2/11/11

My thanks to one of Eva Valo's 7th grade students for the following great find!

-- http://www.onlinecolleges.net/online-colleges-library-chemistry-for-kids/ -- from a resourceful 7th grader
in Eva Valo's class at Monument Charter School

This is a "great page on chemistry learning resources for kids."

12/5/09

10/15/09

Physics Education Technology (PhET) project

9/30/09

Vodcasting:
The Vod Couple -- from The Journal by Dian Schaffhauser -- back from 08/01/09
High school chemistry teachers Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann have overturned conventional classroom instruction by using video podcasts to form the root of a new learning model.

9/24/09

-- from Yohan Na in the T&L Digital Studio

9/11/09

The Best 55 Online Periodic Tables -- though back from May, may be useful to many out there

1. WebElements Periodic Table
2. Visual Elements Periodic Table
3. Merck Interactive Periodic Table of the Elements
4. Periodic Table Live!
5. EnvironmentalChemistry Periodic Table of Elements
6. The Wooden Periodic Table Table
7. It’s Elemental – The Periodic Table of Elements
8. Animated Periodic Table
9. Interactive Periodic Table
10. NIST Elemental Data Index
11. Elementymology & Elements Multidict
12. Radiochemistry Society Periodic Table of the Elements
13. Wikipedia Periodic Table
14. Chemical Elements Interactive Periodic Table of the Elements
15. Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Periodic Table
16. Genesis Education: Modeling the Periodic Table Interactive Simulation
17. Eni Generalic Periodic Table of the Elements
18. Mokeur’s Periodic Table
19. APSIDIUM Extended Periodic Table
20. Integral Scientist Modern Standard Periodic Table
21. Chemi Cool Periodic Table
22. Visual Entities Periodic Table Applet
23. ACS Periodic Table
24. Kostas Tsigaridis Periodic Table of Elements
25. CRC Periodic Table Online
26. Michael Dayah’s Periodic Table of Elements
27. Corrosion Source Periodic Table of Elements
28. Jalenack’s AJAX Periodic Table of the Elements
29. David’s Whizzy Periodic Table
30. IUPAC Periodic Table
31. WebQC Periodic Table of Chemical Elements
32. Rembar Periodic Table of the Elements

Triple Point
Triple Point is the English version of Ponto Triplo, a Portuguese blog which aims to collect and review the best Chemistry sites.

 

9/10/09

Come for the Content, Stay for the Community -- from Academic Commons
The Evolution of a Digital Repository and Social Networking Tool for Inorganic Chemistry
It is said that teaching is a lonely profession. In higher education, a sense of isolation can permeate both teaching and research, especially for academics at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). In these times of doing more with less, new digital communication tools may greatly attenuate this problem--for free. Our group of inorganic chemists from PUIs, together with technologist partners, have built the Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Electronic Resource Web site (VIPEr, http://www.ionicviper.org) to share teaching materials and ideas and build a sense of community among inorganic chemistry educators. As members of the leadership council of VIPEr, we develop and administer the Web site and reach out to potential users. The goals of VIPEr are best captured in the following statement by a new faculty member at a small college:

Joining VIPEr made me aware that although I am the only inorganic chemist on my campus, I am part of a large community of scholars and teachers at colleges and universities across the U.S. I recently met the VIPEr gang at an American Chemical Society meeting. Before the meeting, I already “knew” many in the community from their contributions to the site. I was not surprised to find that the enthusiasm that practically oozes from the Web site was replicated by the members in vivo.

8/27/09

Example resources from WWW Chemistry Guide:

Organic Chemistry Practice Problems
This absolutely beautiful introduction to organic chemistry by Bill Reusch at Michigan State University is a MUST SEE, MUST DO. It includes very well organized discussions, quizzes, and visualizations of all of the important topics in introductory organic chemistry. http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtTxtJml/Questions/problems.htm

ChemSub Online
ChemSub Online is a free web-based database which allows you to retreive information for over 237,000 chemical substances of which 138,000 include chemical structures.

ChemWriter
ChemWriter is the 2D chemical structure renderer and editor designed for Web applications. Lightweight and feature-rich, ChemWriter is the ideal choice for displaying and creating chemical structures on the Web.

ChemAxon
ChemAxon is a software company specializing in providing Java based application programming interfaces and end user applications for cheminformatics and life science research.

