September Articles of Interest

This month I am changing the format of this column. Rather than duplicate information "In This Issue", I will discuss one or two articles in greater depth. Also, I will identify high school feature articles in a box. Articles that are potentially applicable to high school or pre-high school teaching are indicated with the pyramidal logo in the table of contents. Many of them are described in "In This Issue", so look there to see which articles you especially might want to spend your time reading.

Using Everyday Experience

We all know that encouraging students to relate everyday experience to concepts discussed in the classroom is an important aid to learning. However, making accurate observations outside the classroom, and away from a teacher's help and supervision, can be difficult. Jacobs has developed a colorful device by which spectra of various street lights can be examined. Most of us would agree that seeing the sodium spectrum for ourselves is more interesting, and leaves a more lasting impression, than being told about it or reading about it in a book. To a student, this device is better than checking out a piece of grating, because comparison spectra are printed on the card. The article is "Challenges of Everyday Spectra" and begins on page 1070.

Seeing Atoms and Molecules

The relatively recent development of atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy has made it possible to obtain direct images of atoms or molecules. Students learn about cells by observing them through optical microscopes and by examining pictures taken with electron microscopes. Now some high school teachers are providing their students with hands-on experiences in imaging phenomena at the atomic and molecular level. Rapp describes how he uses a student-grade scanning tunneling microscope in his high school classroom. The article is "Getting Close with the Instructional Scanning Tunneling Microscope" and begins on page 1087.

Even if you cannot have a scanning tunneling microscope in your classroom, you can help students understand how AFM and STM images are obtained, using a low-cost and readily obtained item, the flexible refrigerator magnet. Please read on to find out how.

Activity Sheets You Can Use in Your Classroom

The first in a series of JCE Classroom Activities appears in this issue. These are tear-out sheets with teacher notes on one side and a ready-to-use student activity sheet on the reverse side of the same sheet. Subscribers have permission to copy the student side of each JCE Classroom Activity in quantity for use in classroom or labs. This month's activity, "A Refrigerator Magnet Analogy to Scanning Probe Microscopy", was developed by Julie Lorenz, Joel Olson, Dean Campbell, George Lisensky, and Arthur Ellis. It can be used in the classroom or it can be safely carried out as an out-of-class assignment and then discussed in class. It is written as an inquiry experiment in order to introduce the idea of atomic and molecular imaging, but it can also be used to reinforce an introduction of the topic in the classroom. We hope it will help students think about how experimental techniques are used to provide evidence of the existence of atoms and molecules.

We hope you find JCE Classroom Activities useful. Let us know if you do, and give us your suggestions for making the activity sheets more useful to you. What topics would you like to see addressed in future activity sheets?

Feature Columns For High School

and Pre-High Teachers
All the high school feature editors have written descriptions of their columns so that readers and authors will know what each column will include. These appear on pages 1042 to 1044. Please take time to look these over. We hope they will stimulate your thinking about how you could share your experiences through the Journal and how the Journal staff could serve you better. Information to help you contact feature editors is included with each description. There are two new features specific to high school teaching.

Second Year and Advanced Placement Feature

This new feature will focus on the opportunities and challenges that are specific to Second Year and Advanced Placement Chemistry Courses.

Interdisciplinary Connections

This column will describe approaches to making connections between chemistry and areas such as art, literature, and history.