Responsible Chemistry Citizenship
The April 2020 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: environmental chemistry; green chemistry; revisiting classic demonstrations & activities; teaching stoichiometry; foundations of teaching and learning; organic chemistry; inorganic chemistry; understanding chromatography; analytical methods; aids for spatial learning; computer-based learning; low-cost teaching tools; from the archives: resources for teaching online and articles for celebrating Earth Week 2020.
Editorial
One of the founders of green chemistry, John C. Warner, muses on John C. Warner (the Elder)’s Vision of Chemistry and Responsible Citizenship, with an Update by John C. Warner (the Younger).
Cover: Environmental Chemistry
Environmental forensic chemistry investigations examine the extent, duration, and sources of environmental contamination. In An Environmental Forensic Chemistry Experiment Involving Abandoned Mine Drainage Remediation, Pamela J. Higgins discusses an experimental case study in which students determine the potential source of groundwater contamination along a series of treatment steps designed to mitigate the environmental effects of material transport from an abandoned mine drainage site. This experiment expands the breadth of experience for forensic chemistry students outside of more typical investigations of crime scenes and evidence and increases student exposure to chemical techniques not typically conducted in undergraduate forensic chemistry courses. (Acid mine drainage image used with permission from Nathaniel R. Warner.)
Other environmental chemistry articles in this issue include:
Phosphate in Soils: An Undergraduate Exploration of Soil Texture, Chemistry, and Amendment ~ Glenn B. Crisler, II, Viveka Perera, Cintly Guzman Hernandez, Andre Orr, Roger Davis, Jessie Moore, James Smith, Jac Varco, Tim Schauwecker, Ashli Brown, Todd Mlsna, and Deb Mlsna
Sewage Sludge in Phenol and Methylene Blue Adsorption: A Miniproject for Teaching Sustainability ~ Cecilia S. Fonseca, Clarissa H. Rosa, Toni J. Lopes, and Gilber R. Rosa
Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation: Introducing Students to Experimental Procedures and Analysis for Efficiently Harvesting Energy and Generating Vapor at the Air–Water Interface ~ Fujun Tao, Alma Valenzuela Garcia, Ting Xiao, Yuliang Zhang, Yansheng Yin, and Xiaobo Chen
Lab Cooked MOF for CO2 Capture: A Sustainable Solution to Waste Management ~ Debashis Panda, Soumyadip Patra, Mahendra Kumar Awasthi, and Sanjay Kumar Singh
Green Chemistry
Valorization of Sour Milk to Form Bioplastics: Friend or Foe? ~ Mark T. Jefferson, Connor Rutter, Katherine Fraine, Gabriel V. B. Borges, Gabriela M. de Souza Santos, Frederico A. P. Schoene, and Glenn A. Hurst (available to non-subscribers as part of ACS AuthorChoice program)
Connecting Theory to Life: Learning Greener Electrochemistry by Taking Apart a Common Battery ~ Clarissa Keen, Steven Couture, Nayer Abd El Meseh, and Hannah Sevian
How Do I Design a Chemical Reaction To Do Useful Work? Reinvigorating General Chemistry by Connecting Chemistry and Society ~ Katherine M. Van Heuvelen, G. William Daub, Lelia N. Hawkins, Adam R. Johnson, Hal Van Ryswyk, and David A. Vosburg
Ultrasonic-Assisted Transesterification: A Green Miniscale Organic Laboratory Experiment ~ Xisen Wang, Matthew Chrzanowski, and Yujuan Liu
Environmentally Friendly Organic Chemistry Laboratory Experiments for the Undergraduate Curriculum: A Literature Survey and Assessment ~ Ram S. Mohan and Maria P. Mejia
Improvement of a Sustainable World through the Application of Innovative Didactic Tools in Green Chemistry Teaching: A Review ~ Małgorzata Gawlik-Kobylińska, Władysław Walkowiak, and Paweł Maciejewski
Revisiting Classic Demonstrations & Activities
Probing the Mechanism of Bubble Nucleation in and the Effect of Atmospheric Pressure on the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser ~ Thomas S. Kuntzleman and Ryan Johnson
Anaerobic and Aerobic Respiration in Yeast: Small-Scale Variations on a Classic Laboratory Activity ~ Maria Koutsokali and Michael Valahas
Elephant’s Toothpaste Used as a Qualitative Demonstration of Rate versus Temperature ~ Ben Ruekberg and David L. Freeman