Common Chemistry
This database contains the CAS Registry Number, chemical names (both formal and common), molecular formulas, and structures or sequences for 7800 chemicals of widespread general public interest. These substances are of global commercial use or importance and have been cited 1,000 or more times in the CAS databases.

7/6/09

Name the items on the periodic table -- from John at JetPunk
"This quiz creates a fun way to learn the periodic table:"

6/24/09

Online System Brings Individualized Learning to Colorado State Chem Lectures -- from Campus Technology by Linda Briggs

Homework assignments in Lisa Dysleski's general chemistry courses at Colorado State University were supposed to help students--mostly freshmen--understand the subject better and make them reach beyond mere facts and actually think. Instead, students became frustrated with difficult questions, the assistant professor said, and were simply giving each other homework answers.

Frustrated, Dysleski and her colleagues in CSU's Department of Chemistry tried several remedies, then turned to a solution that has not only solved the problem completely--it has resulted in several other positive changes in the large, 250-student introductory chemistry courses that Dysleski and her colleagues teach.

The product is ALEKS, a sort of personalized online tutor that has replaced traditional homework in Dysleski's classes with Web-based individual study programs. The software assesses each student's skill level at the beginning of the semester, then tailors learning goals and homework questions throughout the course to match individual skill levels and learning paces. The result: Students can't share homework answers because ALEKS is assigning completely different questions based on skills and abilities.

4/21/09

4/14/09

Related posting -- my thanks to Melissa Winegar in the T&L Digital Studio for this link/resource:

Understanding the Earth's history and its future evolution is becoming ever more important as the human influence on climate and landscapes, the oceans and the atmosphere expands.Nature Geoscience is a monthly multi-disciplinary journal aimed at bringing together top-quality research across the entire spectrum of the Earth Sciences along with relevant work in related areas.The journal's content reflects all the disciplines within the geosciences, encompassing field work, modelling and theoretical studies. Topics covered in the journal include:

• Atmospheric science
• Biogeochemistry
• Climate science
• Geobiology
• Geochemistry
• Geoinformatics and remote sensing
• Geology
• Geomagnetism and palaeomagnetism
• Geomorphology
• Geophysics
• Glaciology
• Hydrology and limnology
• Mineralogy and mineral physics
• Oceanography
• Palaeontology
• Palaeoclimatology and palaeoceanography
• Petrology
• Planetary science
• Seismology
• Space physics
• Tectonics
• Volcanology

3/1/09

How to Teach Online Chemistry Laboratory Courses -- from Onlinesapiens Blog by emapey

Online Degrees have not yet caught on for most science courses that require laboratory sessions, as many educators think they can’t teach the lab sessions outside of the classroom. This is a list of articles I have found, explaining teachers and professors how they can teach chemistry laboratory courses online.

- Kitchen Chemistry Provides Distance Learners With Quality Laboratory Experiences
- MIT OpenCourseWare SP.287 Kitchen Chemistry
- Chemistry Experiments & Demonstrations You Can Do at Home
- Solving The Laboratory Dilemma in Distance Learning General Chemistry
- BBC/OU Open2.net - The World Around Us - Kitchen lab
- Overview: In many ways the kitchen can be considered the chemistry laboratory of the home
- Chemistry Experiments - A to Z Home’s Cool Homeschooling
- Kitchen Chemistry
- Anytime Anywhere Chemistry Experience
- Chemistry Labs at a Distance: the Kitchen takes Centre Stage!

2/25/09

Link from Joe Girolamo, in the T&L Digital Studio

2/23/09

Original link from http://erictremblay.blogspot.com/2009/02/chemistry-lab-simulations-late-night.html

1/28/09

AcademicEarth.org -- my thanks to Daniel Laninga, in the T&L Digital Studio, for this link

From DSC:
My purpose in posting this is not to tick anyone off. Instead, I want to raise a red flag and say,
"This is where it is going. The question is, how do we want to respond to this?"

1/23/09

PhET: Free online physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and math simulations -- from the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder

1/14/09

Organic Chemistry Animations -- from Educational Technology blog
Students who might be puzzled by the world of organic chemistry will definitely want to bookmark this useful site created by a team of researchers at the University of Liverpool. The site focuses on providing interactive 3D animations for a number of important organic reactions that will be encountered by students taking organic chemistry. The site's homepage contains...

