Enhancing Student Success in Chemistry
The September 2017 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online(link is external) to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: student thinking and student success; computational thinking; using games to teach: developing and making tools for teaching; understanding catalysis; green chemistry; food chemistry in the laboratory; exploring edible fats and oils; NMR spectroscopy; laboratory cross-course collaboration; physical chemistry; distilling the archives: scents and smellability; announcing the search for the next Editor-in-Chief.
Cover: Student Thinking and Student Success
In Students’ Concept-Building Approaches: A Novel Predictor of Success in Chemistry Courses(link is external), Regina F. Frey, Michael J. Cahill, and Mark A. McDaniel discuss the use of an online concept-building task to differentiate students based on their concept-building approach. Recent basic cognitive science research suggests that some learners tend toward rote concept learning (exemplar learners), whereas other learners tend to use abstraction concept learning (abstraction learners). Students in general and organic chemistry completed a concept-building task, and their subsequent course performances were tracked. Abstraction learners consistently outperformed exemplar learners, with performance differences most pronounced among students taking the higher-level course, Organic Chemistry 2. Performance patterns differentiated by concept-building approach were evident even when standard ability indices (college entrance exam scores and prior chemistry performance) were factored into the analysis. One implication is that as chemistry content demands more abstraction, the way students approach learning concepts becomes more critical for success in chemistry courses. (Photograph courtesy of George Chafin and used with permission.)
The association of thinking processes and success are also discussed in:
Thinking Processes Associated with Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Success at Applying a Molecular-Level Model in a New Context(link is external) ~ Melonie A. Teichert, Lydia T. Tien, Lisa Dysleski, and Dawn Rickey (This article is available to non-subscribers as part of ACS Editors' Choice(link is external) program.)
Computational Thinking
The Development of Computational Thinking in a High School Chemistry Course(link is external) ~ Paul S. Matsumoto and Jiankang Cao
Teaching the Growth, Ripening, and Agglomeration of Nanostructures in Computer Experiments(link is external) ~ Jan Philipp Meyburg and Detlef Diesing
Using Games To Teach
Analogue Three-Dimensional Memory Game for Teaching Reflection, Symmetry, and Chirality to High School Students(link is external) ~ Daniel de Melo Silva and Carlos Magno Rocha Ribeiro
CHEMCompete: An Organic Chemistry Card Game To Differentiate between Substitution and Elimination Reactions of Alkyl Halides(link is external) ~ Kristin Gogal, William Heuett, and Deana Jaber
Making a Game Out of It: Using Web-Based Competitive Quizzes for Quantitative Analysis Content Review(link is external) ~ James P. Grinias
Developing and Making Tools for Teaching
Three-Dimensional Printing of a Scalable Molecular Model and Orbital Kit for Organic Chemistry Teaching and Learning(link is external) ~ Matthew R. Penny, Zi Jing Cao, Bhaven Patel, Bruno Sil dos Santos, Christopher R. M. Asquith, Blanka R. Szulc, Zenobia X. Rao, Zaid Muwaffak, John P. Malkinson, and Stephen T. Hilton
Hands-On Data Analysis: Using 3D Printing To Visualize Reaction Progress Surfaces(link is external)~ Carolyn S. Higman, Henry Situ, Peter Blacklin, and Jason E. Hein
Developing a Magnetic Circular Dichroism Apparatus Equipped with Neodymium Magnet for Students To Investigate the Electronic Structures of Transition Metals and Lanthanoids(link is external) ~ Abdallah Yakubu, Takayoshi Suzuki, and Masakazu Kita
Understanding Catalysis
Heterogeneous Catalytic Oxidation of Simple Alcohols by Transition Metals(link is external) ~ Leon Jacobse, Sebastiaan O. Vink, Sven Wijngaarden, and Ludo B. F. Juurlink (This demonstration is available to non-subscribers as part of ACS AuthorChoice(link is external) program.)
Misconceptions in the Exploding Flask Demonstration Resolved through Students’ Critical Thinking(link is external) ~ Rick Spierenburg, Leon Jacobse, Iris de Bruin, Daan J. van den Bos, Dominique M. Vis, and Ludo B. F. Juurlink (This article is available to non-subscribers as part of ACS AuthorChoice(link is external) program.)
