Chemistry Solutions

Nuts & Bolts

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.

How Participating in an ACS Conference Motivated and Inspired Me

“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” — Brené Brown, academic and podcaster

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.

---

You Have to Ask Before You Can Give

How to Build Meaningful Collaboration

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.

Tech Tips

Using Google Forms for Remediation

This article, written in lab report format, discusses the use of Google Forms for online quizzes in the chemistry classroom. The author summarizes her experiences and methodology for using these quizzes in her classroom, and includes a link to a step-by-step video guide for creating quizzes as well as tips for implementing them in your classroom.

---

Resource Feature

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.

Dear Labby: Dubious about Demos

A teacher seeks guidance in connecting common chemistry demos to relevant content for high school students.

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.

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.