Archive for the 'Science' Category

New and You (September 2008)

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 […]

Posted in Topics: High School, Science, Teaching

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Mathematics Education

Mathematics is fundamental to science because a great many aspects of science are best described and elucidated using mathematical tools. Lack of preparation in mathematics hampers many students’ efforts to learn science and prevents many other students from pursuing science at all. Consequently, mathematics education is important not only for mathematicians, but for all scientists. […]

Posted in Topics: Editorial, Education, General, High School, Mathematics, Science

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Energy

I recently had the pleasure of listening to a talk, “Scientific Challenges in Sustainable Energy Technology”, by Nathan S. Lewis, California Institute of Technology. Lewis summarized data on energy resources and provided his analysis of their implications for the future of human society. He has provided slides, text, and a streaming audio/video version at his […]

Posted in Topics: Editorial, Education, Energy, General, High School, Science, Technology

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Playing Matchmaker (August 2008)

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 […]

Posted in Topics: High School, Science, Teaching

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Pizza, Flowers, and Fish (July 2008)

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, […]

Posted in Topics: High School, Science, Teaching

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What Price Quality? (May 2008)

Everyone wants more for less. That’s human nature, but it’s not necessarily a good long-term strategy for human society, especially when there are unanticipated, unintended negative consequences. Everyone would like lower electric bills, for example, but most of us paying the lower bills will not have to pay the full costs of global warming, many […]

Posted in Topics: Editorial, General, Science

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Connect the Dots (May 2008)

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 […]

Posted in Topics: High School, Science, Teaching

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Vote for Science: Science, Education, and the Political Process

The National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine have just published a book, Science, Evolution, and Creationism that should be read by all scientists and teachers of science (1). An eight-page brochure summarizes the book and is an excellent way to stimulate and inform discussions of evolution, creationism, and “intelligent design”.
The brochure describes […]

Posted in Topics: Editorial, Education, General, High School, Science

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Streaming Chemistry: Chemists Celebrate Earth Day–Feb 2008

The theme for this year’s Chemists Celebrate Earth Day is Water—Streaming Chemistry. As we do every February, the JCE editorial staff has collected a broad range of articles in support of that theme. We hope this issue, and others we have done in the past, are really useful for those who are planning Earth Day […]

Posted in Topics: Editorial, Education, Science, Teaching, Technology

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Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome (January 2008)

from Erica K. Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
The unofficial Marine Corps motto that is the title of this column was brought into popular culture by the gravelly voice of Clint Eastwood in the 1980s film “Heartbreak Ridge”. I don’t claim to have anywhere near the constitution or character of a Marine, but the motto has […]

Posted in Topics: Education, High School, Science

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