Political dilemmas will be associated with resistance from various stakeholders when school and organizational norms are questioned and routines of privilege and authority are disturbed.
Cultural dilemmas will emerge between teachers and students as classroom roles and expectations shift with an emphasis on chemical thinking.
Pedagogical dilemmas will arise as they address decisions about instructional materials and approaches and what to emphasize in learning experiences that a chemical thinking perspective demands.
Conceptual dilemmas will occur as teachers confront the philosophical, psychological, and epistemological assumptions that differ between a traditional conceptualization of chemistry learning and chemical thinking. Teachers are asked to organize instruction around the Chemical Thinking Framework instead of a topic based approach.
Providing students with meaningful feedback greatly enhances their learning and achievement. With the move to online and hybrid formats, teachers have had to scramble to modify their usual process for communicating that feedback. On January 21, 2021, Ariel Serkin presented in a ChemEd X Talk about the process she is using and how she is providing feedback to her students remotely. You can watch the edited recording here.
The ability to provide meaningful feedback has been one of the most difficult aspects of hybrid and distance learning. Using the Chrome extension, Mote, allows teachers to attach an audio recording of their feedback to student work.
Implementing constructivist pedagogy in the chemistry classroom (Chemical Thinking) has inherent challenges which hinder teachers. Teaching Dilemmas emerge due to the ambiguities, philosophies, and compromises that arise among stakeholders in the educational arena. These dilemmas commonly arise from tensions between teaching what we know in the way we were taught (Traditional) vs. teaching students how to think and know about chemistry by creating the knowledge (Chemical Thinking). Many teachers need to deal with these dilemmas in our everyday practice.
This 3 hour session provides an introduction to the Assessing for Change in Chemical Thinking (ACCT) professional development series. Session 1 provides an overview of the three program components that drive ACCT sessions: The Chemical Thinking Model, the Formative Assessment Enactment Model and Teaching Dilemmas. Teachers have time to get to know each other and begin to build a collaborative professional learning community. Participants complete a chemistry formative assessment and then explore student work related to that assessment. The Chemical Thinking Framework is discussed in more detail, highlighting the related chemistry practices. The six overarching objectives, the central focus of the ACCT course, are introduced; they will be revisited in each workshop session.
The ACS Exams Institute is pleased to announce that new tutorial practice exams are now available for General Chemistry, (first term) and Organic Chemistry (full year).
Free AP Chemistry prep exams are available for teachers. This is part of a research study occurring through the 2020-2021 year. Enroll today!
