9th Street NW; CHED technical sessions will also be in the. Renaissance. The High School/College Interface Luncheon will also be in the Renaissance Hotel.
Chemical Education Today
Especially for High School Teachers by Diana S. Mason
Learner-Centered Education
Structure by A. King
Most of the readers of this column are aware of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation targeting under-prepared Secondary School Featured Articles teachers who do not have degrees, are not certified, or are teaching out-of-field. Teacher quality is often identified as the criti䊕 Student Opinions Regarding Inquiry-Based Labs, by Kelly cal issue that must be addressed. Kruse and Roehrig (p 1246) Morgan Deters, p 1178. present a very pertinent study designed to assess teachers’ mis䊕 A Comparison Study: Assessing Teachers’ Conceptions conceptions as related to their with the Chemistry Concepts Inventory, by Rebecca A. Kruse and Gillian H. Roehrig, p 1246. background. It is no surprise O O that teachers score higher than students on the Chemistry O HN OH Concept Inventory (see ref 23, S O NH2 p 1250) chosen for this study. OH increased cadmium concentration in their brains that It is also no surprise that in-dismay be responsible for neurological disorders. It’s recipline teachers outperform A component of onions that may ally great to have others seek out these points of interteachers teaching out of their prevent bone loss. est and help us improve our quality teaching time. academic field. Kruse and Another method that may be used to increase students’ Roehrig refer to research showing that teaching science as inconfidence is to encourage more inquiry-based labs (see Dequiry requires a “highly structured and deep conceptual knowlters, p 1178.) However, many teachers are still not using this edge base”. That many teachers do not have such knowledge type of pedagogical approach even though the National Sciis a major concern. Some of the methods that require strong ence Education Standards clearly state the benefits. Deters’s arconceptual knowledge are guided-inquiry laboratories, coopticle notes some of the major disadvantages and students’ erative learning methods, and student-centered classroom acconcerns associated with inquiry methods. These include teachtivities. ers perceiving a loss of classroom control and the increased Many times when we discuss how to learn chemistry we amount of time required to implement and grade the more talk about matter’s particulate nature and how we attempt to open-ended laboratories along with having to endure more studescribe and illustrate particles to students. The usual repredent complaints. However, it still appears that students’ insentations are macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic (1). Linkcreased academic performance outweighs these reported ing this teaching to an everyday event in the student’s life may negatives. enhance understanding and retention. Outreach and serviceStudents’ quantitative problem-solving ability is an imporlearning projects are examples of ways to reinforce learning. tant component of academic success. Dimensional analysis is Esson, Stevens-Truss, and Thomas (p 1168) and Ophardt, the most often used method for teaching students how to solve Applebee, and Losey (p 1174) highlight examples of how their problems, but what do you do when it’s not working? Cook students are encouraged to complete projects outside the classand Cook (p 1187) suggest the use of cross-proportions as a room. Both papers report how students who are able to apply valid conceptual method that can be used as a way to undercourse concepts in meaningful real-world situations not only stand why and how dimensional analysis works. gain self-confidence but also to improve their academic knowledge and skills. In addition students who have practiced this Upcoming Events: ACS National Meeting type of pedagogy appear to have an increased level of underAt the Fall 2005 ACS National Meeting the CHED sostanding and exhibit greater confidence in their ability to comcial hour and dinner will be held Saturday, August 27 (see p municate. Just because these articles are written about college 1123 for more information). The High School Program will students’ programs does not mean that your students cannot be on Sunday, August 28, in the Renaissance Hotel at 999 also participate in project-based learning. Raines, Gomez, and 9th Street NW; CHED technical sessions will also be in the Williams (p 1118) suggest that having students design digital Renaissance. The High School/College Interface Luncheon will posters targeting a specific technique or topic is a good way to also be in the Renaissance Hotel. More information about the prepare for labs and quizzes, and to train them to utilize a tool High School Program can be found on pages 1123 and 1136. very popular at most learned society meetings. The luncheon speaker is Bassam Shakhashiri. In addition to having students perform community serPlease, come by the JCE booth #1411 in the Convention vice projects, you may also want to link content to little-known Center and meet all the JCE staff who will be there. facts and the latest research. In King’s Research Advances (p 1114) it was of interest to me to learn that onions appear to Literature Cited decrease bone loss—at least in rats! Osteoporosis may not interest your students, but maladies associated with smoking 1. Bunce, D. M.; Gabel, D. J. Res. Sci. Teaching 2002, 39, 911– might. On page 1115 King notes that smokers may have an 927.
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
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Vol. 82 No. 8 August 2005
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Journal of Chemical Education
1113
