My ChemClub students came to my room for a holiday celebration today. We made a batch of sea foam candy, experimented with Elephant Toothpaste, and marbled gift tags.
Do you know where the term “isotope” comes from? The term was coined about 100 years ago.
I have my students use Orbital Viewer when learning about quantum numbers and their associated rules, electronic orbitals, and other quantum concepts. I have developed a worksheet that allows students to use Orbital Viewer to explore various concepts related to electronic orbitals.
Recent ChemEd X posts about Expo neon markers led Tom Kuntzleman to create a video showing how he uses these markers to teach fluorescence and chemiluminescence.
As the trimester comes to an end, I have the chance to reflect with my chemistry students and ask them about course likes and dislikes. A major "like" that came out was the use of the Expo brand neon markers. I had heard about their use from Brian Bennett @bennettscience and how well they show up on the black lab tables.
One of over 100 activities in the collection, JCE Classroom Activity #92 describes how to test for the presence of iodide in iodized salt using only water, iodized salt, 3% hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and liquid laundry starch. Watch the video for an added twist to the activity.
I am a safety conscience science teacher. I am embarrassed about some of the things that I did in my classes early in my career that I did not realize were unsafe. I saw the demonstrations and activities done at professional development venues and assumed that if my mentors were using the activity, it was safe.
Ninety Years New The November 2013 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online at http://pubs.acs.org/toc/jceda8/90/11. This latest issue of JCE plus the content of all past issues, volumes 1 through 90, are available at http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc.
Every year, high school teachers across the country are asked to write college recommendations for their current and former students. With today’s competitive college culture, and an ever-growing list of teacher responsibilities—how can we be expected to write 10, sometimes more, original college recommendations each year for our students? As a teacher who was just introduced to all of this two years ago, I’ve spoken with college recruiters, researched how and what to include within a recommendation letter, consulted with guidance counselors (who see the range of recommendations, confidentially), and, most importantly, spoken with veteran teachers who write recommendation letters. After putting together the results of everything that I have learned, I have developed the following set of tips and advice. So, whether you are a pro at writing recommendation letters and are just looking to keep your letters fresh or you are a complete novice, as I was not too long ago, I hope that my advice will be helpful to you.
