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Especially JCE—October 2015

October was always the "big" one. That was the monthly issue that coincided with National Chemistry Week (NCW) when I was at the Journal of Chemical Education. In a past Especially for High School Teachers column, I compared the arrival of the October 2005 issue in the mail to receiving a Christmas gift. That year, it was filled with resources for sharing chemistry through “The Joy of Toys.” Those issues were a bonanza of articles chosen with precollege teachers in mind, including many that specifically matched the American Chemical Society NCW theme for the year.

JCE 92.10 October 2015 Issue Highlights

Celebrating National Chemistry Week 2015: Chemistry Colors Our World

The October 2015 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. National Chemistry Week, a community-based annual event uniting ACS local sections, businesses, schools, and individuals in communicating the value of chemistry in our everyday life, is being celebrated October 18–24, 2015 with the theme “Chemistry Colors Our World”. Articles in this issue can help you make the most of this annual celebration.

What's Inquiry Got to do with it?

 Instead of focusing on an instructional label, why don’t we focus on what we are trying to accomplish with our students? Our classrooms should be a platform for students to actively explain science practices using evidence and no matter how you define your instruction, we cannot deny our students this opportunity. With the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards, our students will be assessed based on performance expectations that not only link disciplinary knowledge, but scientific practice, and crosscutting concepts as well. “These performance expectations guide the development of assessments: when a standard encompasses all three strands, then so must the assessment. It will no longer be possible to meet a standard solely by recall of factual knowledge.” (Cooper, 2013).

Sharon's September Sharing

Teaching is so collaborative! That's why periodically I will interview a fellow instructor and post the questions and answers here. It benefits all of us when we discuss what works, what doesn't, and how we can improve. This month's feature is Sharon Geyer from Pomfret School in Connecticut.

So I wrote this project for my students - now what? Part 2: The group contract

Have you ever worked with someone on a project and you couldn’t get a hold of them? Or you realized, a bit too late, that they need extra reminders to get stuff done? Oh, and by the way, how did that guy get to be in charge? As adults, we can probably remember more than one situation where this has happened. Maybe it was in school, maybe it’s in your job.

Camtasia for Mac update

For anyone out there looking to do any screen recording may have already invested in Camtasia. If not, I highly reccommend investing in it. I just ran the latest update for Camtasia for mac and it now offers the capability to record directly to your mobile apple device.