Green Chemistry
Reaction Scale and Green Chemistry: Microscale or Macroscale, Which Is Greener?(link is external) ~ Rita C. C. Duarte, M. Gabriela T. C. Ribeiro , Adélio A. S. C. Machado
Designing and Using a Safer, Greener Azole Oxamide for Chemiluminescence Demonstrations(link is external) ~ Fabrizio Roncaglia
Teaching Green Chemistry with Epoxidized Soybean Oil(link is external) ~ Homar Barcena, Abraham Tuachi, and Yuanzhuo Zhang
Introducing the Concept of Green Synthesis in the Undergraduate Laboratory: Two-Step Synthesis of 4-Bromoacetanilide from Aniline(link is external) ~ Ratul Biswas and Anuradha Mukherjee
Introduction of a Simple Experiment for the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory Demonstrating the Lewis Acid and Shape-Selective Properties of Zeolite Na-Y(link is external) ~ Vincent Maloney and Zach Szczepanski and Keith Smith
Food Chemistry in the Laboratory
Investigating the Antioxidant Capacity of Fruits and Fruit Byproducts through an Introductory Food Chemistry Experiment for High School(link is external) ~ Cristina Soares, Manuela Correia, Cristina Delerue-Matos, and M. Fátima Barroso
Determination of Titratable Acidity in Wine Using Potentiometric, Conductometric, and Photometric Methods(link is external) ~ Dietrich A. Volmer, Luana Curbani, Timothy A. Parker, Jennifer Garcia, Linda D. Schultz, and Endler Marcel
Introduction to Validation of Analytical Methods: Potentiometric Determination of CO2(link is external) ~ A. Ricardo Hipólito-Nájera, M. Rosario Moya-Hernández, Rodolfo Gómez-Balderas, Alberto Rojas-Hernández, and Mario Romero-Romo
Introducing Undergraduate Students to Metabolomics Using a NMR-Based Analysis of Coffee Beans(link is external) ~ Peter Olaf Sandusky
Exploring Edible Fats and Oils
Lipid Residue Analysis of Archaeological Pottery: An Introductory Laboratory Experiment in Archaeological Chemistry(link is external) ~ Clare S. Harper, Faith V. Macdonald, and Kevin L. Braun
A First Laboratory Utilizing NMR for Undergraduate Education: Characterization of Edible Fats and Oils by Quantitative 13C NMR(link is external) ~ Charles G. Fry, Heike Hofstetter, and Matthew D. Bowman
Identification of Edible Oils by Principal Component Analysis of 1H NMR Spectra(link is external) ~ Shauna L. Anderson, David Rovnyak, and Timothy G. Strein
NMR Spectroscopy
Biomolecular NMR Assignment: Illustration Using the Heme Signals in Horse Cytochrome c(link is external) ~ Ana V. Silva and Ricardo O. Louro
Building “My First NMRviewer”: A Project Incorporating Coding and Programming Tasks in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula(link is external) ~ Francisco M. Arrabal-Campos, Alejandro Cortés-Villena, and Ignacio Fernández
Quantifying the Product Distribution of a Chemical Reaction by 1H NMR Spectroscopy: A Cooperative Learning Approach for the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory(link is external) ~ Craig J. Yennie, Russell Hopson, and Kathleen M. Hess
Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution—Addition and Identification of an Amine(link is external) ~ Steven W. Goldstein, Ashley Bill, Jyothi Dhuguru, and Ola Ghoneim
Chiral Analysis by Tandem Mass Spectrometry Using the Kinetic Method, by Polarimetry, and by 1H NMR Spectroscopy(link is external) ~ Patrick W. Fedick, Ryan M. Bain, Kinsey Bain, and R. Graham Cooks
Laboratory Cross-Course Collaboration
Cross-Course Collaboration in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum: Isotopic Labeling with Sodium Borodeuteride in the Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory(link is external) ~ Richard A. Kjonaas, Richard W. Fitch, and Robert J. Noll
Cross-Course Collaboration in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum: Primary Kinetic Isotope Effect in the Hypochlorite Oxidation of 1-Phenylethanol in the Physical Chemistry Laboratory(link is external) ~ Robert J. Noll, Richard W. Fitch, Richard A. Kjonaas, and Richard A. Wyatt
