Articles

Filter by:

1 – 25 of 31 Articles

Resource Feature | May 2020 My Favorite Demonstrations for Teaching Chemical Reactions
Created by Stephanie Harry

In this article, the author describes a series of seven demonstrations she uses to help students understand how to identify that a chemical reaction has occurred. Additionally, students use their observations to write word equations and formula equations.
Nuts & Bolts | May 2020 Addressing Scientific Literacy through a Demonstration
Created by Sam Oxley and Adrienne Oxley

A chemical demonstration can be repeatedly utilized in a curricular unit to bolster scientific literacy. A series of classroom activities in a chemistry classroom is presented to illustrate the demonstration's usefulness as a central and ongoing instructional strategy.
Resource Feature | March 2019 Magic Monday: Inspiring Students to Observe and Question in Chemistry
Created by Christine Taylor

The article describes the author’s use of demonstrations to spark interest and investigation in chemistry. This teaching strategy has been both valuable and popular with her students.
Resource Feature | March 2019 Teaching Essential Concepts … with T-Shirt Chromatography
Created by Lindsay Davis

In this article, a teacher shares about her colorful classroom activity for teaching chromatography.
Resource Feature | September 2018 Chemistry of Lightsticks: Determination of Activation Energy, a Guided Inquiry Approach
Created by Susan M. Smith with Adam Kraft

Lightsticks, with their eerie glow, capture the interest of students of every age. Capitalizing on this, the authors describe how they developed and used a guided inquiry approach to help students determine the activation energy of the chemiluminescent reaction in a lightstick. They also describe how they used a Vernier LabQuest 2 system, while acknowledging that any data collection system that allows simultaneous collection of data from light and temperature probes may be used instead. In addtion, they explain how they employed the natural logarithm form of the Arrhenius equation and spreadsheet software.
Resource Feature | May 2018 Embracing Chemistry in the Elementary Classroom
Created by Susan Bickel

This article discusses why it's important for K-5 teachers to overcome the fear of teaching chemistry, and gives some simple suggestions on how to start.
Tech Tips | May 2018 Experimenting with Electronic Lab Notebooks
Created by Melanie Wills

The author describes her efforts to implement and effectively use electronic notebooks to capture lab work in regular, advanced, and AP chemistry classes.
Resource Feature | March 2018 Teaching Beyond the Cookbook
Created by Linda Cummings

Inquiry lab experiences provide students with a wider context for understanding the material presented in the classroom while improving student engagement and giving them a more authentic science experience. If you want to include more aspects of inquiry in your laboratory experiences, but lack the time and money to test brand new labs, this article provides specific tools and ideas for adding inquiry experiences to your own labs.
Resource Feature | March 2018 Recasting Chemistry Labs with Forensic Themes
Created by Terence Laughlin

This article discusses several examples of how forensic scenarios can be added to tried-and-true chemistry labs. The author also provides several example lab activities for the audience to use in their own classrooms.
Classroom Commentary | March 2018 Part II: Rethinking Common Practices in High School Chemistry
Created by Kaleb Underwood

This article is Part II of a series that aims at rethinking common practices in the high school chemistry curriculum. The first article in this series was published in the November 2017 issue. This article describes the shortcomings with the “5 Reaction Types” classification scheme and provides an alternative organization to the study of chemical reactions.
Classroom Commentary | November 2017 Part I: Rethinking Common Practices in High School Chemistry
Created by Kaleb Underwood

The physical vs. chemical change dichotomy and criteria for classification often taught early in chemistry courses should be removed or delayed until students have a more thorough understanding of the particulate nature of matter.
Resource Feature | September 2017 Introducing the Chemistry of Color: A Resource Collection
Created by Dusty Carroll

This article highlights a set of lessons developed by a team of content writers, sponsored by PPG, using color as a general theme. The lessons use chemistry to explore various aspects of the science behind paints and coatings.
Resource Feature | March 2017 Take Home Labs: Making Science Real
Created by Amiee Modic

It’s an ongoing question: how do we provide students with more lab time? One answer is to introduce take home labs. In this article, the author explains how take home labs can fit into your curriculum to cover new material, review material, or provide extra credit, and how they provide increased exposure to science in our everyday world.
Nuts & Bolts | March 2017 Four Strategies for More Effective Labs
Created by Kristen Drury

Learn four strategies for effectively connecting chemistry lessons to lab activities. This article will explore flipping the pre-lab, incorporating claim-evidence-reasoning in the hypothesis and conclusion, implementing a class discussion during inquiry labs, and developing lab quizzes.
Tech Tips | November 2016 Using Wikis to Promote Engagement in a Chemistry Lab
Created by Terence Laughlin

Wikis can be used as a technology tool for differentiating a chemistry lab so it's engaging to all students. In this article the author explains how to build a classroom wiki page to use with students. He also explores ways to assess students’ tasks completed during the lab.
Tech Tips | November 2016 Simple Technology Strategies to Improve the Lab Experience
Created by Kaleb Underwood

Learn how to incorporate a few simple strategies to improve data sharing, pre-lab preparation and post-lab discussion in the chemistry lab. The author discusses the use of Google Forms, and the integration of videos and simulations.
Resource Feature | September 2016 Tools and Strategies for Teaching Lab Report Writing
Created by W. Patrick Cunningham and Elisa Compton

One of the critical skills expected from any science graduate is the ability to write coherent and meaningful laboratory reports. Many chemistry students come to their first- and even second-year classes with an incomplete understanding of how to write high quality formal lab reports. We have developed some tools and strategies that may be helpful in this endeavor.
Resource Feature | May 2016 Getting Young Students Excited about Science
Created by Rebecca Field

Have you considered teaching chemistry to your elemenatry students? This fifth grade teacher shows how easy it is to introduce chemistry into the elementary school classroom. She reviews several You Be The Chemist® activities, and explains why her students love them.
Nuts & Bolts | September 2016 Keeping the Wow Factor, and Controlling the Risks
Created by Michele Crase

This article reviews the safety problems inherent in the “traditional” rainbow experiment and similar demonstrations, the responses from various organizations, and safer alternatives.
Resource Feature | March 2016 Keys for Success in Teaching Chemistry
Created by Ted Koehn

Teach fundamental chemistry concepts using common items, and discover clever options for finding teaching supplies on a limited budget.
Resource Feature | November 2014 A Cracking Good Reaction
Created by Bob Worley

Eliminate safety concerns of cracking hydrocarbons in a classroom setting by doing the reaction with a microscale set up.
Nuts & Bolts | November 2014 Strategies for Increasing Student Engagement
Created by Michael Farabaugh

Increase student engagement and promote critical-thinking skills through positive student–teacher relationships, chemical demonstrations, and student discussions.
Nuts & Bolts | September 2015 Teaching Chemistry on a Budget
Created by Audrey Smeltzer-Schwab

Do you have an unlimited budget for your classroom? Learn tips for maximizing your teaching resources and supplies, while minimizing cost.
Nuts & Bolts | September 2015 Minimizing Error in a Stoichiometry Lab
Created by Ann Levinson

A student suggests an alternative method to minimize the error in an exciting stoichiometry experiment.
Resource Feature | May 2015 The Indestructible Crucible
Created by Bob Worley

Is it correct to use unconventional equipment in a school setting? Read about this alternative apparatus to the traditional crucible—a bottle cap.