Search

Recurring academic laboratory accidents and a lack of consensus about the best approach to chemical safety culture education has led to the development of laboratory safety team (LST) programs at many research institutions in the United States. LSTs are collaborative groups that seek to improve the safety culture within a department or multiple departments. They usually consist of a partnership between departmental faculty, staff, and students and have the goal of providing concrete opportunities for all of these stakeholders to continuously improve safety practices within their department. These programs also offer a supplementary form of safety education that is designed to fit the specific culture and needs of each institution. As these programs have developed in a variety of institutions, best practices for forming and maintaining LSTs have begun to emerge. In order to better understand these best practices, we developed a pilot workshop for the 255th National American Chemical Society Meeting audience to provide attendees with the knowledge and resources to go back to their home institutions and establish LSTs or similar programs. To understand the effectiveness of this pilot workshop, we conducted a small survey of the attendees at the first presentation. Questionnaires before and after the workshop show that the workshop was well received overall. Participants became more confident in their ability to teach others about safety and gained an improved understanding of safety topics and resources. There is also evidence that the workshop changed participants perception on their own career values and their institution's values on laboratory safety. These results are promising and give us hope that programs such as this can be a useful platform for safety education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the chemistry enterprise as a whole has experienced a monumental shift in the way that it understands and approaches safety, both within society and as part of the science of chemistry. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has embraced this change and has committed to modelling it by incorporating "safety" into its core values. In early 2018, a Safety Summit involving stakeholders from across the chemistry enterprise was convened to consider strategies for "accelerating the adoption of an ethos of safety across the chemical enterprise". The summit resulted in a better understanding of the factors influencing the implementation of safe chemical practices, programs in progress to effect change in this area, and gaps where additional effort is needed. Opportunities were identified where the ACS could make a meaningful impact on chemical safety and which aligned with the goals of the Society. In this paper, we will describe how the ACS strategic plan addresses the chemical safety challenges in relation to both historical influences and the current environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General chemistry courses are often the foundation for the study of other science disciplines and upper-level chemistry concepts. Students who take introductory chemistry courses are more often from health and science-related fields than chemistry. As such, the content taught and assessed in general chemistry courses is envisioned as building blocks for concepts in other science courses and across many science disciplines. American Chemical Society (ACS) exams are developed by committees of expert chemists and serve as representative artifacts of content valued by the chemistry community. Before an exam is released, items developed by an examination committee undergo trial testing, and items deemed too easy, too hard, or not discriminating based on item statistics are removed. Analysis of content coverage from items on multiple released general chemistry ACS exams from the past decade and their associated unreleased trial tests revealed content areas where few exam items were written. Content coverage was analyzed by aligning exam items to the ACS Anchoring Concepts Content Map for General Chemistry. By comparing released and unreleased trial items, we found that many of the content coverage gaps on released exams are the result of a lack of items developed about these concepts. These conceptual holes warrant a discussion of whether what is being assessed is what is desired to be assessed and how curricular improvement and assessment reform efforts address content coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As you may be aware, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has adopted Safety into its Core Values. What does this mean to you? Are you prepared to lead the way in safety like you do the other aspects of your technical undertakings? It may mean thinking and acting differently as you go about your everyday activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemistry has served a unique historical role among the sciences by not only studying the world around us, but also creating the chemicals we study and use. The impacts of chemistry are accordingly more profound on earth and societal systems, and helping our students understand both the benefits and potential hazards of chemicals and chemical processes represents a core responsibility of chemistry education. Establishing an overarching learning outcome for chemistry courses presents a flexible approach for embracing the challenge posed by our unique history and catalyzing future contributions to society through the students we educate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high-quality assessments can be an intensive process. At the American Chemical Society Examinations Institute (ACS-EI), this follows a general process of test design and content mapping, item construction, trial testing, item analysis, and final test setting. The item analysis portion of this procedure is an important step in using field-testing results to select the best items. This selection is based on validity analysis by experts, both field-test users and test writers, and by students in field testing. The traditional item analysis of the ACS-EI now includes a differential item functioning analysis with subgroups by gender when a sufficient data set is available. The results of this analysis from six trial tests were further evaluated by both content and format. Trends of specific content areas and by format of items reveal that classes of items favored one subgroup over another in at least four instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biography is presented of Martha Whiteley, a British chemist and academic at the Imperial College in London, England in the early 20th century. Topics include her education, career as a chemistry teacher, editor, and researcher, and her promotion of equal treatment for women in the field of chemistry which included advocating the admission of women into the Fellowship of the Chemical Society.

