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Sunday workshops

  • Peak Potential: Affordable Solutions for Instructing Electrochemical Techniques - Explore electrochemistry and cyclic voltammetry with acetaminophen and children's tylenol. Even advanced students can struggle with electrochemistry, but with this approachable experiment, students can easily control and apply potential to a chemical system and measure the response as a current. In this workshop, develop strategies for teaching students how to assess a voltammogram and modify operational settings to improve data quality. 
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • K-12 - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Sunday, 28th July 08:30 AM-10:00 AM
    • Melissa Hill, mhill@vernier.com, Vernier

    • Laboratory based, Workshop 283, Cost $10

       

  • Experiential Chemistry: A hands-on laboratory-based course for non-majors - This workshop is a hands-on introduction to Experiential Chemistry, a course designed specifically for non-science majors. The approach used in this course reverses the traditional pattern of science education where early mastery of factual material is required before the students are allowed to explore the interesting problems. Students are first presented with a series of exciting experiments and are allowed to experience the excitement of chemistry. Unlike other non-majors course, Experiential Chemistry is taught exclusively in the laboratory, with no lecture component. This workshop will give participants a chance to explore many of the experiences developed for the course and to discuss how the course is implemented. Copies of the course text and other supporting materials will be provided.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Marc Richard, marc.richard@stockton.edu, Stockton University
    • Elizabeth Pollock, elizabeth.pollock@stockton.edu, Stockton University

    • Laboratory based, Workshop 111, Cost $10

       

  • Introduction to Integrating Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories - Green Chemistry is a framework that helps "minimize or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances" in chemical processes and products. It is our responsibility as instructors to educate our students with respect to green chemistry, sustainability, and environmental issues to prepare them as future members of the workforce and agents of change in the world. Importantly, this has recently been recognized in the new ACS Guidelines for Bachelor's Degree Programs as a critical requirement, whereby curricula must provide students with a working knowledge of the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry.
     
    This interactive half-day (3h) workshop is aimed towards laboratory instructors at two- and four-year undergraduate institutions teaching curricula in all areas of specialization. We will illustrate the connection between fundamental principles of green chemistry, safety, and traditional teaching laboratory protocols (further examples provided in the accompanying symposium, see below for details). Participants will gain an understanding of not only practical aspects of greening undergraduate labs, but also ways of modifying assessments and content to improve pedagogical aspects of laboratory learning to include more topics around green chemistry and broader sustainability concepts. Participants will then divide into small sub-discipline specific groups to share experiments currently used in their courses, and discuss possible modifications to their own lab manuals to make them "greener." After reflecting on current curricula, we will explore a number of useful resources for integrating theory into practice, such as the new online Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC). The workshop will conclude by creating personal action plans for implementing sustainable changes, both practically and pedagogically, to current experiments or potentially new experiments to be developed.
     
    This workshop complements the symposium entitled "Frontiers in Integrating Green Chemistry and Sustainability into the Teaching Laboratory," which will provide recent examples of "greener" teaching experiments.
     
  • ChemMatters: Building Curiosity and Encouraging Science Literacy - Looking for a new way of building your students' curiosity of the world around them? Or just to encourage them to read science and non-fiction? ChemMatters publishes four issues annually on topics such as frost, 3-D printing of food, and vaping, with high school level explanations of the relevant chemistry. In this workshop, we will explore the most recent ChemMatters issues from 2023-2024 and their related teaching aids to build a lesson plan that can be used during a specific learning module. We will explore different ways of incorporating the story and how to link it to course learning goals and reading initiatives across the curriculum.
     
    The workshop will begin with a brief mock lesson using one of the articles from the 2023-2024 production year. We will work through the lesson plans provided and then brainstorm about when might be a good time to introduce the topic. Working in groups, we will create lesson plans for other Quick-Read and feature articles. The focus will be on improving the facilitation of a lesson around a ChemMatters article that is designed to introduce, reinforce, or expand on a topic typically presented in high school, AP, or first year college chemistry courses.
     
    Attendees will receive a set of ChemMatters issues (2023-2024) and the lesson plans to accompany the feature articles for each issue. At the end of the workshop, participants will have prepared and, if time allows, piloted a lesson on a ChemMatters article with workshop participants. Ample time will be allowed for discussion and idea sharing.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 08:30 AM-10:00 AM.
    • Kelley Donaghy, k_donaghy@acs.org, American Chemical Society

    • Classroom based, Workshop 121, Cost $10

       

  • Activities to develop international standards for ethics in chemistry - In 2022, at the BCCE in Purdue, an initial workshop was conducted to begin the production of ethics examination items. This first workshop addressed the challenges to ACS and all chemical organizations about how to engage all members (from students to retired chemists) toward the construction of ethical policies for the profession. Participants at BCCE in Purdue (2022) began the development of an ethics exam that models after the ACS Anchoring Concepts Content Map (ACCM) model used for standardized examination development by the ACS Exam Institute. Since that time, assessment items were developed at Towson University to ascertain student mastery of ethical expectations in the chemistry profession. During this 2024 subsequent workshop, these items will be analyzed, and further development of questions will take place. During the 2024 workshop, input will be sought from diverse programs, and multiple levels of proposed examinations. These will be designed for testing aspects of validity and reliability during 2024, and results will be disseminated and used for expansion of curricular incorporation. Teaching of ethics throughout all levels of education should be connected to assessment of education materials and practices. This workshop will seek to connect assessment and pedagogy.
     
