News from Journal House

National Chemistry Week 2002

Chemistry Keeps Us Clean. This is the theme of National Chemistry Week 2002, something that is quite apparent if you have looked through this issue. Several articles have been specifically written on this theme, as has the Classroom Activity that makes toothpaste. And if what is in this issue is not enough, then JCE Resources for Chemistry and Cleaning lists a lot more from previous issues. If JCE can help you in other ways to make NCW a success in your area, let us know: let us know now so that we can be ready for next year.

Speaking of next year, the NCW theme for 2003 is the Chemistry of the Atmosphere and Flight. Much on this topic has already appeared in the pages of JCE, but we will try to add to that in the October 2003 issue. If you have ideas, activities, lab activities, or interesting experiences around this theme, please let us know—add to the NCW celebrations!

Courses, Seminars, Meetings, Opportunities

Chemagination Competition for High School Students

Chemagination is a science essay and poster contest for 9–12th grade chemistry students that had its beginnings three years ago as part of the "Chemistry in the 21st Century" campaign of Daryle Busch. It was designed with the National Science Teaching Standards in mind and has successfully been used as an alternative to science fair projects and as an in- or out-of-class assignment by participating teachers. The contest has been run for the past three years at select regional and national meetings of the Society. Students and teachers who participated were always eager to participate in future contests, and this has not always been feasible. In order to increase the scope and reach of the contest, it was offered as a possibility to local sections, and was successfully piloted in the Western Michigan and Louisiana Sections. ACS is now launching this wonderful program nationwide as an outreach tool to high school students and their teachers.

In the contest, students are asked to write an article that could appear in the October 2025 edition of ChemMatters magazine and to design the cover of that issue. The article would describe an innovation or breakthrough in chemistry that is important in the lives of teenagers in the year 2025. Students are encouraged to base their ideas in sound chemistry and go with their creativity from there. They are also encouraged to provide a history of the changes that have taken place in the years between the present and 2025 that allowed this innovation to develop. Students choose from one of four categories to focus their article: biotechnology, medicine/healthcare, new materials, and transportation/environment. Each ACS local section will select the date for its own contest, but will be encouraged to hold the contests between February and April. Sections will be asked to sponsor their finalists' participation at the geographically closest regional meeting, and regions will be asked to send their finalists to a national competition in December 2002 in Washington, DC. To find out more about Chemagination, visit the ACS Web site, or contact your ACS local section chair.

High School Teacher/Education Day at SERMACS

A dynamic and innovative program for K–12 teachers has been put together for the ACS Southeast Regional Meeting (SERMACS), November 13–16, 2002. Elizabeth Martin, College of Charleston, is the driving force behind this 2-day program of 30 workshops, presentations, and events for teachers of all levels, elementary through high school. Elementary presentations will include examinations of standards-based inquiry lessons, using science notebooks, and workshops with intriguing titles like "Teaching with TOYS" and "Integrating Children's Literature and Chemistry in K–3 Classroom".

At the middle/high school levels, in-depth analyses of approaches to teaching are presented, along with recommendations on how to weave everyday experiences into an awareness of the chemistry therein. Using topics such as carbon dioxide, history of chemistry, chemistry of art, and environmental concerns, presenters offer unique perspectives on how to excite and interest students in the wonders of chemistry. Presenters also take a look at the chemistry behind kits such as the National Science Foundation's Full Option Science System at all three levels.

There are plenty of hands-on activities and opportunities for interactive learning. Teachers and students will learn about innovative ways to bring the subject of polymers into class study through an exhibit from the Chemical Heritage Foundation. In a water quality assessment presentation, participants will work with Vernier Lab Pros and TI-83 graphing calculators. There will be a tie-dye workshop, a Flinn Science workshop, and a presentation on "Crime Scene Investigations/Forensics" that promises to be fun as well as informative. Also included on the program are demonstrations from the ACS program "Kids & Chemistry" and information on Project SEED and the Chemistry Olympiad. High school students in the region are invited to participate in Chemagination, a science essay and poster contest. (Teachers may enter students now by contacting Marisa Burgener at ACS; 800-227-5558) or Sarah Hudson.