The table of contents for the June 8, 2011 issue of the "Journal of the American Chemical Society" is presented.

The article offers news briefs related to chemical education in the U.S. A Web Seminar headed by John Moore and Lynn Diener will be held at the Chemical Education Digital Library (ChemEd DL) on July 1, 2009. The "Journal of Chemical Education" will participate in the ChemEd conference to be held in Virginia from August 2-6, 2009. William E. Synder has received the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Education Central Region Award for Excellence in High School Teaching.

The article offers information about the summer undergraduate research fellowships (SURF) program of the American Chemical Society's Division of Organic Chemistry. The fellowships are awarded to undergraduate organic chemistry students in the U.S. It is awarded on the merits of students' research proposals, academic records, faculty recommendation and the students' passion for laboratory science. The program provides financial support to the qualified recipients to visit an industrial campus.

The article presents the report of the Task Force on Hiring and Promotion in Chemical Education which concentrates on the professional status of chemical education faculty members. It reveals that the American Chemical Society (ACS) has given the task force the duty to produce a "white paper" that would provide guidance on professional expectations and responsibilities to the candidates for faculty positions. It also suggests future investigation focusing on the issues related to academic staff positions in chemical education. A table that shows the previous reports related to Chemical Education faculty, and the department and institution guide as well as the candidate guide are also presented.

The article examines the differences of the two versions of the American Chemical Society (ACS) 2002 standardized multiple-choice examination in first-semester general chemistry. According to the authors, both questions and answers were ordered differently in the blue and gray versions. They observe some version-dependent differences in student performance that seem to relate to the order of the answers. They add that performance on multiple-choice examination questions can depend strongly on the placement of questions and answers, with the answer order probably being the more important factor in the observations.

The article reports that the Committee on Professional Training (CPT) has approved the American Chemical Society (ACS) guidelines for the approval of undergraduate chemistry programs as a means for promoting excellence in chemistry education. The guidelines have been modified to reflect changes in chemistry and education. They highlight the curriculum for an ACS-certified degree, which consists of introductory course work, foundation work and in-depth course work to provide a deeper, specialized or multidisciplinary experience. Other details of the guidelines, including the goals, institutions, faculty and infrastructure requirements, are provided.

The article offers instructions for authors on their submissions for publication in the periodical "Environmental Science and Technology". Authors should read and adhere to the American Chemical Society's Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research. Authors are required to list all institutional affiliations, including industrial and corporate employments. They should also disclose financial interests or paid consultations relating to the subject matter. The contribution must be the original work of the author which was not previously published or simultaneously submitted to another publication.

The article presents information on the American Chemical Society's (ACS) March 2007 National Meeting held in Chicago, Illinois. It is reported that the ACS Division of Chemical Education Executive Committee Meeting discussed several reports including one by Glenn Crosby on the endowment for high school teacher regional awards. ACS President Katie Hunt reviewed her work on sustainability at the ACS Council Meeting.

The article offers news briefs concerning updates in chemistry and chemical societies in the U.S. The "Journal of Chemical Education" will feature topics concerning Earth Day in its February 2007 issue. Thomas A. Holme, director of the American Chemical Society, has received the 2006 Great Lakes regional Award for Volunteer Service. The College Chemistry Consultants Service is now housed within the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education to offer academic assistance to schools.

The article presents information on some of the activities of the American Chemical Society (ACS) division of chemical education. Richard Jones and Uni Susskind is appointed by the Executive Committee to the Board of Trustees of the Exams Institute. James Birk and Barbara Sitzman is appointed to the Board of Publication, which oversees the "Journal of Chemical Education" for the Division. The Executive Committee received a report on the activities of the CHED Task Force to produce a white paper on the hiring, promotion, and retention of chemical education faculty. The Task Force was established at the Spring 2005 ACS meeting. There will be presentations and discussions at the 2006 BCCE and Fall 2006 ACS meetings to address these issues. The Executive Committee also discussed the participation of its members in the larger conversation within ACS surrounding multidisciplinarity, which will become increasingly crucial for the ACS. The impact of multidisciplinarity in the training and employment of chemists has led to discussions about coursework.

Editorial. Discusses the publication of the 125th volume of the 'Journal of the American Chemical Society.' Growth of the journal in scientific publications; Journal editors; Schedule of events to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the journal.

Highlights several program and activities for the Division of Chemical Education (CHED) at the American Chemical Society 2001 National Meeting in San Diego, California. Venue of the CHED dinner; Schedules of various technical sessions and symposiums; General information about the city.

