A New Year with a New Volume of Resources
The January 2015 issue marks the start of the 92nd volume of the Journal of Chemical Education and is now available online. This issue features colorful chemistry; using stories and writing to learn; demystifying chemistry literature; cost-effective activities and materials; experimenting with chromatography and natural products.
Colorful Chemistry
Cover
In A Colorful Solubility Exercise for Organic Chemistry, Christopher R. Shugrue, Hans H. Mentzen, II, and Brian R. Linton describe a discovery chemistry laboratory for introductory organic chemistry students to investigate the concepts of polarity, miscibility, solubility, and density. The simple procedure takes advantage of the solubility of two colored dyes in a series of solvents or solvent mixtures.
Other articles in the issue that explore color and chemistry include:
A Guided Inquiry Liquid/Liquid Extractions Laboratory for Introductory Organic Chemistry ~ Margaret L. Raydo, Megan S. Church, Zane W. Taylor, Christopher E. Taylor, and Amy M. Danowitz
Chemistry under Your Skin? Experiments with Tattoo Inks for Secondary School Chemistry Students ~ Marc Stuckey and Ingo Eilks
Adsorption of a Textile Dye on Commercial Activated Carbon: A Simple Experiment To Explore the Role of Surface Chemistry and Ionic Strength ~ Angela Martins and Nelson Nunes
Introducing the Human Element in Chemistry by Synthesizing Blue Pigments and Creating Cyanotypes in a First-Year Chemistry Course ~ Olivier Morizot, Eric Audureau, Jean-Yves Briend, Gaetan Hagel, and Florence Boulc’h
Using Raman Spectroscopy and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering To Identify Colorants in Art: An Experiment for an Upper-Division Chemistry Laboratory ~ Hannah E. Mayhew, Kristen A. Frano, Shelley A. Svoboda, and Kristin L. Wustholz
Editorial & Commentary
Norbert Pienta, Editor-in-Chief, discusses Testing in a Traditional General Chemistry Course.
Vicente Talanquer examines Threshold Concepts in Chemistry: The Critical Role of Implicit Schemas and highlights five critical shifts in students’ implicit schemas that should be fostered to support mastery of major threshold concepts in chemistry.
Using Stories and Writing to Learn
“On Course” for Supporting Expanded Participation and Improving Scientific Reasoning in Undergraduate Thesis Writing ~ Jason E. Dowd, Christopher P. Roy, Robert J. Thompson, Jr., and Julie A. Reynolds
Using Wikis To Develop Collaborative Communities in an Environmental Chemistry Course ~ Laura E. Pence and Harry E. Pence
Creative Report Writing in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory Inspires Nonmajors ~ Maged Henary, Eric A. Owens, and Joseph G. Tawney
Poster Presentations: Turning a Lab of the Week into a Culminating Experience ~ Jennifer L. Logan, Rosalynn Quiñones, and Deborah P. Sunderland
Demystifying Chemistry Literature
Demystifying the Chemistry Literature: Building Information Literacy in First-Year Chemistry Students through Student-Centered Learning and Experiment Design ~ Margaret Bruehl, Denise Pan, and Ignacio J. Ferrer-Vinent
Student-Led Engagement of Journal Article Authors in the Classroom Using Web-Based Videoconferencing ~ Brian J. Stockman
An Exercise To Coach Students on Literature Searching ~ Kate J. Graham, Chris P. Schaller, and T. Nicholas Jones
Cost-Effective Activities and Materials
Electrolysis of Water in the Secondary School Science Laboratory with Inexpensive Microfluidics ~ T. A. Davis, S. L. Athey, M. L. Vandevender, C. L. Crihfield, C. C. E. Kolanko, S. Shao, M. C. G. Ellington, J. K. Dicks, J. S. Carver, and L. A. Holland
Making a Low-Cost Soda Can Ethanol Burner for Out-of-Laboratory Flame Test Demonstrations and Experiments ~ Henson L. Lee Yu, Perfecto N. Domingo, Jr., Elliard Roswell S. Yanza, and Armando M. Guidote, Jr.
