Reading journals devoted to teaching is one of the best ways to stay abreast of what others are doing in their classrooms. We hear a lot about the inquiry method, but perhaps you need down-to-earth activities that support inquiry and discovery learning. Do you promote the use of process skills and discovery along with stressing more traditional content? Obviously I can’t answer all these questions, but I can direct you to sources of ideas. Long reports on some very interesting feature articles from The Science Teacher, a journal that describes what others are doing in their classrooms to improve science literacy. Clark summarizes practical teaching experiences shared by all science teachers as reported by The Physics Teacher. Sometimes we don’t have time to go to the source, so it is nice when others help do the work!

Letting other teachers do some of your work is nice, but remember to contribute your own ideas to the Journal so that they can be shared. It’s a large undertaking to have a publication in an internationally recognized journal, but it’s worth it! A great way to learn how to write for JCE is to attend our JCE Author Workshop, which will be held in Madison, WI, June 14-18, 2004. The workshop leader will be Erica Jacobsen, Associate High School Editor, and you will meet all of the JCE staff and see how an author’s idea is transformed into a printed article. For a brochure and application form, contact Erica.

In the meantime, if you are interested in submitting an article, consult JCE’s Guide to Contributors. While visiting our Web site, also check out the latest videos of chemical reactions in Chemistry Comes Alive! CD-ROMs. Remember that as a subscriber to the Journal, you have access to many different ideas, ways to enhance and improve your classroom, and have a “textbook” that is continually updated.

In This Issue

When utilized to its fullest, this Journal not only helps you answer some of the questions above, but also saves you time. You know that you need to read more, but where do you start? What do you want to put on your summer reading list and what do you want your students to read? To help answer this question, some very generous chemical educators have provided us with reviews of current books: about cooking, alchemy, “chemcraft”, as well as an entertaining look at caveman chemistry.

This issue includes several useful approaches to teaching chemistry with fun and enjoyment in mind. Waddell and Rybolt have contributed another installment to their series of Sherlock Holmes’ adventures¹. Medicinal chemistry and forensic science are popular right now, so why not take advantage of the creativity in the issue and use copies of this adventure in your classroom? You not only get the advantage of talking about chemistry, you also have a simple means to overlap literature with chemistry. Another article describes the relationships between entertainment and education, tying the use of songs to teaching chemistry. Introduce more advanced students to a “Shakespearian” approach to chemistry, coupling this with the Word-searches on the use of organic vocabulary. Toby has written a very entertaining spoof on obtaining research funding, and Liberko presents a unique take on teaching thermodynamics using popular novels. The more you can bring the study of chemistry to your students and engage them with the material, the better. As a method of facilitating group work in organic chemistry, you might even try to get them to evaluate the connections between these thumbnail images.

Make Plans for Summer 2004!

I hope that we see you at either or both of the conferences happening the extended week of March 27-April 4. The Journal will be represented at the ACS National meeting in Anaheim, CA on March 27-April 1 and at NSTA in Atlanta, GA on April 1-4.

Don’t forget to add the Biennial Conference of Chemical Education (BCCE) at Iowa State University to your summer travel plans.

Workshops organized by the Flinn Scientific Foundation and facilitated by nationally known high school teachers are very popular-make your reservations soon. (See News & Announcements.)

Note

1. Waddell and Rybolt list 14 previous Sherlock Holmes stories. The entire 15-story series, “The Chemical Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, including this issue’s “Autopsy in Blue”, will soon be collected in a single volume for use in the classroom. Copies will be available for purchase at the upcoming March ACS and NSTA meetings, as well as at the 18th BCCE in July. Pricing and order information will also be available in an upcoming issue of JCE