Reports the proceedings of a marathon of plenary sessions held during the 219th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Details on the lectures regarding innovations in biotechnology; Discussion on the challenges of chemical education in the 21st century; Format of the plenary sessions marathon.

This commentary briefly describes the creation and organizational structure of a new American Association of Chemistry Teachers, as well as the member benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the American Chemical Society-Examinations Institute (ACS-EI) Anchoring Concepts Content. Map (ACCM) for general chemistry. It mentions the processes involved in the construction of the ACCM. Moreover, it presents the four levels of ACCM, its philosophy and its uses.

The article reports on the guidelines issued by the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Committee on Professional Training (CPT) for the approval of undergraduate chemistry programs. It highlights the features of undergraduate research and the rigorous and excellent practices of the CPT. It details how the ACS Guidelines and CPT supplements support the important role played by a research-supportive curriculum in the development and training of chemistry students.

The article offers news briefs in the chemistry industry in the U.S. The American Chemical Society joined the annual celebration of the Earth Day. The 2011 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement for Teaching Chemistry will be held in November 2011. The National Science Foundation accepts nominations for the 2011 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

The article discusses the opportunity offered by the International Year of Chemistry (IYC) for academic chemists in the U.S. in 2011. It states that the IYC will promote the engagement of these professionals in precollege science education which is designed to achieve the objectives of the group. It also notes the country's agenda for K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

The article focuses on the methods to adopt the microscale and green chemistry in the U.S. The development of new experiments; the use of catalysts; and organizing talks, workshops and demonstrations are some of the methods to promote and adopt the green chemistry. The participation of students, the mass media, and the American Chemical Society (ACS) are encouraged for the success in disseminating knowledge on Chemistry.

The article focuses on the flame tests demonstrations using household materials by the American Chemical Society (ACS) local student group at Spring Arbor University in Michigan. It states that the activity aims to find out which ion causes the color using dilute muriatic acid, household ionic salts, and isopropyl alcohol. It talks about large-scale flame tests with household materials dissolved in water and alcohol mixtures, the chemistry of flame colors, and the birthday candles that produce colored flames. It also notes some insights regarding the elements that may have caused flame color.

The article offers new briefs related to the "Journal of Chemical Education (JCS)" and chemical societies. The February 2010 issue of JCS will feature the coverage of the Earth Day 2010. The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced the recipients for its 2010 national awards including Ron Seely. The Chemical Principles through Integrated Multiple Exemplars (ChemPRIME) gives a chance to scholars in chemistry fields and related sciences to work on the creation of an online chemistry textbook.

The article offers information on the presentations and designs in the creation of a periodic table on the 2009 American Chemical Society (ACS) National Chemistry Week. It mentions that the theme of the celebration titled "Chemistry-It's Elemental" celebrates the periodic table as an orderly as well as inspirational symbol of chemistry. Several ways on how to present information on the elements along with their properties are discussed.

The article offers updates related to the news and activities in the chemical education in the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, including small business award to Virent Energy Systems Inc., Greener Reaction Conditions Award to CEM Corp. as well as Academic Award to Krzysztof Matyjaszewski. American Chemical Society's (ACS) Division of Organic Chemistry hosted the Centennial Symposium during the 237th ACS National Meeting and Exposition to be held on August 18, 2008 in Philadelphia. ACS is pushing the Commemorative Stamp Petition to the Postal Service which urge to adopt chemistry as a theme for the 2011 commemorative stamp.

The article offers information on several courses, seminars, and meetings related to science and chemistry. The Division of Chemical Education Examinations Institute will move its summer 2008 office at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. A new online magazine titled "Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears," is now available for elementary teachers. The 2008 science history tour is headed to France, starting from Provence on June 18, 2008 to Paris on July 2, 2008. The American Chemical Society (ACS) will conduct summer workshops for high school chemistry teachers in the United States.

The article discusses the preparations made by educational institutions in the U.S. to prepare graduate school students for a life after school. According to the article, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Office of Graduate Education has launched the "Preparing a Life After Graduate School" (PfLAGS) program in order to provide career guidance to all doctoral students who still have no idea about industrial research. In addition, it states that the project wishes to uphold their aims of finding employment opportunities to students, defining careers for them as well as setting non-technical knowledge and skills to define one's career.

