News & Updates


  • April 16, 2018

    Vote now in the 2018 Governing Board Elections!

    Governing Board elections are open now through April 27!

  • April 12, 2018

    JChemEd Activity uses Boiling Point Investigation and Gas Chromatography to Teach Intermolecular Forces in AP Chem

    AACT members now have access to 25 ACS Publications articles each year. We are highlighting one article or activity each month that you might consider downloading through this member benefit. This month we are featuring an AP level “dual” investigation from the February, 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education, titled “Studying Intermolecular Forces with a Dual Gas Chromatography and Boiling Point Investigation” by AACT member W. Patrick Cunningham and four members of his 2016-17 Scientific Research and Design class at Johnson High School, San Antonio.

  • April 5, 2018

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Thermochemistry and Thermodynamics

    In our last news post, we looked at classroom resources that focused on teaching aqueous solutions. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching thermodynamics. This includes endothermic and exothermic processes, enthalpy, Hess’s Law, entropy, and free energy.

  • April 3, 2018

    Chemistry Teacher of the Year Award

    Congratulations to the three Chemistry Teachers of the Year!

  • March 13, 2018

    Is There Chemistry in the Vacuum of Space?

    We challenged teachers to tell us what they've heard isn't chemistry and we'd show them how it was related to chemistry. Read on to find out the winning answer and how Jenelle Ball, AACT's 2017-2018 Governing Board President, responded.

  • March 13, 2018

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Aqueous Solutions

    In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on phase changes and heat transfer. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching aqueous solutions. This includes molarity calculations, solution preparation, dilution, solubility, solubility rules, and colligative properties.

  • March 6, 2018

    JChemEd Activity Supports Student Understanding of the Limiting Reactant

    AACT members have access to 50 ACS Publications articles each year. We are highlighting one article or activity each month that you might consider downloading through this member benefit. This month, we are featuring a hands-on student activity from the July 2014 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled A Hands-on Activity Incorporating the Threefold Representation on Limiting Reactant by Angélica M. González-Sánchez, Edgardo L. Ortiz-Nieves, and Zuleika Medina.

  • March 5, 2018

    Governing Board: Self-Nominations Now Open!

    Nominate yourself for a Governing Board position now until March 27, 2018.

  • February 26, 2018

    Chemistry and the Calendar

    There are many K-8 classroom resources available in the AACT Resource Library, many which connect well with other content areas, so teachers can easily incorporate chemistry lessons into their everyday activities.

  • February 22, 2018

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Phase Changes and Heat Transfer

    In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on the gas laws. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching phase changes and heat transfer. This includes exploring kinetic molecular theory, phase changes, heat capacity calculations, and calorimetry.

  • February 16, 2018

    AACT at the 5th USA Science & Engineering Festival

    Join AACT at the 5th USA Science & Engineering Festival (USASEF), April 6-8, 2018.

  • February 12, 2018

    AACT Introduces Student Video Pass

    AACT launches a new member benefit that allows teacher members to have their students independently watch videos on their personal computers or mobile devices from anywhere.

  • February 6, 2018

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Gas Laws

    In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on stoichiometry. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching the gas laws. This includes exploring the relationship between pressure, temperature, volume, and moles of gas both conceptually and mathematically.

  • January 31, 2018

    JChemEd Activity Supports Student Understanding of Nomenclature and Compound Formation

    AACT members now have access to 50 ACS Publications articles each year. We are highlighting one article or activity each month that you might consider downloading through this new member benefit. This month, we are featuring a hands-on student activity from the December 2008 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled Clip Clues: Discovering Chemical Formulas by Carmen Fies and Diana Mason.

  • January 29, 2018

    What in the World Isn't Chemistry

    Chemistry: it’s the central science, and honestly, pretty great. But is there anything that *isn’t* chemistry? We’re challenging teachers to explore, 'What in the World Isn’t Chemistry?'.

  • January 26, 2018

    More New Resources from the AACT AP Chemistry Content Writing Team

    This past summer AACT hosted an AP Chemistry Content Writing Team to create AP chemistry teaching resources for our High School Classroom Library. The first three lessons, released on October 19, 2017, focused on Big Ideas 4 and 5. This week we are publishing the final three resources from our content team members which each focus on Big Idea 6.

  • January 16, 2018

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Stoichiometry

    In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on teaching chemical equations. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching stoichiometry. This includes the following topics: setting up stoichiometry calculations, determining limiting and excess reactants, and calculating percent yield.

  • January 8, 2018

    New AACT AP Chemistry Exam Review Resource

    It might only be January, but AP Chemistry teachers are starting to think about the May exam date and are putting together their review strategies. We recently posted a new classroom lesson plan that will help prepare your students for the AP exam.

  • December 13, 2017

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Chemical Equations

    In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on writing chemical names and formulas. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching chemical equations.

  • December 5, 2017

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Chemical Naming and Formula Writing

    Lessons, activities, labs, projects, videos, simulations, and animations that could be used to support a unit plan for chemical names and formulas.

  • December 4, 2017

    12 (School) Days of Membership

    From December 5th - December 20th, AACT will highlight an AACT member benefit that's sure to help you teach chemistry with holiday glee.

  • November 30, 2017

    JChemEd Article Describes an Experiment using Smart Phones as Spectrophotometers

    AACT members now have access to 25 ACS Publications articles each year. This month we are featuring a hands-on student activity from the July 2016 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled, Teaching Beer’s Law and Absorption Spectrophotometry with a Smart Phone: A Substantially Simplified Protocol by Thomas S. Kuntzleman and Erik C. Jacobson.

  • November 28, 2017

    Chemistry Teacher Visits the White House

    PAEMST are the nation’s highest honors for K-12 STEM teaching and have been awarded to over 4,700 teachers since the program began in 1983.

  • November 27, 2017

    Holiday and Winter Themed Classroom Resources from AACT

    Thanksgiving has passed and holiday decorations are starting to pop up all around us. Here are a few AACT winter and holiday themed classroom activities that you can use with your students in the coming months. Enjoy the upcoming winter break!

  • November 10, 2017

    Using AACT Resources to Teach Chemical Bonding

    This includes the topics that cover bonding basics, covalent, ionic and metallic bonding and properties, Lewis Structures, molecular geometry, polarity and intermolecular forces.