Changes of CO2 Concentration and Heat Illustrate Why the Flame Is Extinguished in the Candle-and-Cylinder Experiment ~ Ronghui Que, Sha Sha, Liqun Shen, and Yanlin Xiong
The Blue Bottle Experiment Revisited: How Much Oxygen? ~ Thitipong Kerdkaew and Taweetham Limpanuparb
Teaching Stoichiometry
Designing and Using an Atomic Model Kit with H, C, N, and O Model Atoms Having a Mass Ratio of 1:12:14:16 to Teach the Concept of Mole and Associated Stoichiometric Relationships ~ Vinay Bapu Ramesh, Athavan Alias Anand Selvam, Surabhi Kulkarni, Anusha Dattatreya Manganahalli, and Kiran R. Bettadapur
Microfluidics for Personalized Reactions to Demonstrate Stoichiometry ~ Lindsay M. Veltri and Lisa A. Holland
Leavening Agents: The Chemistry of Baking Discovered with a Computer-Based Learning ~ Mária Babinčáková
Foundations of Teaching and Learning
The Crosscutting Concepts: Critical Component or “Third Wheel” of Three-Dimensional Learning? ~ Melanie M. Cooper
Didaktik Models in Chemistry Education ~ Jesper Sjöström, Ingo Eilks, and Vicente Talanquer (available to non-subscribers as part of ACS AuthorChoice program)
Fundamentals of Macroscopic Chemical Analysis: A Foundation-Level Course for a New Chemistry Curriculum ~ Md. Abul Fazal, Annette F. Raigoza, Christen M. Strollo, and Alicia A. Peterson
Development and Validation of Scientific Practices Assessment Tasks for the General Chemistry Laboratory ~ Norda S. Stephenson, Erin M. Duffy, Elizabeth L. Day, Kira Padilla, Deborah G. Herrington, Melanie M. Cooper, and Justin H. Carmel (available to non-subscribers as part of ACS Editors’ Choice program)
Assessing the Practical Skills of Undergraduates: The Evolution of a Station-Based Practical Exam ~ Laura M. Hancock and Martin J. Hollamby
I’ve Been Given COPUS (Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM) Data on My Chemistry Class... Now What? ~ Barbara A. Reisner, Cole L. Pate, Melissa M. Kinkaid, Daniel M. Paunovic, Justin M. Pratt, Joanne L. Stewart, Jeffrey R. Raker, Anne K. Bentley, Shirley Lin, and Sheila R. Smith
Organic Chemistry
Reorganization of the Organic Chemistry Curriculum to Improve Student Outcomes ~ Mark A. Lipton
Exploring Students’ Understanding of Resonance and Its Relationship to Instruction ~ Dihua Xue and Marilyne Stains
Semester-Long Course-Based Research Project in Second-Semester Organic Chemistry: Synthesizing Potential Lead Compounds for the Treatment of a Neglected Tropical Disease ~ Kerry L. Barnett, Kevin M. Shea, Catherine McGeough, Kristine Trotta, Steven Williams, Minh Ly, and Kathryn Aloisio
Solvent-Free N-Formylation: An Experimental Application of Basic Concepts and Techniques of Organic Chemistry ~ Yasser M. Omar, Noha G. Mohamed, Andrew N. Boshra, and Abu-Baker M. Abdel-Aal
Assessing Basic Separatory Technique Skills in an Organic Experiment Based on an Incomplete Haloform Reaction ~ Iveta Kmentová, Ambroz Almássy, Lucia Feriancová, and Martin Putala
Comment on “Should Organic Chemistry Be Taught as Science?” ~ Melanie M Cooper and Michael W Klymkowsky
Reply to Comment on “Should Organic Chemistry Be Taught as Science?” ~ Eamonn F. Healy
Inorganic Chemistry
Preparation and Applications of Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs): A Laboratory Activity and Demonstration for High School and/or Undergraduate Students ~ Yoshie Sakamaki, Miu Tsuji, Zachary Heidrick, Olivia Watson, Jeremy Durchman, Christopher Salmon, Stephen R. Burgin, and M. Hassan Beyzavi
Synthesis and Iodometric Analysis of the Polyiodide Salt (NMe4)[I5] ~ Charles G. Young and Sioe See Volaric
Synthesis, Iodometric Analysis, and IR Spectroscopy of the Peroxide Double Salt [Zn(NH3)4][Mo(O2)4] ~ Charles G. Young and Sioe See Volaric
A Simplified Extractive Metallurgy Exercise to Demonstrate Selective Extraction of Copper ~ Iain A. Smellie, Yusra Abdelhamid, Cameron L. Carpenter-Warren, David B. Cordes, Clement Elliott, Sarah Lamorte, Iain L. J. Patterson, William Sanders, Iain P. Sandison, Alexandra M. Z. Slawin, Dominic M. Stewart, and Samuel N. Walters
Understanding Chromatography
Accelerating Students’ Learning of Chromatography with an Experiential Module on Process Development and Scaleup ~ Mingrou Xie, Pavan Inguva, Wenqian Chen, Nicholaus Prasetya, Andrew Macey, Peter DiMaggio, Umang Shah, and Clemens Brechtelsbauer