    • K-12 - Assessment and Research Methods
    • Sunday, 28th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Susan Schelble, sschelbl@msudenver.edu, Metropolitan State University of Denver
    • Kelly Elkins, kmelkins@towson.edu, Towson University

    • Classroom based, Workshop 78, Cost $10

       

  • Designing and implementing high-engagement collaborative group work activities in chemistry classrooms - Research in chemistry and science education indicates that students' active and interactive engagement in the learning process is critical to develop meaningful understandings. Nevertheless, our investigations suggest that chemistry instructors struggle to design and implement collaborative group work activities that cognitively and socially engage all students in productive discussions of central chemical concepts and ideas. In this workshop, we will analyze actual tasks and recordings or transcripts of students working in small groups to identify and apply criteria to design and implement collaborative group activities more effectively in chemistry classrooms.
     

    Learning Objectives

    By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to

    • Identify major challenges students face to productively engage, cognitively and socially, in collaborative group activities in college chemistry classrooms.
    • Apply design principles in developing tasks that support high cognitive and social engagement in collaborative group activities in chemistry courses.
    • Recognize implementation strategies that foster student cognitive and social engagement during in-class tasks.

    Major Workshop Activities

    1. Participants will work in small groups to apply criteria to evaluate the type, cognitive level, and modes of reasoning fostered by different types of classroom activities.
    2. Participants will work in small groups to analyze social processing and knowledge dynamics in collaborative groups in chemistry classrooms (video or transcript analysis).
    3. Participants will work in small groups designing and evaluating collaborative group activities that foster high cognitive and social engagement.
    4. Participants will collectively discuss strategies to guide and support student work during designed activities.
    5. College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
  • Sunday, 28th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
  • Renee Cole, renee-cole@uiowa.edu, University of Iowa
  • Gregory Rushton, grushton@mtsu.edu, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Vicente Talanquer, vicente@arizona.edu, University of Arizona

  • Classroom based, Workshop 67, Cost $10

     

  • Cultivating Inclusivity and Equity in the Classroom - Despite increased numbers of underrepresented students enrolling in STEM majors over the past decade, there remains a significant attrition gap. Less than half of students who enter STEM majors at freshmen level complete degrees in these areas, and STEM students from minority groups, low-income, and first-generation college backgrounds graduate at nearly half the overall rate. A 2019 study specifically examined factors contributing to persistence in STEM majors and found that instructor pedagogy and curriculum design were two of the top factors. A large body of research supports the benefits of inclusive curricular and pedagogical practices for not only historically underrepresented students, but for all students. In terms of pedagogy, the choice of specific activities and methods of instruction in a classroom has been shown to impact students' sense of belonging and self-efficacy, particularly for underrepresented students. Barriers to student learning shown to arise from pedagogical choices include stereotype threat and microaggressions, which impact underrepresented students' grades, sense of belonging, and motivation to persist in STEM fields.
     
    In this workshop, we will discuss how pedagogical choices can introduce barriers in the classroom and identify some of the barriers our students face. We will provide examples and resources of how faculty can support their students through inclusive and equitable classroom practices. The workshop attendees will develop approaches they can use in their own chemistry classrooms to support their students. Opportunities to share ideas and provide constructive feedback with other workshop attendees will be included. Due to the collaborative nature, attendees are asked to bring their own electronic device, such as a laptop or tablet.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Andrea Carter, aacarter@meredith.edu, Meredith College
    • Alexandra Ormond, ormonda@meredith.edu, Meredith College

    • Classroom based, Workshop 207, Cost $10

       

  • Moving Students From Description to Explanation with VisChem - Participants will experience the VisChem Approach. This approach uses carefully produced, dynamic particle-level animations, combined with constructivist teaching strategies, all informed by a cognitive learning model and the latest research on learning through multimedia, to foster conceptual understanding of chemistry. A key strategy of the approach is refinement of the learners’ internal visualizations using storyboards (drawings with explanation) of chemical and physical changes. Educational research has repeatedly shown that use of particle-level models is vital to building student understanding of reactions in solution. Participants will get access to a suite of VisChem resources during the workshop (animations and storyboard templates) and will be able to download them and use them indefinitely. The workshop builds teacher expertise in pedagogy that simultaneously implements molecular-level models and addresses the cognitive challenges of molecular visualizations. It supports teacher learning to help move students from phenomena description to explanation to deepen conceptual understanding in alignment with the NGSS. VisChem is aligned with the follow NGSS SEPs: developing & using models and constructing explanations; and critical disciplinary core ideas: matter & its interactions, motion & stability: forces & interactions, and energy.

