from Erica Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor

My young children are big fans of dot-to-dot puzzles. Each page doesn’t look like much to start—just a jumbled up mess of numbered dots. But if the dots are linked in the correct order, an appealing picture appears. Reading through the May 2008 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education felt a bit like traveling along the path of such a puzzle. Several articles contained topics or experiments that jogged my memory for a further connection, particularly to JCE Classroom Activities.

On page 658, Chamberlain and Rogers describe the pieces they connected in a four-week course for high school students about applications of biochemistry. For one of the laboratories, they adapted a calorimetry experiment from a published lab manual. Students burn a “Cheezy Poof”, determine the energy transferred to water, and compare that energy to the information on the food’s nutritional label. The authors weave this experiment into a larger discussion of fuel metabolism. Don’t have access to the referenced lab manual, or don’t have the time to adapt it yourself? Connect to JCE Classroom Activity #65, “Calories—Who’s Counting?“. Students perform what sounds like an extremely similar procedure, but compare the energy transferred by marshmallows and nuts.

Brunauer and Davis offer a gel filtration experiment that was successfully used in an advanced placement high school biology class. Students separate a mixture of three colored compounds. The experiment requires approximately four hours to perform and can be spread over several days. Need an easy way to introduce students to column chromatography before using the experiment, or don’t have time for the full experiment? Connect to JCE Classroom Activity #61, “Checkerboard Chromatography“. The Activity turns a column chromatography simulation into a dice-rolling game. Students observe how three colored compounds (pieces of red, blue, and yellow construction paper) separate and exit the column game board. They also investigate what happens when the flow rate and column length change.

Ware provides an excellent survey of the history, chemistry, and applications of Prussian blue. His background includes nearly 30 years’ experience in chemistry and extensive personal work with alternative photographic processes. They meld neatly in this article, which includes several of his cyanotype prints. Want to give students a chance to try cyanotype photographs of their own? Connect to JCE Classroom Activity #19, “Blueprint Photography by the Cyanotype Process”, described in the May 2008 Classroom Activity Extension.

Cyanotype photogram of algae by Anna Atkins, ca 1845. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

McKean makes her own connection in the May Classroom Activity Connections feature. She shares a piece of her extensive project that links children’s literature with simple science activities. She has 100 book selections connected to activities appropriate for elementary students. In this month’s article, she describes one book, Sun Up, Sun Down and its related activities. In turn, her activities for Sun Up, Sun Down connect with JCE Classroom Activity #36, “Putting UV-Sensitive Beads to the Test“.

Whew! How’s that for a roundabout dot-to-dot?

One last connection. This spring brings an exciting event: the publication of a new JCE Software CD-ROM with the first 50 JCE Classroom Activities and their supplements. The Activities are categorized by their date of publication, science content standards, keywords, and outreach use. It’s a bargain at $35 (U.S. orders) or $50 (non-U.S. orders), and is an easy and convenient way to access your favorite Activities.

Laura’s Take on the Issue

from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor

The notes I took while reading the May 2008 issue generated a nice list of ideas to address some of the items that have floated up and down—but never off—my “to-do” list this school year. For example, I have always wanted to plan a field trip for my first year students. Peterman’s field trip outcomes at the end of each field trip description really encouraged me to bring that idea high up on my list. The outcomes helped me put together a strong field trip proposal for next year that I will share with my school administrators.

I teach at a one-on-one laptop school, so technology is always an issue. Each student has a laptop and the school is wireless, so access to electronic/online resources can occur anywhere in the school whenever the students are using their laptops. Our laptop program has caused me to wonder about giving up the whiteboard and going to PowerPoint during instruction time, but I just cannot do it. I allow students to provide compounds or numbers in problems we are working, and I also like the spontaneous writing that occurs on the whiteboard as students ask questions. However, Johnson helped me to more openly consider a transition to PowerPoint. Her inclusion of digital ink technology with PowerPoint really captivated me, and I have added this to my summer “to-do” list to try for next year.

JCE High School Chemed Learning Information Center (CLIC)