Articles

Filter by:

1 – 25 of 389 Articles

Advice Column | May 2026 Dear Labby: Colorfully Confused
A teacher requests an explanation for the strange color changes that occur while diluting copper(II) ion solutions.
Editorial | May 2026 USNCO – What is it and How Can it Help my Students?
AACT Governing Board President Amiee Modic talks about her time volunteering as a mentor for students participating in the United States National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO). She outlines a variety of ways that teachers and students can get involved in the program.
Nuts & Bolts | May 2026 Culturally Responsive Teaching Might Not Be What You Think It Is!
A teacher discusses her experience using culturally responsive teaching practices to help students better connect with chemistry content. She describes several strategies that have both improved her lessons and increased her students’ cultural awareness and sensitivity.
Tech Tips | May 2026 Computational Chemistry in the High School Classroom

In this article, the author describes his use of computational chemistry, highlighting benefits of using various methods when teaching high school chemistry. He suggests several options that can be easily implemented by teachers with minimal training.
Classroom Commentary | May 2026 Clifford and Kitty Hach: A Legacy of Supporting Chemistry Education
Thanks to the vision and dedication of Clifford and Kitty Hach, and the ACS-Hach Programs that are administered in their honor, high school chemistry teachers can seek funding for a variety of ways to improve the educational experience for students.
Chemistry Fun | May 2026 Scientist Scramble

Students review the contributions of scientists that they have learned about throughout the chemistry curriculum. They will solve clever clues and unscramble words to reveal a secret message.
In My Element | May 2026 How Industry Experience Builds Extraordinary Teaching Competencies
In this article, a former professional research scientist shares how his training and career bolstered skills and competencies that he later found essential to his success as a new high school chemistry teacher.
Tech Tips | March 2026 Building Better Bonds
A teacher discusses how he has incorporated 3D printing into his teaching practice as he works to better meet the needs of his students. Driven by the limitations of traditional tools, in both cost and availability, he outlines his own learning journey that has allowed him to begin designing and using custom 3D-printed learning materials and lab equipment to meet specific student needs.
In My Element | March 2026 From Acid Rain to Ethanol
A teacher shares how her elementary and high school teachers prompted her interest in science, and how teachers and college counselors later helped to open her eyes to her many options and choices in studying chemistry. Her high school summer work experience at a quality control laboratory allowed her to connect the chemistry concepts she studied at school with a real-life context, a strategy that continues to inform her teaching practice.
Editorial | March 2026 What I Learned as the Parent of an AP Chemistry Student
AACT President-elect Shannon Smith shares insights she gained as an AP Chemistry teacher after watching and supporting her daughter during her journey as an AP Chemistry student.
Nuts & Bolts | March 2026 Lights, Camera, Chemistry!
A teacher describes how he leverages his students’ social media content creation skills to implement a video-based assessment of student learning, applicable to a variety of chemistry topics.
Advice Column | March 2026 Dear Labby: Baffled by Burners
A new teacher requests help with figuring out whether the old and well-used lab burners found in the stock room can be reconditioned.
Classroom Commentary | March 2026 A Glowing Obsession
This article highlights different ways a teacher uses antique glass as an engaging phenomenon in chemistry. She shares her experiences in connecting the phenomenon with nuclear chemistry topics such as radioactive isotopes, radioactivity, and radioactive decay, and in revisiting the phenomenon when teaching the electron structure of atoms.
Chemistry Fun | March 2026 Don't Say It! (Gases)
In this activity, groups of students will play a game to review and practice explaining key terms related to gases and gas laws. One at a time, students will attempt to get their teammates to say the designated term, while trying to avoid saying any of the prohibited words during the explanations.
Chemistry Fun | November 2025 Periodic Review Secret Message
In this activity, students will decode a secret message by applying their knowledge of terms related to the periodic table and its patterns.
Classroom Commentary | November 2025 You Have to Ask Before You Can Give
A teacher suggests that meaningful collaboration begins with listening and gathering ideas from others before offering your own. His journey from working in isolation to connecting with colleagues and teacher communities has fueled his growth and inspired him to create new collaborative spaces for educators.
Classroom Commentary | November 2025 How Participating in an ACS Conference Motivated and Inspired Me
The author shares her experience of attending and presenting at an ACS conference in person — the energy, passion, and camaraderie of researchers worldwide, and the professional growth that result from face-to-face interactions.
Nuts & Bolts | November 2025 Why Metacognition is Important and How I Find Time to Include it
The author presents three different strategies for developing metacognitive skills (awareness of one's own thinking processes) and discusses how she uses them in her own classroom while providing tips for other ways to use them.
Editorial | November 2025 Remember that Great Idea about…?
AACT Governing Board DivCHED Representative, Laura Trout, proposes a simple system teachers can adopt to help them consider and use more of the ideas they encounter during professional development.
Advice Column | November 2025 Dear Labby: Dubious about Demos
A teacher seeks guidance in connecting common chemistry demos to relevant content for high school students.
Chemistry Fun | September 2025 Lab Equipment Card Sort & Scavenger Hunt
In this activity, students will match clues to the glassware, tool, or equipment that is best designed to be used in the described manner.
Classroom Commentary | September 2025 Student Research Opportunities in IB Chemistry
The author writes about her experience teaching IB chemistry at an international school in Singapore. She offers a comparison of AP and IB chemistry and shares about the research opportunities for students.
Classroom Commentary | September 2025 Spectroscopy Puzzles
In this article, the author shares about his experience developing a high school level elective science class that combines organic chemistry and spectroscopy to investigate forensic chemistry in a meaningful way.
Editorial | September 2025 Sometimes You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know!
AACT President Amiee Modic encourages teachers to model curiosity by staying open to learning. She describes her experiences at some recent chemistry education conferences and offers tips for teachers looking for new learning opportunities beyond the classroom.
In My Element | September 2025 The Winding Road That Led Me to Teaching
The author shares how her responses to various life changes ultimately led her to a fulfilling teaching career.