I grew up in Indianapolis and never saw a lighthouse until I was in my mid 20s. Then, during the 16 years that I lived in Connecticut, I saw numerous New England lighthouses and fell in love with exploring them. When I happened to travel near one, I always visited it. All of the lighthouses that I ever saw were white and round (although one did have a red stripe in the middle of it). Thus, I thought that lighthouses had to be white and round. Well, I was wrong!

This summer I traveled for a week along Lake Michigan in Wisconsin and Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I saw 12 lighthouses in all shapes, sizes, and colors. The lighthouses that were painted completely red especially surprised me. I asked about why they were red and not white, but no one could give me a direct answer. Does anyone have a suggestion about why they are red?

Then I opened this month’s issue of the Journal and found even more lighthouses to explore in Patricia McKean’s article in the Classroom Activity Connection. She links children’s literature, lighthouses, and lightsticks. She even has a model of a lighthouse made from a tennis ball can, and it is red. I immediately went out and bought the book she talks about, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, for my niece and nephew and read it to them. I enjoyed the book as much as they did. What a great way to enjoy my summer and learn more about light and color.

However, what I learned about light and color was not more about the science, it was about my own misconceptions about lighthouses and their color. They do not all have to be white—some are even brown and gray. However, the ones that are still needed do have to work, and McKean makes some wonderful connections in her article for us to share with students.

Preservice Teachers and Technology

Daniel Tofan describes a course offered at his university to preservice teachers on the use of various types of software to teach chemistry. As I read this, I thought about how fortunate those teachers must be to know how to use many of the different types of technology in their classrooms when they first start to teach. Just trying to know what textbook to use can sometimes be a daunting task, let alone how to use all the various pieces of technology that are available—trying to figure out how best to teach our students using these various technological tools is not a simple task, either.

Each of us has faced these challenges in various ways, and I think that the more we can help to prepare new teachers for the classroom, the better they will feel about being teachers. Our profession is a wonderful one, but not a simple one, and the more we can collaborate and support each other, the better we will all be professionally.

I wish each of you a wonderful 2009–2010 school year and please let Erica and me know if there is a particular way that the Journal of Chemical Education can help you more.

Erica’s Take on the Issue

Reading Laura’s comments on white vs red lighthouses spurred me to drag out a photo album from a long-ago trip to Massachusetts and do my own informal research. Would the several lighthouses I’d photographed be white? red? both? The verdict: all were white, except for one that was white with a red band on the top. I hadn’t noticed the pattern at the time, but it reminds me now that observations such as this can come from anywhere, and can lead us to look at the world around us in a new way. Sally Mitchell’s Conant Award Address is another reminder of real-world connections to science. Much of her teaching focuses on the chemistry of cooking, and has resulted in more than one student “…who understands and appreciates chemistry each and every time she enters a kitchen”. I plan to do some informal research on supersaturation based on some of Sally’s handouts—particularly her Cookies and Cream Fudge recipe.

Blogged at NSDL ExpertVoices.