1/12/09

Intute

1/1/09

Animations, Movies & Interactive Tutorial Links -- from Expriencing elearning, by C. Tucker
Library of science animations, movies, and tutorials, sorted by topic (chemistry, microbiology, protein synthesis, etc.)

11/4/08

MIT Researcher Mimics Photosynthesis To Turn Water Into Hydrogen And Oxygen -- from DeviceDaily.com

10/17/08

Video-Based Additional Instruction -- from Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2008, Fall), by Marc Franciszkowicz

“Podcasting” and “Vodcasting” have received particular attention as way to send or push content to students. These techniques show promise, but arguably can create a more passive learning environment. Our program methodologies seek to utilize current technologies to facilitate the development of self-learners in an active learning environment. Using screen capture software, we created Video-based Additional Instruction (VAI) for a General Chemistry course to foster problem solving skills and conceptual understanding of course material. We linked VAI as a supplemental resource to an online syllabus that required students to seek or pull content as needed. We used surveys and website hit counter data to determine when and why students use the resource and surveys to determine its perceived benefit. Initial self-surveys show overwhelming use of the resource for both pre-class preparation and pre-test review with nearly 80% utilizing at least 50% of the videos available. Students agreed that it improved their conceptual understanding and their problem solving skills. The initial data suggests that videos in a pull content show great potential in supporting an active learning environment as well as providing additional on demand support outside of normal office hours.

Read more >>

Design and Assessment of an Online Prelab Model in General Chemistry: A Case Study -- from Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2008, Fall), by Juan-Antonioa Llorens

Pre-laboratory activities (prelabs) are extensively used to introduce and contextualize laboratory work in learning chemistry. The application of interactive online platforms for educational purposes provides a good opportunity to improve the prelabs’ quality and efficiency. In this research study, an alternative prelab model, which consists of an audiovisual tutorial associated with an online test, is suggested as a component of the chemistry learning resources in the PoliformaT platform, at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain).

To assess this prelab model, a case study was carried out in a first course of General and Organic Chemistry in Agricultural Engineering. Several information sources were used to compare it with the usual brief lecture at the beginning of each laboratory session: final examination marks, students’ opinions and, mainly, student-generated questions during laboratory sessions. A method based in the qualitative research software Atlas.ti was developed and applied to make sense of these questions. The results show that the proposed prelab model allows for considerable time saving and an improvement in prerequisite knowledge, and contributes to create an inquiry and contextualized learning environment.

Read more >>

 

10/10/08

A Nobel for Illuminating Biology -- from MIT
Three chemists are honored for discovering and developing a glowing jellyfish protein.

10/7/08

Chemdex.org -- my thanks to Joe Girolamo, T&L Digital Studio for this link

9/29/08

(Nice!) Periodice Table of Elements -- my thanks to William Overbeeke from the T&L Digital Studio for this link

9/12/08

Interactive Periodic Table -- from TouchSpin Chemistry, my thanks to William Overbeek from the T&L Digital Studio for this link
"...it dynamically colorizes the elements to represent individual characteristics such as melting point, molecular volume, ionization level, elctircal conductivity, (many, many more). It allows several illuminating views on the periodic table. It has a an automatic graphing tool that shows particular characteristics versus their AMU in a manner that strongly demonstrates the periodicity of the table. Many other features. Check it out.

9/3/08

Organic Chemistry I CHEM 241 at Drexel University
Instructor: Jean-Claude Bradley bradlejc@drexel.edu

Periodic Table of Videos -- quote/link below from Open Thinking & Digital Pedagogy blog
"The University of Nottingham has created the Periodic Table of Videos, a terrific resource that features a video describing each element of the Periodic Table."

From DSC: Great use of multimedia here! Very creative presentation. Nice work.

Virtual Chemistry for Real Students

From the Scout Project

Forensic Chemistry Lab Manual
Any aspect of forensic science can be quite tricky, and educators will be delighted to learn about this helpful educational resource designed just for them. Created by Professor Robert Thompson of Oberlin College this online forensic chemistry lab manual is designed to help chemistry faculty in developing forensic chemistry project laboratories for both undergraduate and graduate courses. In this manual, visitors will find sample preparations, procedural details, instructions for students, and typical results in a variety of formats. Along the left-hand side of the homepage, visitors can look through the forensic chemistry analyses, which include explosives, fabric, glass, and arson. The site is rounded out by a selection of "Stories", which are meant to provide the background for chemical analyses of crime scene samples.

Periodic Table of Elements -- with pictures