How does your chosen textbook affect your teaching? How do you learn about the latest developments? Are you able to keep abreast of current information in science and pass new knowledge on to your students? If you wait for textbooks to catch up, you most often have lost valuable time and deprived your students of vital insights. Therefore it is quite feasible to use the Journal as a “living textbook” and this issue definitely strengthens the argument.

Around the turn of the century, many entities made lists of the “best of …”, “top 100 of …”, “the greatest [fill in the blank]”, etc. The one I really remember is that the periodic table was deemed the “most predictive tool in science”. In this issue there are a couple of must-reads for anyone interested in a very important unifying concept—the periodic table. Going beyond what is in your textbook and incorporating new knowledge into your class is one of the ways we advance our human endeavor to teach. It takes years for new information to trickle down to textbooks. The easiest way to overcome this is to read the Journal!

How the “modern” periodic table needs to be modified to reflect the latest interpretations of the chemistry it supports can be found in the articles by Cronyn and Jensen. Before reading these articles, find your favorite periodic table and keep it next to you. Do you ever wonder how the periodic table has come to be in its current form and if there is a better one? I guess I’ve seen 25 different forms of the periodic table—short forms, long forms, stacked forms, spirals, pyramids. However, beyond changing from Mendeleev’s Periodic Law based on atomic mass to Mosley’s Periodic Law based on atomic number, I’m not sure if I’ve understood the history behind why the various authors promoted the use of one over another. The outstanding Cronyn and Jensen articles shed light on the current advantages and shortcomings of our modern tables.

Most of you are aware of the problems associated with the placement of hydrogen on the periodic table. You’ve seen tables with hydrogen atop the alkali metals (even though it is a nonmetal), and you’ve seen it listed with the halogens. However, is either location adequately supported by the chemistry? Cronyn makes an excellent argument for placing hydrogen above carbon. Intrigued? The given evidence truly supports this modification! Jensen superbly presents the history behind the 20th century alternative forms of the periodic table. He not only takes us through the group labeling systems that have developed over the years, but also informs us of how the transition metal group obtained this designation. Every time I read about another version of the periodic table, it became my new favorite, and I knew that my lectures on the periodic table would now have to be modified to include my new-found knowledge from our living textbook. Some of the new insights from the Jensen article will enhance your understanding of the American ABA system and the European AB system (see Figure 3, p 953, JCE subscribers only). You will also gain an insight into why Cotton, Wilkinson, Murillo, and Bochmann (1) argue that Zn, Cd, and Hg are not considered transition metals, and you’ll learn about the “double-appendix” table of Sanderson (Figure 8, p 959, JCE subscribers only) which is my current favorite. Complementing these articles, Mabrouk explains how she uses the periodic table as a mnemonic device to help students learn to write electronic configurations, and Fuller and Marshall both mention Oliver Sacks (author of Uncle Tungsten) emphasizing how the magic of chemistry mixed with natural curiosity supports the fascination of chemistry, something that may be getting lost in our “safe” academic world.

Upcoming Events

The Fall 2003 ACS meeting in New York City is September 7–11. The Division of Chemical Education banquet is Saturday, September 6, and High School Day is Sunday, September 7. Many program and city highlights are available in this issue: Columbia University, DivCHED program, things to see and do while visiting the Big Apple (p 865), and Presidential Events.

For those of you who are not aware, a High School Chemistry Teacher Support Group has been established that consists of a Web site and email listserv. The focus of this group is on sharing best practices, standards-based teaching materials, benchmark assignments, and laboratory experiments. Visit the Web site (accessed Jun 2003) and connect with this international resource for high school chemistry teachers.

Literature Cited

1. Cotton, F. A.; Wilkinson, G.; Murillo, C. A.; Bochmann, M. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, 6th ed.; Wiley: New York, 1999.