    Learning outcomes:
     

    1. Use the particulate level to explain core chemistry concepts; relate these explanations to macroscopic phenomena, symbolic representations (formulas, equations), and mathematical relationships (e.g., concentration as a crowding of particles in a given volume of solution represented as c = n/V).
    2. Identify the limitations of dynamic molecular models generally (and specifically VisChem animations) and recognize how limitations influence student thinking and generate inaccurate ideas.
    3. Experience VisChem tools (e.g., frames from animations, static models, sample drawings and graphics) and strategies (e.g., peer discussion, storyboarding, attention focusing, segmenting) in a learner role.

    4. Begin to plan how to implement VisChem animations and the VisChem Approach in your classroom.

       

    • K-12 - Professional Development
    • Sunday, 28th July, 08:30 AM-04:15 PM
    • Ellen Yezierski, yeziere@miamioh.edu, Miami University
    • Roy Tasker, roytasker@icloud.com, Western Sydney University

    • Classroom based, Workshop 302, Cost $10

       

  • Teaching Essential Chemistry Content Through Demonstrations - It is often difficult to decide what demonstrations to use to support your instruction and excite students. The hundreds of classroom resources available in the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) resource library can help you plan demos to support the units you teach. In addition, many include the idea of modeling. Attendees will learn about engaging AACT demonstrations and walk away with resources to use with their students.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     

    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM,
    • Jeramy DeBry, j_debry@acs.org, aact
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 55, Cost $10

     

  • Play It to Remember It; Effective Activities to Engage Student Learning - In this workshop, participants will engage in concept activities which focus on areas where students have more difficulty. Students are able to use the hands-on strategies which address curriculum outcomes in a different way to support diverse learning needs. Students are not judged by errors they make but they are encouraged to discuss their ideas with peers and the teacher. They make informed decisions as they play independently, in small groups, or with the entire class. Students play without the stress of summative assessment.Templates, game cards/rules, cardsorts, overviews, review mats, 3-D printing files, laser-cut files, and more resources are available for download for FREE at playeducateinspire.pbworks.com.
     

    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM
    • Peggy Au, mpau@cbe.ab.ca, Calgary Board of Education
    • Classroom based, Workshop 134, Cost $10

     

  • Teaching Essential Chemistry Content Through Demonstrations - It is often difficult to decide what demonstrations to use to support your instruction and excite students. The hundreds of classroom resources available in the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) resource library can help you plan demos to support the units you teach. In addition, many include the idea of modeling. Attendees will learn about engaging AACT demonstrations and walk away with resources to use with their students.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
    • Jeramy DeBry, j_debry@acs.org, aact

    • Laboratory based, Workshop 968, Cost $10

       

  • Collaborative Huddle Engaging Magnification: CHEM - In this workshop, participants can learn ways to engage students in the chemistry laboratory using team-based collaborative learning practices. Participants will be actively participating in teams in which each member who attends this workshop will be divided into teams of 3 to 4 people per team. Teams will write a mini contract that will govern how the team will function during this session. Participates will be engaged in a mini-experiment using household goods to actively explore team-based collaborative learning laboratory techniques in chemistry. The team will decide who will take on the roles of team captain, research assistant, chief recorder, and clean-up artist. In this laboratory model, members experience self-management, effective communication, and leadership skills. Each position has specific tasks within the experiments and lab reports [along with other duties as assigned by the team captain or instructor]. Participants will experience a protocol written like while X happens Y needs to happen to provide every member a chance to contribute the overall experiment and complete the experiment within the workshop period. Throughout the experiment, participants will have team meetings and debriefing meetings to gather data from other members of the team and help each other learn what everyone did in the experiment. I believe this overall model design in which every student has specific jobs to advance the overall experiment can even be applied to any form of a team, including pairs. Because of the wide-spread potential adaptability, I hope to be able to share what I have accomplished in my 20 years of chemistry laboratory teaching using this method.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 01:00 PM-04:15 PM
    • Kameyo Johnson, ochem_tutor@yahoo.com, University of Pikeville
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 115, Cost $10

 

  • Using Pipet Bulb Rockets to Introduce Stoichiometry - Participants will generate oxygen gas and hydrogen gas using an inexpensive microscale setup. The oxygen and hydrogen gases are collected in a disposable pipet bulb with three different hydrogen:oxygen ratios (1:2; 1:1; 2:1). Using a charcoal lighter fitted with stereo wire, participants are able to deliver an energy of activation into the reaction chamber (pipet bulb). Participants determine the best empirical ratio for converting chemical energy into heat. When less than optimal stoichiometry is tested energy is lost in the forms of sound and light.The activity covers eight National Science Standards. Students love the activity. They feel like real chemists as they generate oxygen gas by decomposing 3% hydrogen peroxide with manganese metal chips as a catalyst. They produce hydrogen in a single displacement reaction with mossy zinc and 1.0 M hydrochloric acid. Participants learn how to collect gas reaction products. They see how potential energy is contained in the reactants until an energy of activation is introduced. In my class, students are graded based on the flight distance of their pipet rocket. They are able to repeat tests using different reactant ratios and different amounts of water in the pre-flight rocket until they are ready for their graded demonstration.
     
