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Editorial | September 2018 Be Inspired!AACT President Sherri Rukes hopes to inspire members to tap into the great (and growing!) collection of resources and benefits that teachchemistry.org has to offer. She offers ways for teachers to inspire both themselves and others through involvement, collaboration, and contribution to AACT.
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Chemistry Fun | September 2018 Chemistry Basics Crossword PuzzlesIn this activity, students will complete a crossword puzzle by solving each clue that is related to a fundamental chemistry topic.
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Resource Feature | September 2018 Chemistry of Lightsticks: Determination of Activation Energy, a Guided Inquiry ApproachLightsticks, with their eerie glow, capture the interest of students of every age. The authors describe how students use a guided inquiry approach to determine the activation energy for the glowstick reaction!
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Simulation | September 2018 States of Matter and Phase ChangesIn this simulation, students will participate in a 10 question quiz. Some questions will challenge students to analyze data to identify the correct state of matter for a specific sample, and then connect the chosen state with an animated particle diagram. In addition, students will examine the behavior of particles in an animated sample as they undergo a phase change, and must correctly identify the change that occurs.
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Nuts & Bolts | September 2018 Designing Effective Multiple-Choice Items in ChemistryMultiple-choice questions are frequently used in both formal and informal assessments in order to determine if students have mastered specific learning objectives. This article discusses the characteristics of multiple-choice items as well as some guidelines for writing them. It is possible to design multiple-choice items that emphasize conceptual understanding and critical thinking skills. The creation of high-quality assessments can provide useful information about student learning and help teachers make important decisions about instruction.
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Tech Tips | May 2018 Experimenting with Electronic Lab NotebooksThe author describes her efforts to implement and effectively use electronic notebooks to capture lab work in regular, advanced, and AP chemistry classes.
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Tech Tips | May 2018 Use Moodle to Score Lab Calculations InstantlyOne of the greatest time demands for chemistry teachers is the assessment of lab work. With a little bit of preparation, you can program Moodle (a widely available and free learning management system used by many schools) to correct students’ lab calculations and provide immediate feedback. The author walks through an example using a simple stoichiometry exercise used with his 11th grade general chemistry students.
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Chemistry Fun | May 2018 Hazard SymbolsIn this activity, students will familiarize themselves with common hazard symbols and their meaning.
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Simulation | May 2018 Reaction RatesIn the May 2018 simulation, students investigate several factors that can affect the initial rate of a chemical reaction, including concentration, temperature, surface area of the reactants, and addition of a catalyst.
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Resource Feature | May 2018 Embracing Chemistry in the Elementary ClassroomThis 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.
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Nuts & Bolts | May 2018 Using Learning Progressions to Improve Scientific Modeling in ChemistryThis article describes how to use learning progressions to transform your existing modeling activities to help students construct and use models as a generative tool for predicting and explaining phenomena. In the process, the models become a learning tool, rather than just a means to illustrate understanding.
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Classroom Commentary | May 2018 The AP Chem Exam is Over - Now What?This article discusses a short course in computational chemistry, designed for AP Chemistry teachers and students, primarily to be used for chemistry enrichment following the completion of the AP Chemistry exam.
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Editorial | May 2018 Refresh and Refocus through ReflectionJenelle Ball reflects on both her school year and her time as the AACT Governing Board President. She highlights some newly-implemented and improved member benefits as well as some particular resources that she valued this year. She hopes all teachers will take time as the school year comes to an end to also reflect on their lessons learned and refocus for the future.
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Nuts & Bolts | May 2018 Strategies for Teaching SPED and EL Students in the Chemistry ClassroomThe article explores several different strategies for teaching EL and SPED students in the high school chemistry classroom.
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Chemistry Fun | March 2018 Laboratory Equipment Memory GameIn this activity, students will play a modified version of the classic Memory Game in order to help them identify common laboratory equipment by name. This activity provides an opportunity for students to increase their familiarity with the laboratory equipment that they will be expected to properly use.
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Resource Feature | March 2018 Recasting Chemistry Labs with Forensic ThemesThis 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.
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Simulation | March 2018 Chemical Reactions and StoichiometryIn this simulation, students practice classifying different chemical reactions, balancing equations, and solving stoichiometry problems.
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Classroom Commentary | March 2018 Part II: Rethinking Common Practices in High School ChemistryThis 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.
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Editorial | March 2018 The Importance of OutreachAACT President-Elect Sherri Rukes shares thoughts about her experience doing outreach in the chemistry teaching community. She is an enthusiastic promoter of chemistry across all grade levels, and encourages others to follow a similar path.
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In My Element | March 2018 My Long, Circuitous Route to Teaching ChemistryThe author shares his journey from liberal arts, to the sciences, and back to the chemistry classroom.
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Nuts & Bolts | March 2018 21st Century Skills in High School ChemistryThis article discusses the changing trends in science education, with a focus on the need for implementing 21st century skills into the science curriculum, and some techniques for doing so.
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Classroom Commentary | March 2018 The Science Coaches Program in ActionThis article describes the very successful Science Coaches partnership between a third-grade teacher and a Ph.D. chemist, who is also her father. The authors offer insight and tips for making the best use of a Science Coach partnership, or any science visitor to your classroom.
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Resource Feature | March 2018 Teaching Beyond the CookbookInquiry 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.
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Resource Feature | November 2017 A Particulate Representation of MolarityIn addition to using a simple activity about investigating the differences Kool-Aid concentration and completing molarity calculations, students work with pictures at the particle level to develop a deeper understanding of solutions and molarity.
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Chemistry Fun | November 2017 Atomic Theory TimelineIn this edition of ChemFun, match famous chemists with their contribution to atomic theory and year of their work.