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  • Editorial | May 2023 How Are You?

    AACT President Matt Perekupka reflects on the school year and revisits the topic of teacher burnout. He hopes that other teachers have shared his feeling of revitalization this school year and credits the importance of building connections for combatting his battle with burnout.

  • Nuts & Bolts | May 2023 Access is an AACT member benefit. Using Notetaking to Help Students Take More Meaningful Notes

    In this article the author discusses her journey to transform traditional notetaking in her classroom to a more active, engaging activity for students. She describes several successful strategies that she uses in her middle school science classroom, including group notetaking, processing-based activities, like one-pagers, and combining colors, pictures and text through the sketchnoting approach.

  • Resource Feature | May 2023 Exploring Social Justice Through a Chemistry Lens

    This article details a project that introduces students to the intersection of social justice and chemistry. Over the course of a semester, students study the Flint, Michigan water crisis and discuss the social aspects while exploring the solution chemistry underlying the events.

  • Classroom Commentary | March 2023 Access is an AACT member benefit. High School Girls in STEM Club

    In this article, the author shares about the motivation for and purpose of the Girls in STEM club, created in her school nearly a decade ago. The club has flourished over the years, encouraging and supporting high school girls in STEM subjects as well as providing outreach opportunities for club members and younger girls in the community who are interested in STEM.

  • Resource Feature | March 2023 Restoring the Passion for Chemistry: How Collaborating on a Research Project can Inspire both Students and Teachers

    In this article, the author shares about her struggle to balance curriculum requirements and pacing with the opportunity to provide real lab experiences for students. Recently, she has experienced science classes dwindling in popularity, particularly since the pandemic. When she had the opportunity to end a particularly difficult school year with a student-led research project, she helped both herself and her students regain a love of learning.

  • In My Element | March 2023 Access is an AACT member benefit. In the Philippines, Teaching Starts with Problem-Solving

    In this article, the author offers her unique perspective as an educator in the Philippines. Though she has been faced with many challenges throughout her career, when problems arise, she is solution-focused. She shares about the obstacles she and her colleagues often face, including limited support, closed schools and laboratories, isolation, and personal struggles. Through perseverance and successful networking, some of these burdens have been reduced, but other difficulties remain. She encourages educators near and far to lend a hand and support one another as much as possible.

  • Nuts & Bolts | March 2023 Access is an AACT member benefit. Enhancing the Lab Experience with Alternative Approaches

    In this article, the author discusses the use of both at-home and virtual labs to supplement and support in-class labs. She includes examples of both, and discusses their unique benefits and approaches. She also describes how making and sharing videos of the teacher conducting labs can promote a more engaging make-up experience for absent students. Although many of these approaches were developed for hybrid and remote learning environments, the author has continued using them with in-person teaching to support in-class labs and extend the overall lab experience.

  • Editorial | March 2023 Access is an AACT member benefit. They Need Care: Rebuilding with Connections

    In this editorial, AACT Governing Board DivCHED Representative Michael Mury discusses the importance of teacher-student relationships. He encourages teachers to continue to build essential connections with students in their classrooms, and provides several suggestions for doing so. It’s never too late, he reminds teachers, to get to know your students!

  • Classroom Commentary | November 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Teaching Chimie in Canada

    In this article, a Canadian author shares about her experience teaching chemistry in French Immersion, a program aimed at promoting bilingualism in French and English, the country’s two official languages. As she describes, both teaching and learning chemistry en français can be especially difficult, presenting unique challenges. She discusses her experiences as a classroom teacher, extra considerations required to support students in this setting, and the strategies she uses to expand students’ communication skills en français in the context of chimie.

  • Resource Feature | November 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Safely Introducing Students to the Chemistry Lab by Modifying a Classic Investigation

    In this article, the author discusses the common objectives of early weeks in first-year high school chemistry, such as safe lab attitudes and techniques, learning SI measurements, and communicating data and conclusions. The lab investigation highlighted in this article can be used to begin achieving all these objectives in an engaging and fun chemical reaction using a heating source with a reduced carbon footprint. The data developed gives an excellent opportunity for students to practice writing results and conclusions in the “claim, evidence, logical connection” manner taught in many secondary schools.

  • Classroom Commentary | November 2022 Chemical Phenomena in Everyday Life: An Adventure in Writing Across the Curriculum

    This article describes a year-long writing project in an upper-level chemistry course that culminates in a Writing Marathon field trip to New York City. The goal of the project was to use student writing about chemical phenomena observed in daily life to make connections to the concepts discussed in class. The author shares that her students enjoyed exploring the city and examining it through their chemistry lens. She found it even more rewarding to watch them apply their knowledge to explain the phenomena around them.

  • Editorial | November 2022 Making Connections: The Value of a Professional Learning Network

    AACT President-Elect Michael Farabaugh reflects on his journey building a professional learning community throughout his career. He provides insight to both online and in-person opportunities, and shares about some of his most impactful experiences. He encourages teachers to get involved and make connections through a variety of resources.

