will find all of the articles mentioned above, and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available.