Secondary School Feature Articles
	Build a Simple Polarimeter, by Frank E. Stary and Norman Woldow
	JCE Classroom Activity: #36: Putting UV-Sensitive Beads to the Test, by Terre Trupp

Four Years of JCE Classroom Activities

The publication of JCE Classroom Activity #36 marks the completion of the fourth consecutive school year during which an activity has been published each month from September through May. Activities are printed as user-friendly tear-outs on heavy paper; one side of the page is for the student, the other for the instructor. Teachers have permission to make as many copies as they need for use in their classrooms. Classroom Activities require minimal equipment and most of the chemicals used are common consumer products. It is remarkable how many chemical concepts can be introduced using only baking soda and citric acid or vinegar!

Many familiar substances and materials are used in innovative ways. Among my favorites: refrigerator magnets, light sticks, mothballs, blueberries, and UV-sensitive beads. The learner-centered Activities introduce ideas and concepts in innovative ways that stimulate thought and the desire for further exploration. Many Activities can be done outside of the classroom or laboratory. The HS CLIC Web site provides a quick means of locating any Classroom Activity. Clicking on the link to "Class Activities" on the left side of the HS CLIC home page brings up a page of information and links, including one to "Previous Activities".

With increasing frequency, materials supplemental to the Classroom Activities are provided online. During the current school year, such materials (in the form of QuickTime movies or PDF files) appeared with Activities #28, #29, #31, #33, and #36.

JCE instituted Classroom Activities on the basis of input from high school teachers and supports their publication through extraordinary efforts by the editorial staff in Madison. Nancy Gettys and Erica Jacobsen have written most of the activities and tested and edited all of them. I was excited to review and recommend three activities written by high school teachers that appeared this year: #31, Fizzy Drinks: Stoichiometry You Can Taste, by Brian Rohrig; #33, Sink or Swim: The Cartesian Diver, by David Pinkerton; and #36, Putting UV-Sensitive Beads to the Test, by Terre Trupp. Many Classroom Activities are complemented by a full-length article. An example from the February 2001 issue is an article by Pinkerton, Curriculum Alignment Projects: Toward Developing a Need to Know.

Do you have an effective activity that you use in your classes to illustrate key concepts? Submit it today. Follow the links to "Submission Guidelines" and "Criteria for Submitting" that appear on the Classroom Activities Web page of the HS CLIC site. To keep this feature vital and interesting, we need to hear from you. If you aren't able to write a complete activity, send us an idea for one based on your experience as a chemistry teacher. Submit your suggestions to jce@chem.wisc.edu with the subject line "JCE Classroom Activity". To paraphrase "It's your journal, tell us what you would like it to be": They're your classroom activities, tell us what you would like them to be.

Mathematics and Introductory Chemistry

A distinctive feature of the JCE is its coverage of education issues at all levels, from pre-high-school science through graduate studies: high school teachers can learn about new developments in college chemistry and college faculty can learn about developments in high school chemistry. At the high school-college interface there is much overlap of issues. One of these is the level of mathematics understanding and skills required to learn chemistry. Both the National Science Education Standards (1) and Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2) note the role of mathematics and mathematics skills applied to the sciences. However, the details of implementation are left to the developers of state science framework and local curriculum, and ultimately to the classroom teacher.

Two articles in this issue provide insight into current issues involving chemistry and mathematics at the college undergraduate level. One is a commentary, "What's Been Happening to Undergraduate Mathematics"; the other is a report from a curriculum foundations workshop on the mathematics skills that are important for success in chemistry. These are relevant to high school teachers for at least two reasons. First, they increase understanding of what will be expected of high school graduates who enroll in college chemistry. Second, many issues that cut across interdisciplinary linesin this case across mathematics and chemistryare very similar whether considered by high school or college faculty, even though the content may be different. I think you will find these articles interesting.

Literature Cited

1. National Science Education Standards; National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 1996; http://www. nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/.
2. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Washington, DC, 2000; http://standards.nctm.org/.