AACT Member Spotlight: Chris Ann Slye



Every month AACT spotlights a passionate member who is dedicated to enhancing chemistry inside and outside the classroom. This month, we spotlight Chris Ann Slye. She teaches science at University School in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in a suburb outside Pittsburgh, PA, and went on to earn my BS in Secondary Education of Chemistry and General Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. After a few years teaching in Virginia, I returned to Pennsylvania to teach Honors Chemistry at my alma mater and pursued my MS in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Pittsburgh. Following our marriage, my husband, a PhD Material Scientist, and I moved frequently, living in New York, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. In each new place, the people I connected with influenced my growth as a teacher. I taught both high school chemistry and middle school science at various public and private schools. Along the way, I was blessed with two wonderful children, one a thriving chemical engineer working as a formulation scientist, the other a college sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering.

At first, when I began my teaching career, I felt confident in what I knew—after all, I had a solid foundation in chemistry. As time passed in my teaching career and my circle of knowledge grew, so did my awareness of all the concepts I realized I knew nothing about. For every new concept I encountered, it seemed as though a hundred more questions arose. I could see the edges of what I didn’t know more clearly than ever before.

This expanding awareness didn’t feel discouraging; rather, it fueled my curiosity and growth. I began to embrace the unknowns, recognizing that they were not gaps in my knowledge but doorways to new learning and sought out professional development programs to make my teaching more current.

This cycle of discovery became a cornerstone of both my teaching and my personal development. With each new student, each new question, I had the opportunity to explore new facets of science and, in turn, help my students do the same.

Share a story from your past that led to your choosing your field of work.

From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.

When I was a child, the neighborhood kids would gather at my house every summer to play—and I would turn our backyard into a school. I’d lay out a blanket on the patio for story time and carefully arrange old wooden school desks (now antiques in my basement) into neat rows. Each desk was fully stocked with paper, sharpened pencils, and crayons. I was always the teacher; my friends, even though they were my age, were always my students.

We went on “field trips” into the woods across the street, flipping over rocks to find crayfish and using small nets to catch minnows in the stream. We learned to identify poison ivy and avoided it as we collected leaves for art class rubbings. When the streetlights came on, our "school day" ended. I’d send them home with homework, and they’d come back the next day with it completed—eager for my red pen and the stickers I’d place on their papers.

It was magical. Even then, I knew—I wasn’t just playing school. I was living out a passion that would one day become my career.

What fuels your passion for science and teaching?

What fuels me as a teacher is the lasting impact I’ve had on my students over the past 28 years. I've had the privilege of teaching grades 6 through 12 across public and private schools in different states, covering everything from general science to AP Chemistry. What truly keeps me inspired is hearing from former students—now adults—who share their successes in science, medicine, and engineering. Knowing that the "science seeds" I planted helped spark a lifelong passion or career path is the most rewarding part of this journey. That is what continues to fuel my love for teaching every single day.

What are you most proud of in your work?

Reminiscing over my past 28 years of teaching, I have numerous memories that make me smile, but the most recent accomplishments that I take pride in would be the two clubs that I sponsor at University School, in Cleveland, Ohio: The Young Surgeons Club and The Young Engineers Club.

University School is located minutes away from the best hospitals in the world. With a vast number of medical professionals located in our area, I have been fortunate to tap into their generous sharing of their time and talents with the Young Surgeons Club. Medical professionals from various disciplines visit and talk about their profession and the class ends with a hands-on component for the students. One cardiologist, for example, has been coming in for the past 10 years and teaches the students about the heart. He inserts a tricuspid valve and a stent into a 30 lb. cow heart that I purchase from a local butcher. The students then dissect their own sheep heart. The week prior to the cardiologist's visit, a material science engineer speaks about biomedical implants and the use of nitinol and its memory metal properties making it useful in stents. These are just two of the 14 speakers that share their time and discuss current applications of science in their medical specialties with my students.

The Young Engineers Club also merges career exploration with science. Disciplines of engineering are taught and followed by a hands-on competition or task. This year, Civil, Aerospace, Electrical, Chemical, Mechanical, Material Science, and Environmental Engineering lessons were taught with activities from Engineering Tomorrow, Science Buddies, Mark Rober Crunch Labs, ASM Materials Camp, and the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation.

What topic do you find hardest for students? How do you teach it?

I’m proud of my ability to take abstract, often intimidating chemistry concepts and make them relatable and understandable for students of all ages. I use a hands-on, experiential approach that brings chemistry to life—transforming ideas from textbook pages into something students can see, touch, and truly grasp.

Learning the names and uses of many pieces of scientific equipment used in the chemistry lab along with concepts of solution chemistry, molarity, solubility curves, and crystallography are abstract concepts for 6th graders to understand. To teach these concepts, I constructed a lemonade stand that "sold" 3 different concentrations of lemonade (dilute, saturated, and supersaturated.) The students then transferred this taste testing knowledge into making supersaturated solutions of Alum to grow octahedral crystals for the University at Buffalo's United States Crystal Growing Competition. The chance to win cash prizes keeps the students motivated throughout this 5-week competition. The crystals are judged in three different categories, Best Overall (which takes into consideration size, clarity and morphology), Best Quality (which evaluates the clarity and shape of the single crystal) and Coolest Crystal (which allows students to be creative with a diorama and showcase a not so perfect crystal.) 

What do you do to remain current and bring the latest science into the classroom?

In order to bring the latest of science and technology into my classroom, I fuel my professional growth and have actively sought out various summer professional development opportunities, enrolling in programs that have broadened not only my content knowledge but also my network of teaching contacts. Here is a list of just a few of the societies I have interacted with and found very worthwhile; I would encourage other chemistry teachers to investigate these opportunities if interested in summer enrichment.

I participated in an NSF funded summer internship program at Carnegie Mellon University and developed Materials Science and Engineering curriculum for high school science courses, learned how to ferment and distill corn mash to produce ethanol and run a Stirling Engine at the Feed the World workshop, explored the world of materials and cleanrooms at the ASM Materials Camp, and gained insights into nitinol's unique properties for medical applications through the Ceramic & Glass Industry Foundation. I also learned about blackbody heat conduction in a vacuum through the American Vacuum Society and wrote metric measurement curriculum for AACT. These experiences not only deepened my understanding of science and its practical applications but also inspired successful student research projects and provided opportunities to present at various professional conferences across the United States, where I shared insights on preparing students for 21st-century careers.

Why did you become involved with AACT? What are the benefits of being involved?

The benefits of being involved in AACT are huge! AACT provides a vast data bank of labs to spice up your chemistry instruction as well as a teacher chat section for ChemClub advisors, sends lots of swag for your students to sport around your school's campus, publishes resource packets four times throughout the school year which include activities, demos, labs and ideas to use with your ChemClub, and offers the ACS ChemClub Community Activities Grants to purchase Flinn Scientific materials for your outreach programs.

I was awarded a $300 ACS ChemClub grant for flame test equipment and Bunsen burners for my Young Engineers/ChemClub's Pyrotechnic Chemical Engineering Lesson with REACH students. REACH was founded to motivate and inspire talented African-American young men in the Greater Cleveland area to pursue academic excellence and become life-long learners. My students worked alongside the REACH boys on a Saturday to learn about the chemistry of fireworks.

In three words, what would your students say they learned from you?

Chemistry, grit, and the engineering design process.