    Participants should bring a pair of safety glasses/goggles and an empty charcoal lighter if they have one.
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 01:00 PM-02:30 PM
    • Bean Burr, chs_burrb@hotmail.com, National Science Teachers Association
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 107, Cost $10

 

  • Assessment of Impacts of Green Chemistry Curriculum - New ACS Guidelines for Bachelor's Degree Programs advocate for integrating green chemistry into university chemistry courses. However, assessing students' understanding of these principles remains challenging due to a lack of established tools. This workshop aims to assist green chemistry educators with assessing students' cognitive and affective outcomes.
     
    The workshops will start with an introduction to backward design. Participants will learn the three stages of backward design: i) identify desired results, ii) determine acceptable evidence, and iii) plan learning experiences. The first part of this workshop will focus on two different approaches to capture changes in students' knowledge - using multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Specific attention will be paid to using case comparison prompts to assess students' knowledge of green chemistry principles. In these prompts, two reaction alternatives were presented, and students were asked to identify which of the two reactions would be the "greener" option and explain their reasoning. 
     
    The second part of the workshop will focus on assessing affective outcomes related to green chemistry education. Green chemistry's relevance to real-world problems could motivate students toward chemistry. Therefore, theory-based instruments will be used to collect student responses to examine the effects of green chemistry projects on students’ affective outcomes, such as self-efficacy, attitudes, hope, meaningful learning, etc.
     
    The workshop will cover an introduction to measurement, research designs (pre-/post-test, treatment/control, multiple groups), measurement alignment with constructs of interest, data collection practices, data analysis, and reporting. The participants will be given templates for administering assessment instruments and examples of appropriate narratives to convey the assessment part of their curriculum innovations.
     
    • College and University - Assessment and Research Methods
    • Sunday, 28th July, 01:00 PM-04:15 PM
    • Alexey Leontyev, alexey.leontyev@ndsu.edu, North Dakota State University
    • Yujuan Liu, y.liu@csus.edu, California State University Sacramento
    • Classroom based, Workshop 127, Cost $10

 

  • It's All Fun and Games When Everyone Learns! - Come see for yourself how chemistry games can help your students learn in an engaging, meaningful, and fun way. Try your hand at "Elements Bingo", "Go Fish - Nomenclature Edition", "Chemistry Battleship", "The Trends Game", "Concentration - The Molecular Geometry Edition", "Chemistry Jeopardy", "Carbonyl Memory", and others. Also learn about how to incorporate these and other learning activities into your classroom. Winners will receive prizes!
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 01:00 PM-04:15 PM
    • Barbara van Kuiken, barbara.vankuiken@svu.edu, Southern Virginia University / UnderstandingChem
    • Classroom based, Workshop 69, Cost $15

 

  • Food in the Chemistry Class - Exploring Chemistry through Food makes science fun and approachable to a student while providing an endless array of everyday examples to teach chemical concepts. This mini-workshop will provide the participants with hands-on activities, demonstrations, discovery-based lessons, and small experiments that will focus on chemical transformations using food. Basic chemical concepts such as solution effects, pH, gas laws, reaction rates, nature of heat & energy will be explored in addition to fun molecular gastronomy techniques that will excite faculty and students alike. Participants will take home classroom and laboratory activities that have been tested and can be plugged into their chemistry courses.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 01:00 PM-04:15 PM
    • Sunil Malapati, sunil.malapati@clarke.edu, Clarke University
    • Elizabeth Pollock, elizabeth.pollock@stockton.edu, Stockton University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 157, Cost $10

 

  • REAL Chemistry: Relevant, Equitable, Active Learning Courseware for General Chemistry - Join us to learn about REAL Chemistry, an innovative courseware jointly developed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Arizona State University (ASU). REAL Chemistry is a data-driven, equity-centered, and evidence-based solution designed for a comprehensive General Chemistry curriculum. Leveraging the successful models of CMU's OLI General Chemistry and ASU's Critical Chemistry, this courseware is optimized for hybrid instruction. It incorporates active online lessons, formative assessments, personalized practice, and a rich collection of in-class activities.
     

    • Set up their courses using REAL Chemistry materials.
    • Tailor the content to align with your syllabus and course structures.
    • Effectively utilize the student dashboard to track student progress and inform classroom instruction.
    • Leverage the collection of in-class activities for engaging teaching experiences.
    • Collaborate with peers to exchange insights and implementation strategies.
    • Set up your own research studies within the courseware.

    Our objective is to equip instructors with the knowledge and tools needed to confidently incorporate REAL Chemistry into their Fall 2024 courses, and assist colleagues in doing the same. Please bring your laptop to actively explore this transformative, data-guided, and inclusive approach to General Chemistry instruction.
     

