from Erica K. Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor

Spending time looking for lost items can be a major pasttime. Keys, purse, and sunglasses can often go missing. In our house, you might hear phrases like, “Mom, I can’t find the sunscreen.” “Where’s my swimsuit?” “I don’t see the hamburgers anywhere in the refrigerator.” Inevitably, one just needs to look behind something or move aside an item or two that’s covered up the sought-for item. Some readers may think something’s gone missing as they read the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education. Did you check the table of contents? Did you flip through all the pages? Still can’t find it? If you’re looking for a JCE Classroom Activity or Classroom Activity Connection, you won’t find either.

Typically, these Especially columns focus on what you will find in the current issue of the JCE, rather than what you won’t find. However, I’d like to share details about the history of the Classroom Activity feature and what you’ll see in future issues for Activities and Connections. The first JCE Classroom Activity was published in September 1997. An additional 101 Activities have followed during the next dozen years. Nine Activities were published each school year for the first ten years. In 2007, a move was made to publish six Activities per year, but to also offer Classroom Activity Connections articles to describe new extensions to previously published Activities. Since then, ten Connections have appeared. This material remains available not only in subscribers’ hard copies, but also online and on CD-ROM. PDFs of every Activity and Connection are available online to JCE subscribers by visiting the two links on the home page of the JCE High School ChemEd Learning Information Center (CLIC). The first 50 Activities are available on CD-ROM.

When the feature was in its infancy, it was important to maintain a consistency; readers could expect to flip open their copy of JCE to a heavy cardstock page with a new Activity nine months out of the year. This often meant that JCE staff were called on to create Activities in-house. Indeed, only 20 of the first 50 Activities were written by authors other than JCE staff. As the feature matured and continued, JCE readers answered the call to submit Activities, and as a result, 44 of the last 52 Activities were written by outside authors. Thank you to all who shared your work in this way.

With more than 100 published Activities available, there is less need to push for a certain number of Activities each year. The feature will publish submissions as they are accepted, rather than always generating in-house Activities to fill gaps. This could still mean several Activities per year, but that will depend on you. We continue to receive Activity and Connections submissions and encourage you to consider how your own curriculum materials might be adapted to fit this feature. In this way, we hope to maintain the feature at a sustainable level for years to come.

Call for Activity Testers

As feature editor of the JCE Classroom Activity series, I am assembling a group of people interested in testing submitted Activities—functioning much as the current Tested Demonstrations “checkers”. Activity testers would receive Activity submissions to review and test in their home or classroom. Interested in seeing the Activity feature from the other side and becoming a valuable part of the peer review process? Contact me.

The Capitol Dome can be seen at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Washington is also the site of the Fall ACS High School Day Program. For more information, see the ACS flier. (Photo: Destination DC)

Laura’s Take on the Issue

from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor

What Is That Colorless Solution? brought lots of smiles and wonderful memories to me as I read it. As a high school student, qualitative analysis was the experience that “hooked” me into chemistry. I absolutely loved being able to figure out what was in the test tube that came from my instructor. My AP Chemistry students may not feel the same as I do about this article due to their more recent qualitative analysis project; however, some might see the project in a different light now that it is August and not May. Their experience has been one of growth and newfound satisfaction; for a few of them—major frustrations. Some students with the highest grades academically have been among the weakest in lab. Their weaknesses became especially apparent during qualitative analysis when they had to use the knowledge in their heads with their hands. Students identified their four progressively more difficult unknowns and learned more about chemistry and themselves in doing so. It has been 33 years since I first did qualitative analysis, the last 18 years as a teacher. It is still my favorite lab.

JCE High School Chemed Learning Information Center (CLIC)