Low-Cost Magnetic Stirrer from Recycled Computer Parts with Optional Hot Plate ~ Armando M. Guidote, Jr., Giselle Mae M. Pacot, and Paul M. Cabacungan
Designing, Constructing, and Using an Inexpensive Electronic Buret ~ Tingting Cao, Qing Zhang, and Jonathan E. Thompson
Assembly of a Robust and Economical MnO2-Based Reference Electrode~ Robert C. Massé and James B. Gerken
Coffee Stirrers and Drinking Straws as Disposable Spatulas ~ Morgan A. Turano, Cinzia Lobuono, and Louis J. Kirschenbaum
Design and Building of an Inexpensive and Sturdy Pipet Bulb Filler Port ~ Neil D. Danielson and Alex P. Danielson
Exploring Chromatography
Paper Chromatography and UV–Vis Spectroscopy To Characterize Anthocyanins and Investigate Antioxidant Properties in the Organic Teaching Laboratory~ Kelli R. Galloway, Stacey Lowery Bretz, and Michael Novak
“Supermarket Column Chromatography of Leaf Pigments” Revisited: Simple and Ecofriendly Separation of Plant Carotenoids, Chlorophylls, and Flavonoids from Green and Red Leaves ~ Alice M. Dias and Maria La Salete Ferreira
Normal and Reversed-Phase Thin Layer Chromatography of Green Leaf Extracts ~ Birte Johanne Sjursnes, Lise Kvittingen, and Rudolf Schmid
Natural Products Laboratories
Spectroscopic Determination of Triclosan Concentration in a Series of Antibacterial Soaps: A First-Year Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment ~ Graeme R. A. Wyllie
Purity Analysis of the Pharmaceuticals Naproxen and Propranolol: A Guided-Inquiry Laboratory Experiment in the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory ~ Sayo O. Fakayode
Gravimetric Analysis of Bismuth in Bismuth Subsalicylate Tablets: A Versatile Quantitative Experiment for Undergraduate Laboratories ~ Eric Davis, Ken Cheung, Steve Pauls, Jonathan Dick, Elijah Roth, Nicole Zalewski, Christopher Veldhuizen, and Joel Coeler
Determination of Calcium in Dietary Supplements: Statistical Comparison of Methods in the Analytical Laboratory ~ Sarah L. Garvey, Golbon Shahmohammadi, Derek R. McLain, and Mark L. Dietz
Extraction of Maltol from Fraser Fir: A Comparison of Microwave-Assisted Extraction and Conventional Heating Protocols for the Organic Chemistry Laboratory ~ Andrew S. Koch, Clio A. Chimento, Allison N. Berg, Farah D. Mughal, Jean-Paul Spencer, Douglas E. Hovland, Bessie Mbadugha, Allan K. Hovland, and Leah R. Eller
Operationally Simple Synthesis of N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) Using COMU as a Coupling Reagent ~ Jonathan M. Withey and Andrea Bajic
Recruiting the Students To Fight Cancer: Total Synthesis of Goniothalamin ~ Fady Nahra and Olivier Riant
Research & Reform
Paying Attention to Gesture when Students Talk Chemistry: Interactional Resources for Responsive Teaching ~ Virginia J. Flood, François G. Amar, Ricardo Nemirovsky, Benedikt W. Harrer, Mitchell R. M. Bruce, and Michael C. Wittmann
Biochemistry Instructors’ Views toward Developing and Assessing Visual Literacy in Their Courses ~ Kimberly J. Linenberger and Thomas A. Holme
Impact of Guided-Inquiry-Based Instruction with a Writing and Reflection Emphasis on Chemistry Students’ Critical Thinking Abilities ~ Tanya Gupta, K. A. Burke, Akash Mehta, and Thomas J. Greenbowe
Targeting the Development of Content Knowledge and Scientific Reasoning: Reforming College-Level Chemistry for Nonscience Majors ~ Justin H. Carmel, Yasmin Jessa, and Ellen J. Yezierski
From the Archives: Opera and Shakespeare Meet Poison
In this issue, opera and Shakespeare take center stage:
Viewing Scenes of the History of Chemistry through the Opera Glass ~ João Paulo André
Bringing in the Bard: Shakespearean Plays as Context for Instrumental Analysis Projects ~ Kathryn D. Kloepper
Forensic ties to these topics in past issues include:
Opera and Poison: A Secret and Enjoyable Approach To Teaching and Learning Chemistry ~ João Paulo André
O True Apothecary: How Forensic Science Helps Solve a Classic Crime ~ Amanda S. Harper-Leatherman and John R. Miecznikowski
There’s Always More to Explore
With over 90 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education to explore, you will always find something useful—including 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.