 

  • Building a kinetics unit plan using American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) resources - Building a new unit plan for chemistry can be a difficult undertaking when you need to create direct instruction, practice problems, classroom demonstrations, student activities, and chemical experiments. The classroom resources available on the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) website can help you find all the materials you need to create unit plans. Come learn how to put together a successful kinetics unit plan using the lessons, activities, labs, demonstrations, projects, videos, and animations that are available on the AACT website.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     

 

  • Manipulatives for Chemistry: Helping Kids See - Teaching students with manipulatives facilitates success, but don't overthink the model used. Hole punch circles, paperclips, dice, and cutouts all help students see chemistry better. It doesn't have to be fancy. Come see a high school chemistry teacher's "tricks of the trade" used in her classroom to help students grasp concepts successfully.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Sunday, 28th July, 02:45 PM-04:15 PM
    • Maricar Harris, mharris@wcsks.com, Wichita Collegiate School

    • Classroom based, Workshop 154, Cost $10

       

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Monday workshops

  • Reimagining Introductory Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum: Skills-Based, Competency-Focused Lab Curriculum - Traditional introductory chemistry laboratory curriculum comes in many shapes and forms. Most of them focus on verification of a particular theory or phenomenon found in the lecture course. While there is an inherent value in such experience, the disjointed nature of topics covered in the lab lends itself to cursory exposure to chemistry lab skills at best. Reimagining a curriculum involves taking a pause and asking questions regarding the role of each laboratory course in the broader chemistry curriculum. What if a laboratory curriculum existed to train students with fundamental laboratory techniques, rather than being a service component to a lecture course? How does a laboratory curriculum in STEM provide an opportunity for the underserved population to gain confidence in their skills? This workshop will probe the questions by reimagining the introductory chemistry laboratory curriculum by implementing skills-based, competency-focused laboratory curriculum. Through presentation and discussion of existing models of curriculum design, participants will work in groups to come up with a lab curriculum development scheme or topic-based outlines and assessments to begin the transformation in their introductory laboratory curriculum. This workshop will apply principles of designing outcomes-centered course from Zakrajsek and Nilson's book Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors (2023) and principles of backward design from Wiggins and McTighe's book Understanding by Design (2006). In addition, a special attention will be given to designing an inclusive and equitable laboratory curriculum by examining the students we serve in the curriculum.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Sean Mo, sean.j.mo.101010@gmail.com, Oxford College of Emory University
    • Simba Nkomo, simba.nkomo@emory.edu, Oxford College of Emory University
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 232, Cost $10

 

  • Centering High School Chemistry Class on Making Sense of Phenomena - Chemistry, under the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), should focus on helping students make sense of the world by connecting molecular behavior to observable events. This presents significant challenges, as atoms and molecules are far removed from experience and behave in ways that are difficult to intuit from macroscopic experience alone. By carefully orienting class work toward constructing and refining causal accounts for phenomena, the learning environment can bound student sensemaking and support students' use of science and engineering practices. This workshop will engage participants in reflecting on pedagogical tools and practices supportive of student molecular-level sensemaking. The following question will guide our discussion:Workshop participants will focus on answering our focal question for their own institutional settings. Teachers in attendance will have the opportunity to experience perplexing phenomena, construct questions about how and why those phenomena occur, and work as a community to make sense of what they observed. Participants will further have the opportunity to reflect on how they would enact analogous phenomena-centered lessons in their local context. Throughout the workshop, teachers will have the opportunity to work with materials developed for a NGSS-aligned, transformed chemistry curriculum including formative assessments, teacher guides, and student guides.  
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • K-12 - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Monday, 29th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Brie Bradshaw, babradshaw@wisc.edu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Adam Schafer, schafera@uww.edu, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
    • Lindsay Wells, lbwells2@wisc.edu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Emily Adams, ejadams5@wisc.edu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Ryan Stowe, rstowe2@wisc.edu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 186, Cost $10

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Fundamentals of POGIL - This session is designed for those with limited or no previous exposure to POGIL. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in POGIL activities, observe facilitation strategies firsthand, learn about POGIL classroom implementation, and discuss common barriers to implementation. After attending this session, participants will be able to: (1) name essential elements of POGIL pedagogy and philosophy, (2) list student learning outcomes supported in a POGIL classroom, and (3) create plans to begin implementation of POGIL in their own classrooms.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Laura Parmentier, parmentr@beloit.edu, Beloit College
    • Joan Roque, joanevaliz@yahoo.com, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
    • Classroom based, Workshop 179, Cost $10

 

  • Inclusive first day and syllabus tips - Learn how to make a good first impression with your students. How can you demonstrate your intention to be inclusive to your students from day one? How can your syllabus communicate inclusivity? Learn about a range of techniques used to design your course and your syllabus with student success in mind. Come to this workshop with your syllabus and review it with DEIR professionals. It is sure to be an eye-opening experience, even for those of us who always intend to be inclusive with our students. In addition to syllabus exploration and revision, we will share several examples of first-day activities that can help you set the tone for DEIR in your course.
     

 

  • From pedagogical research to classroom implementation - During the last few decades, active learning is universally accepted as better pedagogy than traditional lectures in the research community. However, the lecture remains dominant form of teaching in STEM (75%). The success of the pedagogy depends on the implementation by the instructor. The unsatisfactory results in the classroom by an instructor may due to poor implementation of the research proven pedagogy. 
     
