from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor
I am on a “teacher’s high” right now! I can’t thank you—my chemistry colleagues—enough. This past week my AP Chemistry students started a lab that is often referred to as the “Green Crystal Lab”. It involves the synthesis of solid K3Fe(C2O4)3·3H2O (green crystals) and can be followed by […]

from Erica Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
As I write this, the garden is winding down for the season. The time is ripe (pun intended) for reflection. What worked? What didn’t? A new addition this year was zucchini. We tested the waters with just a single plant and it kept us easily supplied for sauteeing with […]

from Erica Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
The WonderLab Museum in Bloomington, IN was alive with movement and sound. Limber bodies snaked up a two-story maze called the “Grapevine Climber” to arrive triumphantly at the top. Massive soap bubbles burst, showering heads with a misty spray. Cheers and applause broke out as the centerpiece of a […]

from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor
New has been defined in various ways—recently made, created, or invented; recently discovered or noticed; recently introduced and previously unfamiliar; at the beginning of another day, month, or year. At this time of year most of us are probably thinking about this last definition of new. However, for […]

from Erica Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
If you haven’t visited it before, chemistry.com (accessed Jun 2008) probably isn’t quite what you think. The Web site does focus on chemistry—of the matchmaking kind. The online dating service uses an algorithm created by Helen E. Fisher, an anthropologist who has studied the neural chemistry of people in […]

from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor
What could the three items in the title possibly have in common? For me, they represent three of the 24 different projects my students turned in February 14. In the July 2007 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education, Ami LeFevre shared her Element Project, Bouquets of Periodicity, […]

from Erica Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
“Coulda, woulda, shoulda” is a loop that often plays in my brain after a conference presentation. Why didn’t I… I could have… I should have… Even after extensive preparation, it’s easy to dwell on what you could have done differently so the presentation would have been even better. Maybe […]

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 […]

from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor
Over the last few months, more high school chemistry teachers than ever before have asked me these questions and I was really surprised. However, as I inquired more deeply, I began to realize that fewer of the “new” teachers (teachers in their first 1–5 years of instruction) than […]

from Erica K. Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
“What is the average yearly rainfall for Phoenix?” A social studies assignment asked an extension question of this sort during my grade school years. The answer wasn’t in the text, so tracking down the answer required a trip to the local library, or a telephone call to the […]