This is my penultimate editorial. After 13 years as editor of the Journal of Chemical Education, I will be handing the blue pencil (or green pen, in my case) to Norb Pienta on the first of September. Norb has been handling all new submissions since April 1 so that when he takes over he will […]

The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have launched a drive for national content standards for K–12 education. Subsequent to a meeting in Chicago in April, 46 states have agreed to draft voluntary, common standards by July to specify what students should know by the time they finish high school. […]

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 […]

from Laura Slocum, JCE High School Associate Editor
Summer is really here though it seems like school just ended, and I just finished going through the turmoil of choosing textbooks once again this year. My school changed its online book vendor, so each instructor had the option of making changes in course textbooks. Perhaps “turmoil” is […]

Approximately five years ago I pointed out that two-year and community colleges provide many valuable contributions to chemical education (1). The recent publication of the third edition of the ACS Guidelines for Chemistry in Two-Year College Programs (2) provides a good reason to revisit the important role these colleges and their faculty play in U.S. […]

In July 2001 I wrote decrying the over-reliance on high-stakes testing as a means of evaluating students, teachers, and schools (1). Eight years later, the situation has not changed for the better. It is worthwhile to revisit the issues raised at that time and make a few more comments.
The strong emphasis on testing seems to […]

from Erica K. Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
I’m a fairly casual blog follower. There are only a few links of that sort in my Web browser’s bookmarks bar, all maintained by geographically distant friends. When I have a few minutes of downtime and the laptop is running, I’ll “drop in” for a quick update on […]

It is said that virtue is its own reward. The earliest statement is, “Ipsa quidem virtus sibimet pulcherrima merces” [Virtue herself is her own fairest reward] (1). Is learning in the same category? Should it be?There is considerable debate on the subject (2).
Many economists and business people argue that students will work harder and learn […]

from Erica Jacobsen, JCE High School Editor
A 4,000 mile round-trip in a car can get a little boring. When I was a child, summers typically included a drive from our home in Arizona to visit relatives scattered across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The license plate game was a favorite way to pass the time. We began […]

The dictionary definition of science begins something like this: The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena. Notice that all the nouns are derived from verbs: observe, identify, describe, investigate, and explain. This implies strongly that science is more a process than a body of knowledge. Only later do we find: […]