    This workshop will provide guidance and tools to help instructors to implement active learning pedagogical methods such as flipped classroom, Just-In-time Teaching, and peer instruction. The audiences are general chemistry instructors and high school chemistry teachers. STEM instructors can also attend. They are expected to start their own active learning practice after the workshop right away.The first part of the workshop will demonstrate how to use the existing general chemistry curriculum at OfCourseClassroom.com to implement the active learning. The second part of the workshop will train the attendees to create their own customized curriculum for general chemistry or other STEM courses.
     
    Participants will need to bring their own laptop to this workshop.
     
    • College & University
    • Monday, 29th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Jack Huang, jhuang@ju.edu, Jacksonville University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 153, Cost $10

 

  • Transforming Chemistry Education: The Power of Personification, Storytelling, and Inclusivity - As I started teaching 7th grade Physical Science 23 years ago, I had these questions:
     

    • How can we challenge the notion of memorization in Chemistry?
    • How can we create images and stories that portray science concepts in our classrooms?
    • How can we encourage girls in STEM from the grassroots level?
    • What can we do to make the learning environment interdisciplinary, equitable and inclusive?

    To ignite student interest, I personified elements, turning them into vibrant characters with unique traits and stories reflecting their properties. Visual imagery and storytelling brought chemistry to life, replacing memorization with curiosity. This approach birthed "The Magical Periodic Table and the Element Girls" book series and the "Atom's Adventure Stories" youtube educational videos, empowering students to enjoy learning Chemistry. The goal is to share these transformative ideas and activities with educators, revolutionizing Chemistry education for all. Participants will engage in hands-on activities designed to explore innovative methods for teaching chemistry, focusing on challenging memorization, incorporating visual imagery and storytelling, promoting inclusivity in STEM, and creating an interdisciplinary learning environment.
     

    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 08:30 AM-10:00 AM
    • Rajasree Swaminathan, raji.swaminathan@harker.org, The Harker School
    • Classroom based, Workshop 272, Cost $10

 

  • Computational Chemistry in Your Learning Space - Implementing computational chemistry in undergraduate and high school learning spaces remains challenging and nontrivial for chemical educators at all levels. This workshop aims to remove barriers and empower participants with the tools and experience they need to integrate computational chemistry activities into their learning space. Through computer-based demonstrations and hands-on activities using WebMO, participants learn how to incorporate computational activities into their curriculum. WebMO is a free/low cost, web-based interface for performing computational chemistry calculations without the need for additional computer hardware or software. Workshop facilitators provide participants with example activities ready for use in high school and undergraduate chemistry courses, including exercises for each chemical  subfield (organic, physical, inorganic, etc.). Emphasis is placed on system setup, submitting computations, along with interpreting and visualizing results. In addition, practical issues related to working with computation are addressed. A question/answer period with MoleCVUE experts is included.
     
    Participants are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop or a smartphone.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Monday, 29th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Jason Sonnenberg, jasons@wolframalpha.com, Wolfram|Alpha LLC
    • Angela Migues, angela.migues@oneonta.edu, SUNY Oneonta
    • Classroom based, Workshop 224, Cost $10

 

  • Fueling Education Transformation: The Dynamic Chemistry of Community-Based Learning - Community-based learning (CBL) or Service Learning (SL) represents a pedagogical approach employed within the classroom setting, wherein students engage with a community partner possessing specific needs, issues, or problems to augment their academic learning and civic engagement. This experiential learning fosters the development of students' process skills and deepens their grasp of course content, culminating in a reflective component. It also provides opportunities for students to engage with a wide range of individuals and societal issues, foster empathy, and equip them with the skills and mindset to actively contribute to a more diverse and inclusive society. 
     
    In this workshop, we aim to accomplish the following objectives: 
    1) Articulate the concept of community-based learning or service learning and elucidate best practices, exemplified by the Chemistry for the Community (CFTC) curriculum. 
    2) Evaluate examples of CBL implementation across a diverse group of academic institutions. 
    3) Guide participants through the initiation of CBL for their courses by articulating student learning outcomes and completing a community asset mapping.
    4) Facilitate the development of a comprehensive CBL plan that will be subject to a peer review process grounded in CFTC best practices. 
    By the conclusion of this workshop, chemistry educators will have acquired a well-structured plan, fortified by constructive feedback, enabling the effective implementation of the CBL project within their classroom and institution. 
     

 

  • Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry Education: Strategies for Enhancing Higher Ed Learning - This interactive workshop will delve into the practical application of AI systems in higher education chemistry classrooms. Participants will engage with the latest AI tools designed to revolutionize the traditional learning environment. Trough hands-on demonstrations and collaborative discussions, educators will learn how to effectively integrate AI into their curricula to enhance student engagement, streamline assessment, and facilitate a deeper understanding of complex chemical concepts. The workshop will also address the pedagogical strategies for blending AI with traditional teaching methods to ensure that the human element of education remains at the forefront. Attendees will leave equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement AI in their classrooms in a way that is ethical, accessible, and designed to meet the diverse needs of learners.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Monday, 29th July, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM
    • Corey Beck, beckc1@ohio.edu, Ohio University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 162, Cost $10

 