Microwave-Assisted Transesterification of Cooking Oils and GC–MS Determination of Their Fatty Acid Constituents: A Research-Based Integrated Lab Experiment ~ Isabel Larraza and Rada Malko
Flash Chromatography System: A Practical Tool for Demonstrating the Influence of Column Characteristics on Chromatographic Resolution ~ Amaury Kasprowiak, Francine Cazier-Dennin, and Pierre-Edouard Danjou
Data Functionalization for Gas Chromatography in Python ~ Michael Green and Xiaobo Chen
Analytical Methods
Constructing, Troubleshooting, and Using Absorption Colorimeters to Integrate Chemistry and Engineering ~ Daniel R. Albert
Curve Fitting, Linear Algebra, and Solver in an Analytical Chemistry Course: A Facile and Safe Activity Suitable for the Classroom Setting ~ Jesse Maccione, Joseph Welch, and Emily C. Heider
Analytical Methods for Monitoring the Degradation of Plasmonic Nanoparticles in Solution: An Instrumental Analysis Laboratory Exercise ~ Rachel Bracker, Kimberly Dominguez, and Anthony S. Stender
Aids for Spatial Learning
Interactive 3D Visualization of Chemical Structure Diagrams Embedded in Text to Aid Spatial Learning Process of Students ~ Amal Fatemah, Shahzad Rasool, and Uzma Habib
A Web-Based Stereochemistry Tool to Improve Students’ Ability to Draw Newman Projections and Chair Conformations and Assign R/S Labels ~ Nimesh Mistry, Ravi Singh, and Jamie Ridley
Computer-Based Learning
Platonic Solids and Their Programming: A Geometrical Approach ~ J. Abraham Morales-Vidales, S. Alejandro Sandoval Salazar, Jimena M. Jacobo-Fernández, and Alfredo Tlahuice-Flores
Observing Quantum Dynamics in Real Time: An Excel-Ready Finite-Difference Algorithm for Solving the Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equation ~ Taylor A. Rossman, Zachary P. Parks, and Michael Messina
Developing and Implementing an R Shiny Application to Introduce Multivariate Calibration to Advanced Undergraduate Students ~ Tomás M. Antonelli and Alejandro C. Olivieri
Low-Cost Teaching Tools
From Ideality to Simplicity: A Robust and Affordable Hydrogen Reference Electrode ~ Michelle Duran-Chaves and Jean Sanabria-Chinchilla
Demonstration of the Color and Paramagnetism of Liquid Oxygen in the Classroom Using a Simple Handmade Liquefier ~ Kohei Tada
Low-Cost 3D-Printed Polarimeter ~ Paweł Bernard and James D. Mendez
Low-Cost, High-Performance Lock-in Amplifier for Pedagogical and Practical Applications ~ Xicheng Xu, Yoshinori Suganuma, and Al-Amin Dhirani
From the Archives: Resources for Teaching Online and Articles for Celebrating Earth Week 2020
In hopes that some past JCE articles about distance learning of chemistry and teaching and learning chemistry online may provide guidance to chemistry instructors during the covid-19 crisis, a virtual issue of Resources for Teaching Your Chemistry Class Online has been made available as a free to read collection. Additional remote teaching resources are available on ACS axial.
Chemists Celebrate Earth Week 2020 occurs April 19-25, 2020 with the theme “Protecting Our Planet through Chemistry”. The articles, activities, and experiments listed at ACS Axial provide ideas and suggestions for engaging students on the topic of sustainability in order to connect real-world issues to the teaching environment. Success in integrating sustainability considerations into the practice of chemistry highlights the substantial impact that chemistry education can have, to better equip students to address the sustainability of the Earth and societal systems.
Explore More with JCE
Explore ideas for teaching and learning of chemistry in the 97 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education —including the April 2020 issue described above. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available. (For more information on how to access the articles cited above, see Deanna Cullen’s post on Accessing Cited Articles.)
Do you have something to share? Write it up for the Journal! Erica Jacobsen’s Commentary provides excellent advice about becoming an author. In addition, numerous author resources are available on JCE’s ACS website, including the revised Author Guidelines and Document Templates. In addition, the ACS Publishing Center has resources for preparing and reviewing manuscripts for ACS journals.