The article presents the ethical guidelines to the publication of chemical research. The guidelines embodied in the document were revised by the editors of the publications division of the American Chemical Society in January 2006. They include: ethical obligations of editors of scientific journals, ethical obligations of authors, ethical obligations of reviewers of manuscripts, ethical obligations of scientists publishing outside the scientific literature. The guidelines offered are understood and subscribed to by the majority of experienced research chemists.

The article presents information related to the developments in chemical education. Jon Holmes, software editor of the "Journal of Chemical Education" received the 11th Pirelli Internetional Award for chemistry in Rome, Italy. The Web-based journal "Astronomy Education Review" is celebrating its 5th anniversary. A chart depicting proposal deadlines of the U.S. National Science Foundation is also given. Information is given on the schedule of upcoming meetings of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the American Chemical Association (ACS).

The article presents the American Chemical Society's ethical guidelines for editors, authors, manuscript reviewers and other persons engaged in the publication of chemical research and scientific journals. It is the obligation of the editor to give unbiased consideration to all manuscripts offered for publication while it is the primary obligation of the author to present an accurate account of the research performed. It is the responsibility of the manuscript reviewer to judge the quality of the manuscript in an objective manner while it is the obligation of the scientist publishing outside the scientific literature to be accurate and unbiased in reporting observations.

The article presents information related to various developments and awards announced in the chemical industry in the United States. The software company JCE Software has released the Joy of Toys CD-ROM and has shipped to those who have placed orders. Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Brian P. Coppola, has been selected as the recipient of the 2006 James Flack Norris Award. The American Chemical Society has solicited nominations for 2008 ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry. A new award program, the HIST Citations for Chemical Breakthroughs, has been announced by the ACS Division of History of Chemistry (HIST).

The article presents ethical guide to publication of chemical research revised by the Editors of the Publications Division of the American Chemical Society in January 2000 in the U.S. The guide is discussed according to categories including ethical obligations of editors of scientific journals, ethical obligations of authors, ethical obligations of reviewers of manuscripts and ethical obligations of scientists publishing outside the scientific literature.

The article presents ethical guidelines to publication of the "Journal of Chemical Society." An editor should give unbiased consideration to all manuscripts offered for publication, judging each on its merits without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author. An author's central obligation is to present an accurate account of the research performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Fragmentation of research reports should be avoided. A scientist who has done extensive work on a system or group of related systems, should organize publication so that each report gives a well-rounded account of a particular aspect of the general study.

The article presents information on the scope and limitations of the editorial policy of the "Journal of the American Chemical Society." The "Journal of the American Chemical Society," (JACS) is published weekly and is devoted to the publication of fundamental research papers in all fields of chemistry. Articles, Communications, Book Reviews and Computer Software Reviews are published. Submission of a manuscript to JACS is contingent upon the agreement by all the authors that the reported work has not received prior publication and that no portion of this or any other closely related work is under consideration for publication elsewhere in any medium, including electronic journals, computer databases, and publicly accessible preprint Web sites.

This article briefly reports various news items, events, and announcements concerning the field of chemical research and education. The Journal of Chemical Education will, reportedly, join with the American Chemical Society (ACS) in celebrating Earth Day 2005 in the February issue of the journal. The theme of the 2005 issue is "Air--Here, There, Everywhere!," which will be reflected in articles and laboratory data that will be contained in the journal. It is further reported that Vernier Software & Technology and the National Science Teachers Association will provide seven awards, each valued at $3000, for educators who demonstrate innovative used of data-collection technology using a computer, graphing calculator, or other handheld device in the science classroom.

The article focuses on the invitational conference Exploring the Molecular Vision, organized by American Chemical Society Committee on Education, held in June 2003, designed to begin a discussion about the key concepts, factual knowledge and skills that students need for today's chemistry careers. The article summarizes the key findings and conclusions of these conferences. Conference participants identified several gaps between the content of current chemistry education and the practice of the discipline. The content of chemistry education does not reflect the trend towards integration of all sciences.

Surveys inorganic chemistry teachers in the United States to address questions in teaching undergraduate inorganic chemistry. Diversity of undergraduate inorganic programs; Comparison with the curriculum suggested by the Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society; Time allocated to inorganic chemistry.

Presents news items and announcements related to chemistry. The National Safety Council's integration of its internal databases along with researched online resources; Holding of the 2000 Eastern Analytical Symposium; Celebration of the 16th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education.

Presents a list of names and addresses of societies and trade associations that provides literature on polymers. Includes the American Society for Testing and Materials; Institute of Food Technologists; American Fiber Manufacturers Association Inc.