  • Digital Learning Strategies for K-12 Chemistry Classrooms - Are you looking for a way to make digital learning impactful and focused on creation? This workshop will highlight creative innovative digital projects using H5P instructional technology. Attendees will create digital interactives that can be used for classroom or distance learning instruction. Digital flip cards, image sequencing, a memory game, and digital books can be easily integrated into Canvas, Brightspace, Moodle and Wordpress sites. Teachers can use these interactives as stand alone activities in their classroom. This session is about creation for educators and students to take digital learning to the next level. Learning becomes interactive, memorable and fun with this session. Teachers will walk away with the knowledge on how to create their own digital interactive learning tools.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July,10:15 AM-11:45 AM
    • Dorothy Holley, holley6009@aol.com, West Johnston High School
    • Classroom based, Workshop 294, Cost $10

 

  • American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) Resources for AP Chemistry - The American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) has a large and varied collection of online resources available for teaching AP Chemistry, and they all have been aligned to the topics and learning objectives by the new College Board CED. Join us and explore the collection of lesson plans, labs, demonstrations, and multimedia resources, along with articles from Chemistry Solutions, AACT's online periodical and access to our expanding webinar archive.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-03:30 PM
    • Jeramy DeBry, j_debry@acs.org, AACT
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 104, Cost $10

 

  • Empowering Tomorrow's Molecule Innovators: Design Thinking, Sustainable Solar Cells, and Digital Molecule Making Workshop - The Molecule Maker Lab Institute (MMLI) at the University of Illinois is revolutionizing chemistry education by combining AI, block-based chemistry, and automated molecule synthesis. The result of a partnership between MMLI and the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Digital Molecule Maker (DMM) is a web interface that enables researchers to share their chemical building-blocks for exploration by students. Learners can then experiment by combining these blocks and receive dynamic feedback on the properties of the molecules they create. The DMM encourages a problem-solving approach to molecular synthesis and allows students to contribute to ongoing research.
     
    In this workshop, educators can explore the latest version of the DMM and engage in hands-on activities designed for secondary science classrooms. These activities include block sets that delve into topics like light absorption, color perception, and the chemistry of organic photovoltaics. MMLI employs a human-centered design (HCD) approach to empower students as molecular innovators, enabling them to interact with the material effectively.
     
    Participants will discover how to leverage digital and physical tools and incorporate HCD to provide a student-driven learning experience. They can guide students through a sequence that explores colors and light absorption, utilizing AI predictions to create novel molecules. Furthermore, educators will learn how to apply these tools and knowledge in the creation of homemade solar cells, making informed choices about areas to test and new predictions to explore. Participants can bring their own devices to explore on their own or follow along on the main screen. This workshop offers a unique opportunity to engage students in cutting-edge chemistry education that combines technology, design, and innovation.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • K-12 - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • James Planey, planey@illinois.edu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Sabrina Abdulla, abdulla3@illinois.edu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Nolan Green, nmgreen2@illinois.edu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Rachel Switzky, rswitzky@illinois.edu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 216, Cost $10

 

  • Beyond canceling: Developing authentic proportional reasoning in chemistry - Proportional reasoning is a common challenge for students in chemistry. All too often it is taught algorithmically to help students find success in answering problems, but it does not produce a deep understanding of chemistry. Yet, proportional reasoning is an important skill not only in chemistry but also common to many of life's quantitative questions.
     
    We will give practical demonstrations and applications of proportional reasoning for essential properties of matter found in a high school or introductory college chemistry class. The reasoning will be explored through multiple representations such as visual/diagrammatic, graphical, verbal, and mathematical to help give students multiple tools to help them develop stronger reasoning skills.
     
    This workshop is geared toward both high school and college instructors who are interested in providing a unified approach to developing quantitative problem-solving skills based in proportional reasoning rather than a formulaic method. Participants will leave with strategies that can be applied to common concepts in introductory chemistry, a set of pedagogical tools for teaching better mathematical reasoning, and content-specific examples with coordinated representations of proportional relationships.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     

 

  • A "Micro-Scale" Community of Practice for Promoting Student Engagement in General Chemistry: Discuss, Dream, Develop, and Practice - A Community of Practice (CoP) invites people to gather and grow together around a shared passion. While the chemistry community already contains many CoPs with varying purposes and modalities, this workshop will leverage the CoP framework to support educators as they seek to promote student engagement within General Chemistry and other introductory chemistry courses. In this workshop, participants will engage in a "micro-scale" CoP to collaborate on the development of 1-2 targeted in-class activities, pedagogical strategies, or other student-focused interventions. This experience is intended to not only guide participants as they develop community and practical strategies but also serve to foster future CoP opportunities to support thriving chemistry educators.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PMf
    • Jill Ellenbarger, jellenbarger@jbu.edu, John Brown University
    • Tricia Hahn, thahn@jbu.edu, John Brown University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 63, Cost $10

 

  • A Day in the Life of an Academic: Case Studies in Support of Your Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Belonging Work - Increasing diversity and creating inclusive and equitable teaching and research cultures in higher education has become an imperative for campuses and academic disciplines. DEI-centered practices and policies are slowly transforming environs, services, and support structures offered by our institutions. At the nucleus of this change are individuals - students, faculty and staff - who are called to embrace DEI and belonging within the fabric of their daily work and spheres of influence.
     
