Describes a summer institute for elementary secondary science teachers held at the University of California, Irvine, which is designed to update and refine the scientific knowledge of the teachers and to build a scientific foundation for crossover teachers who are teaching without an adequate science background. (TW)

Provides a series of short articles about various uses of computers and courseware in teaching chemistry. Addresses topics such as a programming utility for animation, an organic synthesis program, a program for the allocation of organic qualitative analysis of unknowns, color images of molecules, and enhancing spreadsheet capabilities. (TW)

Urges chemistry teachers to have students annotate the chemical reactions in aqueous-solutions that they see in their textbooks and witness in the laboratory. Suggests this will help students recognize the reaction type more readily. Examples are given for gas formation, precipitate formation, redox interaction, acid-base interaction, and…

Describes a method designed to balance oxidation-reduction chemical equations. Outlines a method which is based on changes in the oxidation number that can be applied to both molecular reactions and ionic reactions. Provides examples and delineates the steps to follow for each type of equation balancing. (TW)

Discusses many of the distinctions that chemists draw between theoretical chemistry and descriptive chemistry, along with the tendency for chemical educators to adopt the type of chemistry they feel is most important to teach. Uses examples to argue that theoretical chemistry and descriptive chemistry are, at the bottom line, the same. (TW)

Proposes that preparative chemistry is an important and integral part of chemistry as a whole, and an excellent way to introduce students to descriptive chemistry. Provides an outline for students to follow for converting and transforming salts. Suggests a set of general guidelines for studying anion and cation transformations. (TW)

Outlines five simple and inexpensive methods for students to use in identifying unknown substances. Provides a table of general solubility data for ions, a suggested list of unknown substances that can be tested using the methods described, and some prelaboratory information. (TW)

Suggests ways to avoid some of the problems students have learning the principles of organometallic chemistry. Provides a description of an experiment used in a third-year college chemistry laboratory on molybdenum. (TW)

Discusses some difficulties presented by the use of clock reactions with large numbers of students in illustrating the determination of rate laws and the deduction of a mechanism. Suggests the videotaping of a clock reaction without narration to be used with students in stages so that observations can be recorded. (TW)

Lists the tests available in 1987 from the Examinations Institute of the American Chemical Society. Provides test results from the 1985 Inorganic Chemistry Test, the 1986 Advanced High School Chemistry Test, the 1986 Organic Chemistry Test, and the updated 1985 General-Organic-Biological Chemistry Test. (TW)

Discusses the need for compliance with state and federal regulations regarding the handling of hazardous wastes in college chemistry laboratories. Addresses: (1) waste determination; (2) facility requirements; (3) use of the manifest, vendor, transporter, site selection requirements, and training; (4) contingency planning; and (5) documentation.…

Examines the use of different terms in chemistry. Addresses the use of imprecise, uninformative, inappropriate, and wrong terms, as well as the lack of clarity in imprecise or uninformative names for methods of chemical analysis. Provides lists of examples of both types of terminology problems. (TW)

Summarizes some of the contributions to society made by women who have received the Garvan Medal. Addresses accomplishments in nutrition, industry, biochemistry, government, and group research projects. Includes anecdotal descriptions of some of the women made by colleges, authors, and students. (TW)

Describes a classroom experiment designed to teach students the fundamentals underlying the normal coordinate analysis procedure of a polyatomic molecule. Uses a reverse procedure from traditional experiments of this type by providing the values for the force field and working backwards. (TW)

Describes a simple way of obtaining a set of relative intensities of spin-spin splitting lines using Pascal's triangle rather than calculating binomial coefficients. Provides tables showing Pascal's triangle and the relative intensities of multiplets for a range of nuclear spins. (TW)