Lasting Value and High Impact
The May 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online(link is external) to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: project- and inquiry-based laboratories; measuring value and impact; research on core ideas and clickers; new twists on classic activities; understanding diffraction; acid-base chemistry; teaching informed by technology: flipped learning, biochemistry labs, and scientific computing for chemists; from the archives: chemistry helps feed the world.
Cover: Project- and Inquiry-Based Laboratories
A recent transformation in the general chemistry laboratory courses at Michigan State University has yielded a series of project-based labs focused on the scientific and engineering practices from A Framework for K–12 Science Education. One such lab investigates the chemistry behind commercially available glow sticks. Shown on the cover are reaction mixtures with four different dyes before (top) and after (bottom) the addition of hydrogen peroxide, which drives the reaction. Dyes used (from left to right) are rhodamine B, rhodamine 6G, 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene, and 9,10-diphenylanthracene. For further details see the laboratory experiment, A Glowing Recommendation: A Project-Based Cooperative Laboratory Activity To Promote Use of the Scientific and Engineering Practices(link is external), by Justin H. Carmel, Joseph S. Ward, and Melanie M. Cooper.
For additional inquiry-based labs in this issue, see:
Getting the Argument Started: A Variation on the Density Investigation(link is external) ~ Joi P. Walker and Steven F. Wolf
Epoxidation with Possibilities: Discovering Stereochemistry in Organic Chemistry via Coupling Constants(link is external) ~ Edward M. Treadwell, Zhiqing Yan, and Xiao Xiao
Measuring Value and Impact
Norbert J. Pienta and Marcy H. Towns discuss the metrics of Measuring Value and Real Impact(link is external) of the Journal of Chemical Education. This topic is discussed in greater detail in: The Citation Index of Chemistry Education Research in the Journal of Chemical Education from 2008 to 2016: A Closer Look at the Impact Factor(link is external) by Jon-Marc G. Rodriguez, Kinsey Bain, Alena Moon, Michael R. Mack, Brittland K. DeKorver, and Marcy H. Towns.
Research on Core Ideas and Clickers
Core Ideas and Topics: Building Up or Drilling Down?(link is external) ~ Melanie M. Cooper, Lynmarie A. Posey, and Sonia M. Underwood (This article is available to non-subscribers as part of ACS Editors' Choice(link is external) program.)
Chasm Crossed? Clicker Use in Postsecondary Chemistry Education(link is external) ~ Rebecca E. Gibbons, Emily E. Laga, Jessica Leon, Sachel M. Villafañe, Marilyne Stains, Kristen Murphy, and Jeffrey R. Raker
New Twists on Classic Activities
New Demonstrations and New Insights on the Mechanism of the Candy-Cola Soda Geyser(link is external) ~ Thomas S. Kuntzleman, Laura S. Davenport, Victoria I. Cothran, Jacob T. Kuntzleman, and Dean J. Campbell (Tom Kuntzleman discusses the background to this paper in his recent ChemEdX post, Exploring the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment)
Using Silica Gel Cat Litter To Readily Demonstrate the Formation of Colorful Chemical Gardens(link is external) ~ Masatada Matsuoka (To invistigate another chemical garden, try the "Magic Salt Crystal Garden" JCE Classroom Activity(link is external) from the May 2000 issue of JCE.)
Understanding Diffraction
Teaching the Operating Principles of a Diffraction Grating Using a 3D-Printable Demonstration Kit(link is external) ~ Paul A. E. Piunno
Quantum Interference: How To Measure the Wavelength of a Particle(link is external) ~ Joseph M. Brom
Data Linearization Activity for Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Lectures(link is external) ~ James K. Harper and Emily C. Heider
Acid-Base Chemistry
Acid–Base Poker: A Card Game Introducing the Concepts of Acid and Base at the College Level(link is external) ~ Xuemei Zhang
Determining a Solubility Product Constant by Potentiometric Titration To Increase Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Potentiometry and Titrations(link is external) ~ Lauren E. Grabowski and Scott R. Goode
Suggestion of a Viewpoint Change for the Classification Criteria of Redox Reactions(link is external) ~ Seoung-Hey Paik, Sungki Kim, and Kihyang Kim
3-D Topo Surface Visualization of Acid–Base Species Distributions: Corner Buttes, Corner Pits, Curving Ridge Crests, and Dilution Plains(link is external) ~Garon C. Smith and Md Mainul Hossain
Teaching Informed by Technology
Flipped Learning
Flipped Learning in Synchronously-Delivered, Geographically-Dispersed General Chemistry Classrooms(link is external) ~ Michael A. Christiansen, Louis Nadelson, Lianna Etchberger, Marilyn Cuch, Trish A. Kingsford, and Leslie O. Woodward
Biochemistry Labs
iGUVs: Preparing Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with a Smartphone and Lipids Easily Extracted from Chicken Eggs(link is external) ~ Víctor G. Almendro Vedia, Paolo Natale, Su Chen, Francisco Monroy, Véronique Rosilio, and Iván López-Montero
Bring Your Own Device: A Digital Notebook for Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory Using a Free, Cross-Platform Application(link is external) ~ Aaron R. Van Dyke and Jillian Smith-Carpenter
Scientific Computing for Chemists
A Tractable Numerical Model for Exploring Nonadiabatic Quantum Dynamics(link is external) ~Evan Camrud and Daniel B. Turner
Scientific Computing for Chemists: An Undergraduate Course in Simulations, Data Processing, and Visualization(link is external) ~ Charles J. Weiss
From the Archives: Chemistry Helps Feed the World
Although Earth Day was celebrated in April, it's always timely to engage students with environmental chemistry. In keeping with the ACS's 2017 theme for Chemists Celebrate Earth Day, Chemistry Helps Feed the World, some ideas and suggestions for bringing environmental chemistry to students on agricultural and food chemistry, agrochemicals, and soil and water are available at ACS Axial(link is external).
Discover All the Value That JCE Has To Offer
With over 94 years of content from the Journal of Chemical Education available, you will always discover something useful—including the articles mentioned above(link is external), and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education(link is external). Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable(link is external)) are also available.
Summer is almost here…do you have something to share and time to write it up for the Journal? For some advice on becoming an author, read Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary(link is external). In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including updated: Author Guidelines(link is external), Document Templates(link is external), and Reference Guidelines(link is external).