  • In My Element | September 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Curiosity, Challenges, and Success: The Journey of a Teacher

    In this article, the author shares about the influences and circumstances that led her to a career in teaching. Additionally, she brings light to the demographics and flavor of the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas, and why she feels it is the perfect fit for her as a chemistry teacher.

  • Classroom Commentary | September 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Small Stones, Big Mountains

    Learning science at middle and high school level should stimulate curiosity and engagement. Many new teachers, and also those who have been teaching for a while, can feel overwhelmed and consequently miss opportunities to help their students truly experience the wonderment and awe of science. This article suggests small modifications in pedagogy that can make a big difference in how students learn science in the classroom, and seeks to inspire teachers to rethink and re-evaluate their pedagogy approach.

  • Editorial | September 2022 Battling and Overcoming Teacher Burnout

    AACT President Matt Perekupka addresses the difficult but timely topic of teacher burnout. He shares about the obstacles he has faced as a teacher in recent years, and outlines shared goals for overcoming burnout in the year ahead. Matt emphasizes the importance of having a positive professional network, while also encouraging teachers to be mindful of their personal well-being this year.

  • Nuts & Bolts | September 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Teaching with Project-Based Learning in the High School Chemistry Classroom

    In this article, the author describes her interest and recent success with her implementation of Project-Based Learning (PBL) in the chemistry classroom. She discusses her experience using PBL and what motivates her to continue using the approach. She also provides an overview of some successful chemistry units that are designed with PBL in mind.

  • Resource Feature | September 2022 Using the National Historic Chemical Landmarks Lessons in the Chemistry Classroom

    This article highlights the National Historic Chemical Landmarks program from the American Chemical Society, and aims to make teachers aware of the growing collection of lesson plans that are centered around select Landmarks for use in the high school chemistry classroom. The lesson plans provide a unique combination of science, history, and literacy while featuring significant scientific achievements and discoveries.

  • Nuts & Bolts | May 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Strategies for Equitable Student Collaboration using Jamboard

    In this article the author explains how she recently incorporated a Driving Questions Board and Activity Summary Board using Jamboard in her chemistry classroom. She shares about her purpose for shifting her teaching approach in order to integrate these strategies for equitable student collaboration.

  • Editorial | May 2022 An Ongoing Effort: Culturally Responsive Teaching in Chemistry

    AACT President Greta Glugoski-Sharp shares about the work of the AACT Governing Board throughout the past year, and highlights their efforts focused on culturally responsive and inclusive teaching practices in the chemistry classroom. She hopes that their work will result in a toolkit (currently being developed) that can help support and guide chemistry teachers on the path to culturally responsive teaching.

  • Resource Feature | May 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. The Wonderful World of Chemistry: A Magic Show!

    Given the value of chemistry demonstrations to learning, in 2019 the Yale Chemistry Department developed a successful outreach event called, “The Wonderful World of Chemistry: A Magic Show,” which was performed again in 2020 for students from local public schools. This hour-long lecture given by Yale Chemistry Department faculty and students was intended to introduce chemistry to upper-elementary and middle school students through a series of demonstrations. In this article, the authors provide teachers with information that will assist them in performing some of the most successful demonstrations in their own classrooms.

  • Classroom Commentary | May 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Real-World Chemistry: Making Chemistry More Relatable for Students

    The article describes a teacher’s efforts to help students better understand chemistry by connecting to concepts they encounter in their everyday lives. The author shares some examples from her classroom as well as a lab for readers to try with their own students.  

  • Resource Feature | May 2022 Bringing Materials Chemistry into the Teaching of Bonding

    In this article, the author explains how she incorporates topics of materials science into a chemical bonding unit. She shares several teaching resources as examples, including easy-to-use, show-and-tell style demonstrations that have had been effective at introducing students to the exciting field of material science.

  • In My Element | May 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Achieving Balance: A Day in the Life of a Middle School Science Teacher

    In this article, middle school science teacher Scott Valenta reflects on his work/life balance, remembering the adage, “teaching is a marathon, not a sprint.” Scott makes plans to have a future with a healthier balance in his work life.

  • Resource Feature | March 2022 Access is an AACT member benefit. Cleaning Up the Lab

    In this article, the author discusses how the pandemic has created what might be an unobvious challenge for science teachers in many schools: a lack of custodial staff to help with keeping the lab space clean. With this in mind, she teaches her students the basics of cleaning up after a lab activity in order to make this behavior a part of their lab routine all year long.

  • Resource Feature | March 2022 The Online Summer Food Lab

    Two teachers at an independent high school share about their inaugural experience designing and teaching a two-week summer mini-course, Chemistry of Cooking. In this article, they share about planning and designing the course, as well as ideas for how teachers might incorporate aspects of it into a homeschool, virtual, hybrid, or in-person chemistry classroom.