10 teachers joined me for a dynamic discussion oh how to rep for the AP exam.We also diverged for a bit on how to keep students engaged: clickers, group whiteboards, and Socrative were all recommended.

As for AP prep, we started with a presentation from Carlin Robinson on a free part of PIVOT. Here is her email. She can sign you up for a limited time free access to the AP test prep and lab materials.

We then discussed favorite online expert resources. So many good resources were mentioned that I have a link to the Chat so you can see everything that was posted. [We didn't end up putting anyting in thenususal google.drive folder.] The big names were Michael Farabaugh  (one place to start is here), Sue Briggs, Kristen Vanderveen and Bozeman Science. And of course the AP Central released test questions, found here.

Here is a link to the video of the Chat.

The next ChemChat will be held Thursday, April 9th from 4-5 pm EST. The topic is THERMODYNAMICS.

The remaining ChemChats for this school year will be May 7th (Phenomenon Based Chemistry, back by popular demand) and June 11th (send me a topic!). Then I take a break for July and restart in August.

Five teachers spanning the USA from CA to New England had a wide-ranging discussion of electrochemistry. You will find a lot of activity and information in the google folder here. The video of the ChemChat is here. And I am trying something new this month: here is a link to the ChemChat chat text. These "conversations" have links that can be useful. Let me know if you want this to continue (sklemmer@mac.com).

Highlights of the discussion included what activities gave the best "bang for the buck" when time is limited: we agreed some type of electrolysis is probably the best at getting multiple core concepts across. But we also looked at redox activities, galvanic cells, metal reactivity vs. standard potentials, and resourc es such as the ChemMatters archive of articles and APTeach.

Here are the upcoming ChemChats, all held on Zoom from 4:00-5:00 pm EST.

• March 12th: Prepping for the AP Test
• April 9th: Thermodynamics
• May 7th: Phenomenon-Based Chemistry
• June 11th: TBA

Stay warm, my fellow chemists -

Sue Klemmer, ChemChat facilitator

Four teachers joined me Jan. 7th to talk about their favorite demos. We started with a request for demonstrations on solubility and intermolecular forces, and variations of the "mix-water-and-alcohol" phenomenon were offered. Mixing the two in a small diameter glass tube showed  the most dramatic reduction in volume (fill half with water, then the other half with alcohol, cap and mix), while doing it in a graduated cylinder allowed a quantitative measurement of the reduction. We wondered how much difference in reduction would result from using different alcohols, and some suggested coloring the water. Also, it was was noted that adding salt would reconstitute separate alcohol and saltwater layers.

   We then touched on the reduction of copper oxide to copper (see Royal Society video here) and of malachite (see this Royal Society video) and noted a good manual on microscale gas experiments that includes "gassing copper" might still be around (Microscale Gas Chemistry by Mattson, Anderson and Mattson). The conversation also included favorite silver nitrate demos and a cool gas law demo: connect a small balloon and a big balloon with a stopcock. Predict what happens when you open the stopcock. Surprise! The gas from the small balloon rushes into the larger balloon. Hmmmm.

   Unfortunately I botched the video so this one is not available. Sigh.

The next ChemChat open discussion will be held Feb. 12th and the topic is "Electrochemistry". Registrations are open under "Events".

- Sue Klemmer, ChemChat facilitator

Ten teachers gathered to share ideas on what to do at the end of the year, when both focus and attendance can be low. 

Various "snow labs" started the discussion, and we all agreed it was important to avoid Christmas references in most schools in order to be inclusive.

The discussion then ranged into lots of different content areas, from playing with ice to absorbant polymers and saturated solutions to the distillation of wood. Multiple files can be found on this google.drive folder.

The Zoom recording can be found here.

The next ChemChat will be held on Thursday, January 8th from 4-5 pm. The topic is "favorite demonstrations". Registrations are open: see "Events".

At this point I am soliciting topics for February through June. You can send them to me at sklemmer@mac.com

Ten teachers had a very informative and lively discussion about AI in the Classroom, looking at both the teacher side and the student side. Two podcasts were recommended for those who want to explore this further: skills21.org/podcast has several, and PBS's Wonder of Science posted this one. There is also a rich diversity of resources in our google folder.

