We had quite an animated discussion on EL learners in Chemistry on April 10th, ranging from cultural aspects (students afraid to share their country of origin due to political issues in the US and abroad) to specific curriculum challenges (the abstract nature of chemistry makes it one of the harder sciences for bridging language barriers).

We had some bright spots in our discussion as well. Sean Regan shared an article he wrote for AACT that you can find here. Its about a technique applicable not only to EL students but to all students. And we thought it would be great to remind folks of AACT's webinar archive, which you can find here. Sean gave a webinar on 4/12 which should be uploaded soon.

The recording of the April 20025 ChemChat can be found here.

The May ChemChat will be held 4:00-5:00 pm EST on May 8th. The topic is "Activities and Topics for the End of the Year. Registration is now open under EVENTS.

ChemChats for the 2024-2025 school year will end on June 12th with the topic "Changes for 2025-2026". Registration will open May 9th.

We have had three interesting discussions this winter. In January eight teachers joined me in discussing Chemical Literacy. In February 15 folks took a hard look at AI, sharing resources and sharing experiential advantages and problems when using AI as a teacher or having students use AI.  No one left resources on the google.drive for these chats, but you could still add resources for Literacy here and for AI here.I am working at uploading recordings of the Zoom sessions. (Sorry for the delay.) 

Just today we had 9 people talking about Acids and Bases, which the AP teachers are hitting right now. There are a bunch of resources in the google.drive folder here. And the Zoom recording is here.

The April ChemChat will be on Zoom on April 10th from 4:00-5:00 pm EST. The topic is "Assisting Multi-Language Learners in an Inclusive Chemistry Classroom".

In November 21 educators signed up to talk about "Sense-Making". We had a great discussion among nine on how to help students understand what they are seeing in terms of unseen particles: building conceptual understanding form phenomena. We did not end up putting anything in the google.drive folder.  Here is the Zoom recording: we had trouble recording and I only have the 2nd half of the discussion.

In December 9 educators signed up to talk about Teaching in Non-Ideal Spaces. We talked about portable butane burners and alcohol burners, inexpensive centigram or milligram electronic balances (like this one from amazon), and the use of videos to replace demos and labs. We got into a discussion of using historical data and there are some examples in this google.drive folder. A participant tried out the Zoom AI companion to record the ChemChat and we discovered it can't be recorded from 2 sources. So I do not have a recording of this ChemChat.

You can sign up for the January 9th session on Chemical Literacy under Events.

SEPTEMBER: "What's New for 2024-25?" 9/19/24

Nine folks joined me and discussed "What's New for 2024-25?" There was no recording made,  but we did end up with a set of topics that will take us through January 2025. They are listed at the bottom of this report.

OCTOBER: "Green Chemistry" 10/10/24

Eight people joined me for a lively discussion on how to replace labs with toxic chemicals with safer alternatives. Attached here is a link to a document that is an old "recommended not to use" list. [Please ignore the handwritten comments.] The recording of the 'Chat will be up soon.

UPCOMING ChemChats:

• November 21st, 4-5 pm: "Sense-Making" registration now open
• December 12th, 4-5 pm: "Teaching Chemistry in Non-Ideal Spaces"
• January 9th. 4-5 pm: "Chemical Literacy: Can our Students Communicate?"

submitted by Sue Klemmer (sklemmer@mac.com)

The Northern Division of NEACT will hold a 2-part virtual workshop on OpenSciEd (https://www.openscied.org/). This is a nonprofit company that has designed curricula for grades 7-12 that are "different from traditional science curriculum. Our world-class, Next Generation Science standards-aligned instructional materials are designed for how students learn science best. " - OpenSciEd website. My school has found their phenomenon-based, driving question approach to be in line with our own philosophy of teaching, and are spending our departmental PD time this year exploring how their curriculum might be implemented within our program. (Note: The curriculum is not free.)

  During our main evening event a presenter from their partner Kendall Hunt will provide an overview of the Chemistry curriculum in which participants will try out some of the activities. We will follow this up with a shorter afternoon open consultation session with an OpenSciEd staffer to answer specific questions you may have about how OpenSciEd might work in your situation.

I do not have an exact date yet, but am aiming for the last week in January through the first week in February. Stay tuned for more information.

2 minutes into the April ChemChat on "Differentiation", internet died at my location in the midst of driving rain. It came back around 5 minutes later, but the one person that had signed on had left by then and neither of the the other two invitees signed in. So ... enjoy your month, folks!

The May ChemChat is scheduled for 5/9. See "Events" to sign up.

A small  but intense group discussed the problems (and joys) of implementing NGSS in the chemistry classroom. We discussed resources, especially for phenomena around which to craft curriculum and assessments.

• You can see a video of the Zoom here.
• You can access our folder of shared documents here.

See "Events" to register for the March ChemChat. 

14 chemists had a great discussion on "Using Everyday Reactions as Anchoring Phenomena."

You can watch a recording of the chat here.

You can access a folder of shared ideas here.

OCTOBER saw 15 people with a lively discussion on teaching heterogeneous classes. We shared many of the same struggles, and some useful tips were shared. The link to watch this ChemChat is here.

NOVEMBER saw 7 people talking about teaching EL and other language-challenged students. Massachusetts seems to be further along than other NE states in providing PD and support in this area.  The pros and cons of word banks, phone translators and other techniques were discussed. The link to watch this ChemChat is here.

DECEMBER saw 10 people discussing anchor demonstrations. A folder of shared ideas can be found here. Ideas using elephant's toothpaste, historical recreations of the work of Lavoisier and Dalton, dry ice, and others were shared. The link to watch this ChemChat is here.

The next ChemChat will be January 18th, 4-5 pm EST and the topic will be using everyday reactions to dive deep into chemistry. Registration is now open under Events. ChemChats are free to everyone: you do not need to be a member of NEACT to join in. [But please consider joining!]

The Northern Division meeting has been moved to March to accommodate two dynamic speakers: Anjana Iyer and Cathy Zavacki of Hillsborough High School in NJ. They will be presenting a two-night virtual program on kinesthetic chemistry: how to use getting your students up and moving to teach concepts and skills. More details will come later. I went to 2 workshops of theirs at ChemEd last summer: be prepared to get up out of your chair at home and move!

Here is the link to the Zoom recording of the first night: LINK.

- Sue Klemmer, Northern Division Chair