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Accident Anecdotes
The first article of a new feature about laboratory safety appears in this issue. The feature is offered in direct response to a comment by teachers who attended the High School Program at the San Francisco ACS Meeting in April 2000. When asked what they would like to see in JCE, several of them responded that articles about safety would be especially helpful. JCE editor John Moore asked chemical safety educator Jay Young for contributions. I believe that you will find the article to be interesting, instructive, and, after the fact, somewhat amusing. You may find it productive to tell the anecdote to recalcitrant students who insist on wearing their goggles on their forehead or around their neck. Of course, as noted at the end of the anecdote, we are not advocating the use of concentrated sulfuric acid.
A New JCE Classroom Activity and the Story behind It
The 2000 George C. Pimentel Award Address by Jerry Bell was the inspiration for this month's JCE Classroom Activity. It forces a student who can see to make observations of physical properties and chemical change while blindfolded. Through this experience the student may gain insight into the challenges faced by those with impaired vision and a heightened awareness of how the other senses complement sight in observing the world around us. To learn more about how Bell's work with students who have disabilities came about, read the article "Every Year Begins a Millennium". The article contains accounts of many other lessons that this distinguished chemical educator has learned to this point in his career. The JCE Online supplemental materials accompanying the article contain QuickTime movies illustrating some of the chemistry discussed in his address.
JCE Classroom Activities Return, but for How Long?
During the past three school years a Classroom Activity has been published each month, September-May. Most of the ideas have been developed, and all have been tested, by the JCE editorial staff in Madison. Now new ideas are needed immediately in order to continue this series. Have you developed or modified an activity that could be adapted to the Classroom Activity format? If you have, please send us your idea. Be sure to put "Classroom Activity" in the subject field when you forward your ideas to jce@chem.wisc.edu or by mail to Journal of Chemical Education, 209 North Brooks Street, Madison, WI 53715-1116. If you have an idea and you would like to become directly involved in developing an activity, see our Classroom Activity submission guidelines.
The JCE Classroom Activity in the October issue is designed for use with National Chemistry Week 2000 (November 5-11). This activity is one of a group of materials in the October issue that will be useful to those observing NCW 2000.
Alternative Assessment
The trend in several states to use high-stakes achievement test scores to evaluate districts, schools, and teachers appears to be at odds with the intent of the National Science Education Assessment Standards. Recently I read several postings on an Internet discussion list in which several high school teachers expressed differing opinions on how to deal with the situation. There seemed to be general agreement, however, that as increased emphasis is placed on preparation for high-stakes end-of-course examinations it becomes more difficult to assess conceptual understanding. High school chemistry teachers are an innovative lot, and I am confident that ways will be found to evaluate understanding no matter what. This month's issue contains two examples of using student-constructed posters as a means of assessment. Although we most often associate poster presentations with research, such as a science fair project, these articles show that posters may also be used to assess student learning in class settings. The examples are from lower-division college courses, but they may be equally useful in high school chemistry courses. An article titled Using Poster Sessions as an Alternative to Written ExaminationsThe Poster Exam by Pamela Mills and four co-authors contains a detailed explanation of how student-constructed posters can be used to assess student learning. A number of related articles are listed in the Literature Cited section. Another example is found in A Poster Session in Organic Chemistry That Markedly Enhanced Student Learning by P. A. Huddle. The same author also contributed the article How to Present a Paper or Poster in which useful, straightforward suggestions for communicating information and ideas clearly are provided.
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B + A by Erling Antony, Lindsay Mitchell, and Lauren Nettenstrom
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