Want to watch the ChemChat? It is available on YouTube here.

Upcoming ChemChats:

• Dec. 11th 4 pm EST "Holiday Chemistry"
• Jan 8th 4 pm EST "Favorite Demonstrations (postponed from October)

Seven teachers joined me in a lively discussion of how to use google classroom and the google suite of products. We ended up not saving any resources to a folder, but you can go here to see a recording of the 'Chat.

A highlight of the discussion revolved around organization. Several system for organizing materials for students were tossed around, including folders and icons. It was noted that learning how to organize information, whether in real paper folders or some digital format, is a valuable soft skill that is unlikely to become outdated any time soon. YOu can find a YouTube recording of the 'Chat here.

A second highlight was Sean Regan's sharing of his conditional formating of google.drive spreadsheets to make interactive lessons. If you are a member of AACT ( highly recommended!) try this link to read an article on his work.

Registration for the Oct. 9th ChemChat on Favorite Demonstrations is now open in "Events". Note that ChemChats, unlike division workshops, are open to nonmembers of NEACT.

The remaining fall NEACT ChemChats are:

Oct 9th Favorite Demos

Nov. 13th AI in the Chem Classroom

Dec. 11th Holiday Chemistry (or What to I do when half the class has left for vacation?)

12 teachers had a lively discussion of real world chemistry. This piggybacked on the Summer Conference, which had the same theme. One resource that was mentioned a lot was AACT. Did you know that for members you can not only find activities and lessons, but also watch any of their webinars? AND they have all 33 years of ChemMatters articles, fully indexed. AACT is found at https://teachchemistry.org/.

This google.drive folder has a great lab on titrating yellow mustard, plus a very smelly lab, and one of the ChemMatters articles: The Crash of Flight 143, which crashed due to a dimensional analysis error.

The video of the ChemChat can be found here.

Please join us Sept. 11th for a look at the google suite of programs. Need help with google classroom or have a cool tip? We'll be online from 4-5 pm EST. See Events for registration.

4 teachers from NH, ME, MA, and Korea (yes, this brave soul got up at 5 am to join us!) held a wide-ranging discussion on June 12th. We started out sharing the realities of teaching in small schools, such as teaching in rooms not equipped for chemistry and with very limited equipment, and teaching 2 levels of chem at the same time in the same space.  We moved on to handling AP under these conditions and everyone agreed you do the best your can with what you've got. Can't do some of the labs? Then dig into other aspects of the curriculum such as good experimental analysis techniques or particle modeling. I did not record this session. Two resources that were mentioned during the 'Chat were Adrian Dingle's Chemistry Page for AP resources and the use of simple alcohol burners (like these on amazon) when gas is not available.

   ChemChats goes on break for July, but will be back on August 21st (a little later in the month than our usual 2nd Thursday) at 4 pm. A topic has not yet been chosen, but registration will be open shortly and when I have a topic I will amend the registration notice.

- Sue Klemmer, ChemChat moderator

ChemChats are a service NEACT offers freely to all chemistry teachers everywhere: nonmembers are welcome.

On May 7th eight teachers from Maine to Wisconsin had a lively conversation about "End of the Year Activities". You can find the Zoom recording here.

A variety of options were discussed, from extended labs and experimental projects to research opportunities to  deeper dives into curriculum topics not touched during the year. You can find some of these ideas in our resource folder on google.drive, uploaded here. (You can still add to this folder, too!)

The last ChemChat of the 2024-2025 school year will be held June 12th from 4:00-5:00 pm EST. The topic is "Summer Work for Students". Registration is now open in "Events".

Note that ChemChats will take a break in July. ChemChats will resume August 14th, Registration for that event will open July 1st (there will be an email that goes out to members). The tentative topic is "Beyond the Textbooks: Other Books for Chem Classes."

If i don't see you in June, have a wonderful end of your year,

Sue Klemmer, ChemChat moderator

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 "Summer Work for Students". Registration will open May 9th.