A quick look through the reference sections of several of the chemistry education resources that I have in my home office confirms that the Journal of Chemical Education (JCE)(link is external) is well respected and valued by our community. Most of the chemistry education resources I have used over the years have cited JCE articles. Little did I know in the early years of my career that many of the demonstrations, strategies, lesson ideas and pedagogy that I learned about while attending science education conferences in Michigan were actually first published in JCE. At some point, I became more familiar with the resource, but only in print form until about 2000. The ability to search the archives of JCE on my computer has been a game changer. Usually, given a choice, I will pick a print version of the written word. However, the ability to dig into the archives of over 93 years of material is priceless.
Many readers have access to JCE through a university subscription. Of course, some individuals purchase a personal subscription. Others have access to 25 downloads of ACS Journal (including JCE) articles, as part of a benefit for their membership to ACS and/or AACT. Norb Pienta, Editor in Chief of JCE, and I took part in a recent AACT webinar about JCE in response to their new agreement with ACS Publications allowing that member benefit. The AACT moderator, Kim Duncan, pointed viewers to directions for members to access JCE articles using their member benefit. Norb Pienta outlined a brief history of JCE and highlighted current content, including the first two "Special Issues", "Advanced Placement Chemistry(link is external)" and "Polymer Chemistry Across the Curriculum" (to be published before the end of 2017). I shared how I have used JCE as a resource in my own high school chemistry classroom. I pointed out several representative articles to not only show the breadth of the material available, but to bring attention to the value of the "Supporting Information" linked to many of the manuscript types. Knowing that many chemistry teachers are short on time, I highlighted sources that recommend specific JCE articles. We closed the webinar by fielding and answering questions of participants. You do not need to be an AACT member to view the webinar(link is external) or access a document summarizing the resources and articles(link is external) mentioned in that recording.
If you follow ChemEd X on a regular basis, you know that Erica Jacobsen pens a monthly feature, Especially JCE, and Mary Saecker shares Issue Highlights of every issue along with additional related materials from the archives. Note that if you are using ACS Journal downloads from a member benefit, articles that are designated as Editors’ Choice or AuthorChoice will not count against the 25 available downloads. Articles labeled as editorials, Editors’ Choice or AuthorChoice are open access to everyone.
If you find a JCE article of special interest to you (no matter when it was published), I encourage you to write a short review and share it with our readers. See our Contribute page for more information about submitting your work.
If you are interested in an individual subscription to JCE, precollege teachers can purchase web access for $65 per year. Individual Subscription Form(link is external)
If you watch the webinar and have additional questions, please feel free to use the comment field below.