Describes a game that can be used to teach students about the acidity of liquids and substances around their school and enable them to understand what pH levels tell us about the environment. Students collect samples and measure the pH of water, soil, plants, and other natural material. (DDR)

Explains an approach to presenting polymer chemistry to nonmajors that employs polystyrene foam, foam peanuts made from water soluble starch, and water soluble plastic bags. Students are presented with a pollution scenario and are guided to the discovery of solutions. (DDR)

Discusses problems with undergraduate and graduate programs in mathematics and the physical sciences. Suggests that the BS/MS option is one way to address the problem of naive, haphazardly educated BS graduates entering narrowly focused Ph.D. programs. Argues for the need for refocusing Ph.D. programs on the needs of the student. (JRH)

Presents an augmentation of a classical electrochemical demonstration that addresses the learning styles of the students and teaches electrochemistry in a concrete manner. Enables each student to see each event clearly, repeatedly, or in stop-action mode and enables students to improve their own mental models by providing them with a visually…

Presents a creative way to teach photosynthesis. Revolves around the growth of a lily planted and stored in the classroom. Combines the concepts of particle theory, transformation, and changes of phase and mass in a holistic approach. The six-step teaching sequence is founded on the notions of challenge, variation, and drama. (Author/NB)

Describes how to make a magic crystal garden of dendritic salt crystals. Explains the theory and procedures involved. (DDR)

Describes a science activity that promotes science process skills while investigating the properties of packing peanuts. (YDS)

Explains how students' alternative conceptions about curriculum topics interfere with classroom learning. Describes the Royal Society of Chemistry's Teacher Fellowship Project entitled "Challenging Misconceptions in the Classroom," which develops classroom materials to diagnose and challenge specific alternative conceptions. Uses key…

Describes the effectiveness of cooperative learning on discipline problems, interdependence between students, and teacher-student interactions. Explains how to group students and introduces a laboratory activity on covalent and ionic bonds. (YDS)

Reports on first year college students' opinions regarding their high school chemistry classes. Investigates the relationship between high school chemistry experiences and student attitudes toward chemistry. Identifies characteristics that correlate with positive attitudes such as teacher enthusiasm, teacher effectiveness, the teacher's content…

Describes a module that combines a traditional hex nut activity with a sugar cookie activity to provide students with an in-depth understanding of balancing chemical equations. (DDR)

Presents an account of one teacher's path to realizing the depth of intuitive beliefs about science. Organizes chemistry misconceptions into eight patterns of reasoning that include thinking rules and alternative conceptions. (DDR)

Describes chemical education research conducted in classrooms using a qualitative methodology. The researcher studies interactions between learners, the teacher leading the instruction, and the material being studied in hopes of better understanding where learning occurs. This is diametrically opposed to standard experimental research, being…

Describes an activity that promotes analytical thinking and problem solving. Gives students experience with important scientific processes that can be generalized to other new laboratory experiences. Provides students with the opportunity to hypothesize answers, control variables by designing an experiment, and make logical deductions based on…

Describes a project to revise high school chemistry courses in Mexico in the face of decreasing student selection of chemistry careers and the increasing social importance of chemical literacy. Changes include recognizing pedagogical advances and going beyond traditional subjects to teach chemical language, method, and quantitativeness. The new…