Encouraging Meaningful Learning
The July 2015 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. This issue includes articles on summer book recommendations; biochemistry; web-based learning; assessment; organic chemistry; physical chemistry; carbon footprint activities.
Editorial
In But You Have the Whole Summer Off, Right?, Norbert J. Pienta muses that managing expectations about serving academic roles may be more important than ever.
Book and Media Recommendations for Summer Reading
Food for Thought, Starting with Cheese ~Cheryl Baldwin Frech; Stories, Style, and a Few Study Breaks ~ Brian P. Coppola; What If?; The Lifecycle of Software Objects; Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind; and Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal ~ Brittland DeKorver; Mathematical Insights, the Seventh Flavia de Luce Novel, and Scientific Ideas We May Be Able To Give Up ~ Hal H. Harris
On the Cover
In Detection of the cp4 epsps Gene in Maize Line NK603 and Comparison of Related Protein Structures: An Advanced Undergraduate Experiment, Nicole K. Swope, Patrick J. Fryfogle, and Tami L. Sivy describe a flexible, rigorous laboratory experiment for upper-level biochemistry undergraduates. In this experiment, DNA is extracted and purified from maize kernel and leaf samples collected from field samples of maize with a glyphosate-resistant transferase gene. Students detect the transgene of this genetically modified crop and assess the structural characteristics of the protein translated from the gene of interest using a combination of bioinformatics and computational-modeling techniques.
Additional Biochemistry Labs
Introducing Organic Chemistry Students to Natural Product Isolation Using Steam Distillation and Liquid Phase Extraction of Thymol, Camphor, and Citral, Monoterpenes Sharing a Unified Biosynthetic Precursor ~ Katherine A. McLain, Kenneth A. Miller, and William R. Collins
Modeling Human Serum Albumin Tertiary Structure To Teach Upper-Division Chemistry Students Bioinformatics and Homology Modeling Basics ~ Dušan Petrović and Mario Zlatović
Student Collaboration in a Series of Integrated Experiments To Study Enzyme Reactor Modeling with Immobilized Cell-Based Invertase ~ M. Ângela Taipa, Ana M. Azevedo, António L. Grilo, Pedro T. Couto, Filipe A. G. Ferreira, Ana R. M. Fortuna, Inês F. Pinto, Rafael M. Santos, and Susana B. Santos
1H NMR Spectroscopy-Based Configurational Analysis of Mono- and Disaccharides and Detection of β-Glucosidase Activity: An Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory ~ Gopal R. Periyannan, Barbara A. Lawrence, and Annie E. Egan
Biochemistry for Mobile Devices
Surveying Biochemistry Applications for Mobile Devices To Compare Availability and Topics Covered ~ Thanuci Silva and Eduardo Galembeck
Implementation and Student Testing of a Web-Based, Student-Centered Stereochemistry Tutorial ~ Nicola J. Burrmann and John W. Moore
Using Jigsaw-Style Spectroscopy Problem-Solving To Elucidate Molecular Structure through Online Cooperative Learning ~ Grace A. Winschel, Renata K. Everett, Brian P. Coppola, and Ginger V. Shultz , Steven Lonn
Returning Written Assignments Electronically: Adapting Off-the-Shelf Technology To Preserve Privacy and Exam Integrity ~ Joel A. Caughran and Richard W. Morrison
Chemical Education Research: Development of an Assessment Tool To Measure Students’ Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory ~ Kelli R. Galloway and Stacey Lowery Bretz
Multiple-Choice Exams and Guessing: Results from a One-Year Study of General Chemistry Tests Designed To Discourage Guessing ~ Mark L. Campbell
Chemical Education Research: Organic Chemistry in Action! What Is the Reaction? ~ Anne O’Dwyer and Peter Childs
Comparing Carbonyl Chemistry in Comprehensive Introductory Organic Chemistry Textbooks ~ Donna J. Nelson, Ravi Kumar, and Saravanan Ramasamy
Laboratory
Multistep Synthesis of a Terphenyl Derivative Showcasing the Diels–Alder Reaction ~ Elizabeth A. Colby Davie
Solvent-Free Reductive Amination: An Organic Chemistry Experiment ~ Steven W. Goldstein and Amely V. Cross
Introducing Undergraduates to Research Using a Suzuki–Miyaura Cross-Coupling Organic Chemistry Miniproject ~ Deyvid G. M. Oliveira, Clarissa H. Rosa, Bruna P. Vargas, Diego S. Rosa, Márcia V. Silveira, Neusa F. de Moura, and Gilber R. Rosa
Synthesis of a Fluorescent Acridone Using a Grignard Addition, Oxidation, and Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution Reaction Sequence ~ Samuel Goodrich, Miloni Patel, and Zachary R. Woydziak
One Step Preparation of a Crystalline Product by Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution ~ Douglass F. Taber and Samantha J. Brannick
Exploring Carbon’s Allotropy: A Pupil-Led Synthesis of Fullerenes from Graphite ~ Simon D. A. Davis, Simon D. Holland, Matthew S. A. Kingswell, Patrick M. Lavery, Martin J. Smith, Christopher M. Thomas, James E. A. Tizzard, George T. West, and Ashley D. Z. Zee , Alaa K. Abdul-Sada and Jonathan P. Hare
Integrating Computational Chemistry into a Course in Classical Thermodynamics ~ Sheridan R. Martini and Cynthia J. Hartzell
A Precise, Simple, and Low-Cost Experiment To Determine the Isobaric Expansion Coefficient for Physical Chemistry Students ~ Eduardo Pérez
From the Archives: Carbon Footprint Activities
In this issue, Daniel J. Berger and Andrew D. Jorgensen present an activity on A Comparison of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Electric Vehicles to Emissions from Internal Combustion Vehicles.
Other articles in past issues that explore carbon footprints include:
Using the Relationship between Vehicle Fuel Consumption and CO2 Emissions To Illustrate Chemical Principles ~ Gabriel Pinto and Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo
Carbon Footprint Calculations: An Application of Chemical Principles ~ Richard S. Treptow
Chemistry’s Contributions to Our Understanding of Atmospheric Science and Climate (including the activities in the Supporting Information) ~ Vicki H. Grassian and Elizabeth A. Stone
Understanding the Greenhouse Effect: Is Global Warming Real? An Integrated Lab-Lecture Case Study for Non-science Majors ~ R. Brzenk, A. Moore, M. J. Alfano, P. T. Buckley, M. E. Newman, and Frank M. Dunnivant
Even after 92 Years, There’s Always Room for Improvement
This issue includes information on how to make A Better Magnetic Stir Bar Retriever. Do you have something to share? To write an article for JCE, there are numerous author resources available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including recently updated:
With 92 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.