Physical Chemistry
To Be or Not To Be Symmetric: That Is the Question for Potentially Active Vibronic Modes(link is external) ~ Sarah F. Tyler, Eileen C. Judkins, Dmitry Morozov, Carlos H. Borca, Lyudmila V. Slipchenko, and David. R. McMillin
Some Considerations on the Fundamentals of Chemical Kinetics: Steady State, Quasi-Equilibrium, and Transition State Theory(link is external) ~ Joaquin F. Perez-Benito
Phase Relations in Ternary Systems in the Subsolidus Region: Methods To Formulate Solid Solution Equations and To Find Particular Compositions(link is external) ~ Victor E. Alvarez-Montaño, Mario H. Farías, Francisco Brown, Iliana C. Muñoz-Palma, Fernando Cubillas, and Felipe F. Castillón-Barraza
Distilling the Archives: Scents and Smellability
This issue includes two laboratory experiments that involve scents and smell:
Synthesis of the Commercial Fragrance Compound Ethyl 6-Acetoxyhexanoate: A Multistep Ester Experiment for the Second-Year Organic Laboratory(link is external) ~ James V. McCullagh and Sophia P. Hirakis
Testing the Vibrational Theory of Olfaction: A Bio-organic Chemistry Laboratory Experiment Using Hooke’s Law and Chirality(link is external) ~ Rajeev S. Muthyala, Deepali Butani, Michelle Nelson, and Kiet Tran
Past issues of JCE also contain many engaging olfactory articles. Here is a small sampling:
Bringing Organic Chemistry to the Public: Structure and Scent in a Science Museum(link is external) ~ M. Kevin Brown, Laura C. Brown, Karen Jepson-Innes, Michael Lindeau, and Jeremy Stone (highlighted at ChemEdX by Erica Jacobsen in Especially JCE: February 2017)
The Chemistry of Perfume: A Laboratory Course for Nonscience Majors(link is external) ~ Jennifer L. Logan and Craig E. Rumbaugh (includes extensive references to JCE literature on fragrances in the Supporting Information)
Using Flavor Chemistry To Design and Synthesize Artificial Scents and Flavors(link is external) ~ Jessica L. Epstein, Michael Castaldi, Grishma Patel, Peter Telidecki, and Kevin Karakkatt
Discovering Chemical Aromaticity Using Fragrant Plants(link is external) ~ Tanya L. Schneider
Introducing Bond-Line Organic Structures in High School Biology: An Activity That Incorporates Pleasant-Smelling Molecules(link is external) ~ Andro C. Rios and Gerald French
A Closer Look at Acid–Base Olfactory Titrations(link is external) ~ Kerry Neppel, Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo, Connie Queen, and Nicole Reed
Isolation and Analysis of Essential Oils from Spices(link is external) ~ Stephen K. O’Shea, Daniel D. Von Riesen, and Lauren L. Rossi
The Scent of Roses and Beyond: Molecular Structures, Analysis, and Practical Applications of Odorants(link is external) ~ Albrecht Mannschreck and Erwin von Angerer
The Enantioselectivity of Odor Sensation: Some Examples for Undergraduate Chemistry Courses(link is external) ~ Philip Kraft and Albrecht Mannschreck
Esterification Reaction Utilizing Sense of Smell and Eyesight for Conversion and Catalyst Recovery Monitoring(link is external) ~ Nikki Janssens, Lik H. Wee, and Johan A. Martens
How Does an Orange Peel Pop a Balloon? Chemistry, of Course! ~ Tom Kuntzleman, Tori Talaski and Charles Schaerer (at ChemEdX, an activity that involves limonene)
Editorial News
The Board of Publication of the Division of Chemical Education(link is external) has announced the opening of a search for the ninth Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chemical Education. The September issue contains details of the Announcement and Description of the Journal of Chemical Education Editor-in-Chief Position(link is external). A discussion of this is also available on ChemEdX, including direct access to a video of the current Editor, Norbert Pienta, discussing the job and its responsibilities.
Enhance the Success of Your Students by Using JCE
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.