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Nora Walsh reflects on her experience using phenomena in her chemistry courses and assessments for the first time.
Igniting paper towels that have been soaked in concentrated potassium nitrate and allowed to dry yields a flame reminiscent of that produced by guncotton. Repeating this experiment with other metal nitrates produces flames with different colors, plus a few other chemical surprises! This series of experiments is fascinating and connects to a wide variety of chemical topics including combustion, redox reactions, chemical thermodynamics, and flame tests. You don't want to miss this one!
Demonstrate the Law of Definite Proportions by quickly and easily preparing one or more esters!
Anthony Stetzenmeyer's grading strategy provides an alternative option to offering required retakes on summative assessments. It has the added bonus of helping his AP chemistry students prepare for the AP exam while learning to cut their losses.
Regularly dimpled trays such as those used in food packaging can be used to represent layers of atoms in solid structures. For example, the square array of dimples in transparent plastic mini quiche trays can be used to depict layers within cubic or tetragonal unit cells. Multiple solid structures and ways to represent those structures are described.
Michael Jansen offers test taking strategies for students.
Find out more about Nicholls State University Department of Chemistry's recruiting program involving a Roadshow and Field Days and its impact on diversity in the chemistry program.
Brain Breaks are powerful tools in education, supported by research showing improved focus, retention, community building, and reduced stress among students. When structured using chemistry principles, like in the Water Maze Race, brain breaks can also introduce or reinforce fundamental chemistry concepts.
This simulated ice core lab provides a great opportunity for students to use different units of concentration beyond molarity, explore how knowledge of chemistry can uncover past events on Earth and practice the skill of generating a calibration curve.
The floating soap bubble is an impressive experiment that is surprisingly easy to carry out.