Many times when we discuss how to learn chemistry we talk about matter’s particulate nature and how we attempt to describe and illustrate particles to students. The usual representations are macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic (1). Linking this teaching to an everyday event in the student’s life may enhance understanding and retention. Outreach and service-learning projects are examples of ways to reinforce learning. Esson, Stevens-Truss, and Thomas and Ophardt, Applebee, and Losey highlight examples of how their students are encouraged to complete projects outside the classroom. Both papers report how students who are able to apply course concepts in meaningful real-world situations not only gain self-confidence but also improve their academic knowledge and skills. In addition students who have practiced this type of pedagogy appear to have an increased level of understanding and exhibit greater confidence in their ability to communicate. Just because these articles are written about college students’ programs does not mean that your students cannot also participate in project-based learning. Raines, Gomez, and Williams suggest that having students design digital posters targeting a specific technique or topic is a good way to prepare for labs and quizzes, and to train them to utilize a tool very popular at most learned society meetings.

In addition to having students perform community service projects, you may also want to link content to little-known facts and the latest research. In King’s Research Advances it was of interest to me to learn that onions appear to decrease bone loss—at least in rats! Osteoporosis may not interest your students, but maladies associated with smoking might. King notes that smokers may have an increased cadmium concentration in their brains that may be responsible for neurological disorders. It’s really great to have others seek out these points of interest and help us improve our quality teaching time.

Another method that may be used to increase students’ confidence is to encourage more inquiry-based labs (see Deters). However, many teachers are still not using this type of pedagogical approach even though the National Science Education Standards clearly state the benefits. Deters’s article notes some of the major disadvantages and students’ concerns associated with inquiry methods. These include teachers perceiving a loss of classroom control and the increased amount of time required to implement and grade the more open-ended laboratories along with having to endure more student complaints. However, it still appears that students’ increased academic performance outweighs these reported negatives.

Students’ quantitative problem-solving ability is an important component of academic success. Dimensional analysis is the most often used method for teaching students how to solve problems, but what do you do when it’s not working? Cook and Cook suggest the use of cross-proportions as a valid conceptual method that can be used as a way to understand why and how dimensional analysis works.

Upcoming Events: ACS National Meeting

At the Fall 2005 ACS National Meeting the CHED social hour and dinner will be held Saturday, August 27 (see p 1123 for more information). The High School Program will be on Sunday, August 28, in the Renaissance Hotel at 999 9th Street NW; CHED technical sessions will also be in the Renaissance. The High School/College Interface Luncheon will also be in the Renaissance Hotel. More information about the High School Program can be found on pages 1123 and 1136. The luncheon speaker is Bassam Shakhashiri.

Please, come by the JCE booth #1411 in the Convention Center and meet all the JCE staff who will be there.

Literature Cited

1. Bunce, D. M.; Gabel, D. J. Res. Sci. Teaching 2002, 39, 911–927.