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Submissions
Acceptability of a manuscript for publication in the Symbolic Mathematics in Chemistry feature column of JCE depends on its applicability to our readers (a clearly stated place in the curriculum and an appropriate content) and on its meeting standards of quality in presentation and content.
Content
Components of a publishable symbolic mathmematics document include
- Some essential element that cannot be readily reproduced in the traditional print medium.
- Clear goals and objectives for the student user.
- Interactive components that students can use for learning; embedded interactivity is one of the most important components of a pedagogically effective symbolic mathmematics document.
- Embedded clear directions enabling students to use the document effectively; hints on how to use the software effectively are especially important for student users.
- Clear identification of the software version needed to use the document; authors should test their documents with several levels of symbolic mathmematics programs to be sure of compatability.
Have have strong pedagogical content in at least one of the following areas
- Shows how the subject discussed would fit into the curriculum.
- Demonstrate an improved presentation of the chemistry content or facilitation of learning of that content by students.
- Contains some other clearly stated pedagogical component.
Appeal to either
- A general audience (the majority of our readers).
- A clearly identifiable special audience (a specialized portion of our readers).
- Be useful to its intended audience:
- Be original (not duplicate previously published material).
- Be accurate.
- Include a bibliography appropriate for the topic especially reference to other JCE publications.
Presentation
A publishable symbolic mathmematics document should:
- Have a pedagogical content. It should not merely be a collection of teachers notes nor a solution to a chemistry problem through the application of symbolic mathematics.
- Appeal to a clearly identified audience of teachers and or students. The intended audience should be clearly identified in the introduction of the symbolic mathmematics document.
- Be accruate, original, and useful to the intended audience.
- Include a thoroughly researched bibilography that will permit further study of the topic by the intended audience. It is envisioned that the primary audience will be the students of teachers who will use these materials in their courses. A secondary audience will be teachers learning new techniques or ways of teaching traditional concepts. Here the power of symbolic mathematics software is a key in the learning process and a tool for moving the curriculum forward with modern methods.
Publishable symbolic mathmematics documents should:
- Include a useful, accurate Abstract, suitable for publication in the Journal of Chemical Education and in the Internet version of JCE. The abstract should clearly present the important concepts addressed by the Mathcad document, the pediagogical approach, and suggestions of how to use the symbolic mathmematics document in the curriculum.
- Begin with a clear and concise Introduction, stating why a reader should take the time to use this symbolic mathmematics document. The document should also contain clear goals and objectives for the user. Goals are over arching aims of the document. Objectives are the performance criteria that are expected to be met by users completing the study of the material presented in the symbolic mathmematics document. Performance criteria are measureable outcomes from use of the document. The body of the document should contain ample opportunity for student input and interactivity. For example, students should be directed to create animations, reflect on graphs, create their own equations patterened after those of the author, explore mathematical models of physical concepts, develop their own symbolic mathmematics documents, and write about their observatons of the activities that are presented in the symbolic mathmematics document or that they create as they work through the document.
- A good Mathcad document would recognize and cite recent relevant publications, especially those in JCE, and those that provide the reader with fundamental concepts related to the document.
- A good symbolic mathmematics document can be concise, but should not sacrifice clarity for brevity. It should be of a length appropriate for its content and the stated goals and objectives of the lessons and activities being addressed. It should be written in clear and proper English, at a level suitable for its intended audience, and contain hints on how to accomplish operations in symbolic mathmematics that are beyond the average skill of student users.
- A good symbolic mathmematics document can be primarily text if it is an instructional type document accompanied by a primarily computational document.
The important components of a symbolic mathmematics document are:
- Title
- Author and Author Affiliation
- Copyright Statement (see published documents for a typical statement)
- Author name and pagination in the first line of the footer
- Creation Date, Modification Date in a second line of the document footer
- A statement about the place in the Curriculum and how to use the document written to the student
- Prerequisites that would facilitate mastery of the topics and activities imbedded in the exercise
- Goal(s) of the exercise
- Specific objectives of the exercise(s) contained in the document
- Student warm up tasks prior to starting the major section of the exercise(s)
- Student tasks frequently imbedded within the document; this interactivity promotes learning and maintains student interest in the tasks presented in the document
- Notes on how to use the symbolic mathmematics document; these can be written to the instructor who can edit them out of the document before distribution to a class
- Notes on the concept(s) treated by the document ; these notes are most properly be imbedded within the document so that the user can follow the logic of the document
- A mastery exercise for students to self test their understanding of the concept; no solution to this exercise should be included in the document
- References to 2-3 standard texts in which students can find a traditional treatment of the topic
- Closure activities; students should be left with a feeling of accomplishment and completion after using the document.
Prospective authors should examine recently published JCE SymMath documents for guidance about style and content including presentation techniques. Other good quality documents can be found at the Mathcad NT web site.
Other Important items for submission of a symbolic mathmematics document for the this column are
- In a separate short ASCII document provide a three to ten sentence abstract describing the document and its role in the chemistry curriculum.
- Completed copyright form. This form can be obtained here.
- Five key words suitable for indexing the document in the Journal of Chemical Education index. Suggested key words can be found here.
Where to send Documents
Symbolic mathmematics documents and abstracts may be sent to the JCE editorial offices or to the feature editor. Send documents as attachments to the feature editor, Theresa Julia Zielinski, at tzielins@monmouth.edu. All correspondence concerning documents submitted for this column will be by e-mail.
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