Secondary School Feature Articles

* The Thermobile: A Nitinol-Based Scientific Toy, by George B. Kauffman and Issac Mayo, p 313.

* A Closer Look at the Addition of Equations and Reactions, by Damon Diemente, p 319.

Toys, Materials, and Chemistry Teaching

The value of using toys to teach physical and chemical concepts is widely recognized. In this issue, Kauffman and Mayo describe the Thermobile and Nitinol, the material that makes it work. You may already be familiar with Nitinol as the metal with a memory. Samples and an explanation of how it remembers are available from the Institute for Chemical Education, ICE (http://ice.chem.wisc.edu/ice/).

Teaching materials chemistry in introductory courses has been the subject of many articles in JCE, but it can be difficult to make time in a crowded curriculum to do this, and it is even harder to find time to learn about significant breakthroughs in the development of new materials. By the time one material is discussed in a textbook, consumers are using or benefiting from items that contain other newer materials. We teachers often find ourselves talking about yesterday's developments to student consumers who live in today's rapidly changing world. Although Nitinol is now mentioned in some texts, readily accessible, readable, and sufficiently detailed descriptions of its potential commercial applications are less often found. Hence it is important that the Journal can keep you posted about these matters on a monthly basis through articles like this one about the Thermobile.

JCE Classroom Activity #7 (p 312A) is a very good way to provide students with hands-on inquiry about how a very familiar item - the television set or computer monitor - works. It is keyed to the Viewpoints article in this issue by Campbell et al. (p 297), which describes the materials used in the various components of a computer. Viewpoints provides enough current information to be the outline of a unit on materials, or to be the materials component of several units. A search of JCE Index Online, using "material" as a keyword, yielded 36 references over a 25-month period, January 1996­January 1998. More than half of the titles indicate an article dealing with the development or use of relatively new materials. Several of these articles are from the Products of Chemistry feature, which is edited by George Kauffman.

Another source of current information about materials chemistry is Chemical and Engineering News, published by the ACS. Almost all college libraries, many public libraries, and some school libraries subscribe. A regular scanning of C&EN provides a rich resource of up-to-date information. Articles are written in a news magazine format, whereas JCE articles are written from the standpoint of teaching and learning, so the two sources complement each other with respect to curriculum development.

The Spring Convention Season Approaches

Despite the snow, ice, and cloudy skies experienced daily by many of our readers, no one needs to be reminded that spring is not far away. A reminder of two conventions important to science teachers, however, is appropriate. One of those, the Spring 1998 National Meeting of the ACS in Dallas, is described in this issue (p 263). Monday, March 29 is the High School Chemistry Day, organized by George Hague, Jr., a high school teacher at St. Mark's School of Texas. Highlights of the outstanding program include:

• Richard Smalley, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and professor at Rice University, speaking on Buckminsterfullerenes.
  
• George Gross, 1997 CMA Catalyst award winner and chemistry teacher at Union (NJ) Township High School, who will present "A Demo a Day".
• James Marshall, chemistry professor at North Texas University, who will describe "A Living Periodic Table".
• Rose Robacker, retired chemistry teacher from the Pocono Mountain (PA) school district, presenting "Anecdotes/Caricatures of Men and Women in Science".
• Mike Offut, chemistry teacher from Barrington (IL), entertaining with his popular "Chemistry Songbag" at a noon luncheon.

The box on p 263 explains how to obtain registration information. High School Chemistry Day is being jointly sponsored by The Division of Chemical Education and the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas, ACT₂. For additional information or to be included on the ACS/ACT₂ High School Day mailing list contact George Hague, High School Chemistry Day Chairperson, St. Mark's School of Texas, 10600 Preston Road, Dallas, TX 75230; 214/346-8147, fax: 214/346-8002, email: grhague@tenet.edu.

If you are attending the convention be sure to visit the JCE Booth at the Chemical Exposition to examine the teaching materials on display and visit with JCE representatives. I will be attending the High School Chemistry Day program and would enjoy talking with you there or at the JCE Booth.

Many readers will be attending the 46th NSTA Convention, April 16­19, in Las Vegas. JCE will be there also with a booth at the Exposition. Feature editors David Byrum (View from My Classroom) and John Fischer (Second Year and Advanced Placement) join me in looking forward to meeting and talking with you. We hope you can attend our free workshop, "It's Your Journal of Chemical Education. What Would You Like It to Be?" Expect lively discussions and hands-on experience with the JCE Classroom Activities series. Other Secondary School feature editors may be there - watch for an update in our April column.