SERMACS will take place in Charleston, SC, November 13–16, 2002. Click on "Workshops" for more information on this program. While most of these events carry no additional charge, registration is required because of limited space; online registration is available.

For information about how you can become involved in creating an Education Day for a regional meeting near you, email the ACS Office of Regional Meetings.

Online Conference: Teaching Safety

CONFCHEM Online Conference, Teaching Safety in High Schools, Colleges, and Universities will be held October 1 through November 21, 2002. The conference organizer is George H. Wahl, Jr, North Carolina State University. The conference faculty are diverse, as are the topics. Abstracts for each of the papers and the schedule are available on the CONFCHEM Web site.

The online conferences in chemistry are sponsored by the Committee on Computers in Chemical Education of the ACS Division of Chemical Education (CHED). Since the conference will be online and free, there should be almost immediate feedback that the organizers hope will result in the participants' developing a better understanding of what needs to be done to improve safety education.

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Conference on Undergraduate Research and Scholarship

The Reinvention Center at Stony Brook announces a conference on Undergraduate Research and Scholarship and the Mission of the Research University, scheduled for November 14–15, 2002, at the Inn and Conference Center in College Park, MD. The Association of American Universities and The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation are co-sponsors of the conference.

The Reinvention Center is a national center established in 2000 as an outgrowth of the 1998 Boyer Commission report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities. The Center's charge is to sustain the Commission's focus on undergraduate education at these institutions and promote changes that take advantage of their scope and singular assets. The conference will be the first major national event to deal exclusively with undergraduate research within the unique context of research universities. The driving goal is to help universities revamp the undergraduate education they offer in ways that bring the generation of knowledge to the forefront and that impact significant numbers of students. Leaders from disciplinary societies, government agencies, and private foundations have been invited to participate.

A breakout session on Thursday afternoon specifically for faculty in the physical sciences, to be led by Jeanne E. Pemberton, John and Helen Schaefer Professor of Chemistry at the University of Arizona, will address opportunities and challenges surrounding the implementation of undergraduate research experiences and the integration of research into the physical sciences curriculum.

Following the conference, the Center will publish a proceedings. For more information contact Wendy Katkin, Director, The Reinvention Center, Room 407 Administration Building, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-1401.

NSF MID Project Workshop Invitation

Those who are interested in helping students: learn to reason through problems rather than relying on algorithmic solutions; make connections between the concepts of chemistry and real-world phenomena; get actively involved in discovery and inquiry rather than just attempting to "learn for the exams"; experience the process of doing science/chemistry so that they recognize its strengths and limitations; and engage in learning to speak and write the "language" of chemistry/science should participate in one of the NSF-funded Multi-Initiative Dissemination (MID) Project Workshops. These following workshops have been scheduled.

• September 27–28, 2002
  University of New Hampshire, Durham
• October 11–12, 2002
  University of Alabama, Birmingham

Call for Papers: Hawaii International Conference on Education

The 2003 Hawaii International Conference on Education will be held from Tuesday, January 7, through Friday, January 10, 2003, at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii. Submissions from a broad range of topic areas in education are invited, including Curriculum, Research, and Development; Counselor Education; Educational Administration; Educational Foundations; Educational Technology; Special Education; Science Education; Secondary Education; and Distance Education. Submissions may be in the form of research papers, abstracts, student papers, poster sessions/research tables, work-in-progress reports, and panel discussions.

For more information contact Hawaii International Conference on Education, P. O. Box 75036, Honolulu, HI 96836; phone: 808/947-7187; fax: 808/947-2420, or by email.

Mole Day 2002

October 23, 6:02 a.m. Time for reflection. Molar Reflections, that is. The National Mole Day Foundation, Inc. has declared this as the theme for Mole Day 2002. Wonder why? Check out the cartoon (accessed August 2002) and see if you can figure it out. The Foundation's Web site also provides great resources to help you celebrate Mole Day. For example, what would Mole Day be without a collection of mole jokes? This year the celebration promises to be even bigger and better than before—National Chemistry Week is scheduled to coincide with Mole Day. Get ready for an entire week of celebration!