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“Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country’s vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne [sic] Coss, opera’s most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening—until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage.” (1). Bel Canto is not a novel I would normally have read. I wasn’t familiar with Ann Patchett’s writing. The book’s back cover “teaser” wasn’t my style. Opera and terrorists? But I took the time to read it. Why? Because someone suggested I should. Read It—Share It (accessed May 2003) is a recent project of the public libraries in Wisconsin’s Dane County. Each year a committee selects a book from hundreds of suggestions. They look for a book with engaging themes and well-drawn characters. It needs to appeal to a wide audience. In 2003, the committee recommended Bel Canto. The local newspaper published a story about the selection. Multiple copies were at my local library. I read it. I enjoyed it. But I wouldn’t have taken the time if it hadn’t been specially shared with me. The Journal is not a magazine some high school science teachers would normally read. Many haven’t heard of it. Quite a few believe that it’s packed with high-level research articles that they can’t read and won’t use. I know this isn’t true. Subscribers know it isn’t true. How can these potential readers find the wealth of information in the Journal? Why not start your own personal Read It—Share It project? Have you read the Phelps and Lee article, “The Power of Practice: What Students Learn from How We Teach”? Share it with an elementary school teacher, or anyone from levels K–12 who includes science in their classroom. The article contains intriguing information on how preservice teachers view the work of the teaching profession, and how all science teachers “are in the business of teacher education whether we realize it or not” (p 832). Have you read Pétursson’s discussion of three energy conversion problems that can be used for student assessment? It compares the energy from drinking a glass of water to that of carrying a sack of cement to that of expanding a piston. Share it with a physical science or physics teacher. I recently shared several JCE Classroom Activities at a workshop for University of Wisconsin—Madison Department of Chemistry alumni and their children (see photo). After working through the first Activity, one of the participants asked her mom “Why can’t we do things like this in my science class? All we ever do is read from a book.” Her mom encouraged her to take the Activity handout everyone in the workshop had received, get the materials from their kitchen at home, and demonstrate the Activity for her middle school teacher.You read the Journal. I know of one young student who will share it. Will you? Sweet Home AlabamaThe end of July approaches quickly. Diana Mason and I, along with Hal Harris and other JCE aficionados, will be at the JCE booth during the upcoming ChemEd 2003 conference, held July 27–31 in Auburn, Alabama. Please stop by to say hello, to share your ideas on how to make JCE an even better resource, and to pick up some Journal goodies. Be warned: we may encourage you to renew your subscription, become a reviewer, or submit a manuscript. Two JCE workshops are scheduled at this conference. “Experiments for High School Chemistry That You Can Use” is a three-hour, hands-on, ticketed workshop. It will feature JCE experiments and activities published in the past year. “Getting Published: The Journal of Chemical Education” is an informal 50-minute presentation designed to familiarize teachers with the ins and outs of submitting a paper to the Journal. Participants will have time to speak one-on-one about their ideas for submissions with the two high school editors. High School Author ExperienceThe Madison editorial office would like to gauge interest in a possible summer 2004 high school author experience. Plans are for a week-long workshop for high school teachers interested in submitting manuscripts to JCE. Participants would visit Journal House on the UW—Madison campus. They would see how a manuscript progresses from submission to review to publication and would develop their own ideas for submission and review with guidance from their peers and Journal staff. Participants would need to pay for travel, along with room and board. No stipend would be available. Editorial staff are investigating the possibility of offering CEUs for the workshop. Contact Erica Jacobsen if you are interested in attending and for further updates on CEU availability and the number offered. Literature Cited- Patchett, A. Bel Canto; HarperCollins: New York, 2001.
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