Offers suggestions for incorporating topics that relate to the Apollo 13 space mission into a chemistry course. Discusses connections between the study of chemistry and space exploration, including fuels and oxidants used, reasons for an oxygen tank rupture, and lithium hydroxide-containing carbon dioxide filters. Contains 11 references. (WRM)

Explains instructions for creating an oil-spill simulation activity in which students are challenged to clean up the spill. (WRM)

Demonstrates how socioscientific material is marginalized through the structures and language of syllabus texts and through classroom practices using the example of Salters' Advanced Chemistry from the United Kingdom. Concludes that socioscientific content is gendered through association with social concerns and epistemological uncertainty, and…

Describes a study of Web access for a university chemistry course that investigated how students used Web material for course support after being lectured on the topic. Discusses study strategies, time management, and implications for further research and course design. (Contains 7 references.) (LRW)

Reports on a study designed to determine whether the historical approach to chemistry teaching will promote the conceptual problem-solving ability of eighth-grade students and identify whether high or low achievers profit more from this teaching approach. (DDR)

Describes a course in which societal themes of risk/reward analysis and public policy are supplemented with concepts of scientific journalism, public opinion, and law. Topic areas include environmental chemicals and their impact, basic introduction to organic chemistry, and consumer chemicals. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Uses a true-to-life story of accusations made against a college football team to illustrate ideal gas laws. Students are asked to decide whether helium-filled footballs would increase punt distances and how to determine whether a football contained air or helium. (WRM)

Describes an outreach program in which high school students visit elementary schools to promote chemistry and science. (WRM)

Focuses on collaboration for authentic learning. Describes an assignment that was collaboratively planned, constructed and implemented by one high school's teacher-librarian and chemistry teacher. Discusses outcomes of the assignment; assessing authenticity; higher-order thinking; depth of knowledge; and connectedness to the world beyond the…

Identifies and quantifies the chemistry conceptions used by students when solving chemical equilibrium problems requiring application of LeChatelier's Principle, and explores the feasibility of designing a paper and pencil test to accomplish these purposes. Eleven prevalent incorrect student conceptions about chemical equilibrium were identified…

Reports on the "Chemistry School" Project which explored the practicalities of using multimedia in secondary school science departments. Finds that although multimedia has many benefits for subject teachers, the problems of using it in everyday teaching are quite complex. Argues that simply training teachers to use information and…

Describes a concrete teaching model designed to eliminate students' misconceptions about current flow in electrochemistry. The model uses a semi-permeable membrane rather than a salt bridge to complete the circuit and demonstrate the maintenance of cell neutrality. Concludes that use of the model led to improvement in students' understanding at…

Describes meta-analysis, a quantitative approach to conducting literature reviews. Illustrates the power of this technique by reporting the quantitative effects of cooperative learning on chemistry achievement in high school and college classes. (Contains 32 references.) (WRM)

The study examines how social and cultural factors mediate the teaching and learning of science in an Australian high school. Grade 10 students, many of them new migrants, often transient and from circumstances of economic hardship, were taught a 5-week unit on chemistry by a teacher with social and cultural histories similar to those of most of…

This study analyzes the impact of an integrated sensory model within a thermal equilibrium visualization. We hypothesized that this intervention would not only help students revise their disruptive experientially supported ideas about why objects feel hot or cold, but also increase their understanding of thermal equilibrium. The analysis…