JCE 90.05—May 2013 Issue Highlights

JCE May 2013 Cover

Collaboration and Partnership in Chemical Education 

The May 2013 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online. This latest issue of JCE plus the content of all past issues, volumes 1 through 90, are also available.

Cover: Hydroglyphics

A visual demonstration of the difference between hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces is described in Hydroglyphics: Demonstration of Selective Wetting on Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Surfaces by Philseok Kim, Jack Alvarenga, Joanna Aizenberg, and Raymond S. Sleeper. Placing a shadow mask, such as thick stickers, on an optically clear hydrophobic plastic dish, and then corona treating the dish converts hydrophobic surfaces to hydrophilic ones only on the unmasked areas.

Editorial

The Editor-in-Chief, Norbert Pienta, discusses Taking a Cue from Statistics Education and argues that the American Statistical Association’s GAISE Report on introductory statistics for college students should serve as a model for thinking about introductory chemistry courses.

Chemical Education Research & Psychometrics

Understanding the State of the Art for Measurement in Chemistry Education Research: Examining the Psychometric Evidence by Janelle A. Arjoon, Xiaoying Xu, and Jennifer E. Lewis

A Psychometric Analysis of the Chemical Concepts Inventory by Jack Barbera

Assessment

Results from a National Needs Assessment Survey: A View of Assessment Efforts within Chemistry Departments by Mary Elizabeth Emenike, Jacob Schroeder, Kristen Murphy, and Thomas Holme

Teaching with Technology

Web-Based Instruction & Outreach

Recording Tutorials To Increase Student Use and Incorporating Demonstrations To Engage Live Participants by Reuben Hudson and Kylie L. Luska

Assessing the Development of Chemistry Students’ Conceptual and Visual Understanding of Dimensional Analysis via Supplemental Use of Web-Based Software
by Jennifer T. Ellis


Creating and Teaching a Web-Based, University-Level Introductory Chemistry Course That Incorporates Laboratory Exercises and Active Learning Pedagogies
by Linda R. Phipps

Using a Web Application To Conduct and Investigate Syntheses of Methyl Orange Remotely
by Lisette van Rens, Hans van Dijk, Jan Mulder, and Pieter Nieuwland


Students’ Perceptions of Using Twitter To Interact with the Instructor during Lectures for a Large-Enrollment Chemistry Course by Marcus L. Cole, D. Brynn Hibbert, and E. James Kehoe

Using Social Networking Sites To Connect with Chemistry Alumni
by Steven C. Farmer


Computational Chemistry

A Systematic Approach for Understanding Slater–Gaussian Functions in Computational Chemistry
by Brianna Stewart, Derrick J. Hylton, and Natarajan Ravi

A Computational Experiment on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
by Scott Simpson, David C. Lonie, Jiechen Chen, and Eva Zurek


Computational Modeling of the Optical Rotation of Amino Acids: An ‘in Silico’ Experiment for Physical Chemistry by
Scott Simpson, Jochen Autschbach, and Eva Zurek

Factors Affecting Energy Barriers for Pyramidal Inversion in Amines and Phosphines: A Computational Chemistry Lab Exercise
 by Craig D. Montgomery

Theoretical Hammett Plot for the Gas-Phase Ionization of Benzoic Acid versus Phenol: A Computational Chemistry Lab Exercise
by Blake E. Ziegler


Three-Dimensional Visualization of Wave Functions for Rotating Molecule: Plot of Spherical Harmonics
by Shin-ichi Nagaoka, Hiroyuki Teramae, and Umpei Nagashima


Catalysis

Heterogeneous Catalysis: The Horiuti–Polanyi Mechanism and Alkene Hydrogenation
by Bruce Mattson, Wendy Foster, Jaclyn Greimann, Trisha Hoette, Nhu Le, Anne Mirich, Shanna Wankum, Ann Cabri, Claire Reichenbacher, and Erika Schwanke


Illustrating Catalysis with Interlocking Building Blocks: Correlation between Structure of a Metallocene Catalyst and the Stereoregularity of Polypropylene
by Ryo Horikoshi, Yoji Kobayashi, and Hiroshi Kageyama


Energy Diagram for the Catalytic Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide
by Tomoyuki Tatsuoka and Nobuyoshi Koga


Organic Chemistry: From Hands-On to History

The Implementation of a Service-Learning Component in an Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course
by Sarah R Glover, Joyce D Sewry, Candice L Bromley, Michael T Davies-Coleman, and Amanda Hlengwa


Chirality and Pinwheels by
 Emilio Rodríguez-Fernández

Isolation and Identification of Nepetalactone Diastereomers from Commercial Samples of Nepeta cataria L. (Catnip): An Introductory Organic Laboratory Experiment
 by James A. Ciaccio, Rabeka Alam, Christina D. D’Agrosa, Amanda E. Deal, and David Marcelin


The Historical Origins of Stereochemical Line and Wedge Symbolism
 by William B. Jensen

Thermodynamics: Applications in the Classroom & Laboratory

In the Classroom

Affinity, Expressed in Joules/Equivalent, Can Replace the Gibbs Free Energy of Reaction, ΔrG by Sebastiaan H. Mannaerts

Criteria for Spontaneous Processes Derived from the Global Point of View by Eric A. Gislason and Norman C. Craig


A Comparison of Local and Global Formulations of Thermodynamics 
by Howard DeVoe


Thermodynamics on the Molality Scale
by Sebastian. G. Canagaratna and M. Maheswaran

In the Laboratory

Neutralization and Acid Dissociation of Hydrogen Carbonate Ion: A Thermochemical ApproachNobuyoshi Koga, Kana Shigedomi, Tomoyasu Kimura, Tomoyuki Tatsuoka, and Saki Mishima

The H3PO4 Acid Ionization Reactions: A Capstone Multiconcept Thermodynamics General Chemistry Laboratory Exercise by Frazier Nyasulu, Rebecca Barlag, Lindy Wise, and Lauren McMills

From the Archives: Nanochemistry

This issue contains a nanoscale demonstration: Simple Methods for Production of Nanoscale Metal Oxide Films from Household Sources
by Dean J. Campbell, Michelle S. Baliss, Jordan J. Hinman, John W. Ziegenhorn, Mark J. Andrews, and Keith J. Stevenson. For more on nanochemistry, enjoy complimentary access to the JCE thematic collection on nanochemistry.

Author Resources

Summer is a great time to submit a contribution to the Journal of Chemical Education. For some advice on becoming a Journal author, read Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary. In addition, there are numerous author resources available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including:

Author Guidelines

Document Templates

Reference Guidelines

With 90 Years of Issues, There’s Always Lots More to Explore with  JCE

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.

The January 2013 issue will be available as a sample issue for the entire year; if you like what you read, consider a subscription.