    In favor of bottom-up change and the development of individual's expertise as inclusive scholars, this workshop offers a series of case studies, supported by references to the primary literature, that highlight DEI within the context of daily academic practices. Workshop topics will include: fostering equitable/inclusive meeting practices, creating accessible learning environments, mentoring students, cultivating community and positive cultures in your department, and managing/supporting/challenging other's expectations around DEI and belonging. Time will be allocated for participants to reflect on effective practices in DEI leadership and to develop specific plans for modifying the case studies for use at their home institutions.
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Anne Baranger, abaranger@berkeley.edu, University of California, Berkeley
    • Stacey Brydges, sbrydges@ucsd.edu, University of California, San Diego
    • Tracy McGill, tmorkin@emory.edu, Emory University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 189, Cost $10

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Real-world Context and POGIL - Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) activities have been used in a wide range of courses across many disciplines. While the activities themselves are designed to engage students in the learning process, sometimes the activity content does not engage the students. One approach to help engage students is to show them the relevance of the content. Real-world context can be incorporated into models and/or used in the application of the content. Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to work through a sample activity, will be introduced to different approaches to incorporate real-world context and will be given time to brainstorm how real-world context could be used in their own discipline. how these activities might be incorporated into a general chemistry curriculum.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Daniel King, dk68@drexel.edu, Drexel University
    • Charity Lovitt, lovittc@uw.edu, University of Washington Bothell
    • Classroom based, Workshop 180, Cost $10

 

  • A Chemical Inquiry: Let's Master Equilibrium! - Chemical equilibrium is a central topic to the understanding of both Chemistry and Biology-yet students have many misconceptions. The NGSS standard HS PS1-6 covers this important topic. In a recent AP Chemistry Exam, the vast majority of students did poorly on the topic and had misconceptions about equilibrium-73 % of the students received a zero or had no response to the equilibrium question. Students are most familiar with equilibrium problems and experiments where the K value is small-usually less than 1. Exam questions dealing with a large K value cause the majority of students to do poorly. In this presentation, participants will take part in a "hands on" inquiry activity with a equilibrium having a large K value. Participants will learn methods to overcome student misconceptions of equilibrium. Join this workshop to take an inquiry lab back to use in your classroom. Handouts will be provided. There will be time allotted for participant questions.
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-03:30 PM
    • Greg Dodd, gbdodd@gmail.com, George Washington High School (retired)
    • Classroom based, Workshop 150, Cost $10

 

  • Teaming up with undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) to foster active and inclusive chemistry learning environments - In the Learning Assistant (LA) model, faculty include undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) on their instructional teams in order to facilitate active learning and to foster inclusive learning environments. During weekly instructional team meetings, LAs provide feedback to faculty about how students are experiencing the course, and the team prepares for the upcoming week. LAs receive additional support and training through a pedagogy course, often with LAs from other disciplines across an institution's LA Program. Together, the instructional team meetings and pedagogy course provide structure, community, and resources for LAs to utilize and improve inclusive practices when interacting with students. This workshop will serve as an introduction to the LA model. Participants will analyze videos, engage with data from LA-supported courses, and consider how working with LAs could work in their own contexts. Workshop organizers and facilitators are leaders within the Learning Assistant Alliance (https://learningassistantalliance.org/) and have experience working with LAs in various chemistry class settings and modalities.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Ira Caspari-Gnann, ira.caspari@tufts.edu, Tufts University
    • Brittney Morgan, brittney.morgan@colostate.edu, Colorado State University
    • Kathryn N. Hosbein, katy.hosbein@mtsu.edu, Middle Tennessee State University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 209, Cost $10

 

  • Foundations for Chemistry Education Research & Publications - Looking to understand research and publications in CER? Join us for a workshop covering theoretical frameworks, publication choices, study design, general IRB information, and more. In this workshop, we will spend time building a foundation for chemistry education research and thinking about what contributes to a solid article. If you have questions about frameworks, how to write up your methods, what is important to include, and how to decide on the size of the publication, please join us! Bring some work that you're interested in publishing, or come with questions about planning a project.
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Monday, 29th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Michelle Herridge, mdhh99@gmail.com, Baylor University
    • Chloe Sells, chloe_sells@baylor.edu, Baylor University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 168, Cost $10

 

  • Facilitating Lesson Plan Development for Chemistry Outreach Opportunities - The lesson plan development process is vital to creating engaging learning experiences in chemistry outreach. Focus on formulation of age appropriate lesson plans and aiding in the refining process through guided practice can promote a fun, positive learning environment. The STEM Cubs program at the University of Missouri-Columbia seeks to empower educators in training, and science enthusiasts in developing captivating lessons in STEM. In this workshop, we will share our experiences working with undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Missouri-Columbia with the intention to help you guide students at your institutions in K-12 STEM outreach development. Attendees will learn how to facilitate the development of lesson plans generated from the ideas of undergraduate and graduate students. Specifically, this workshop will include a discussion of the process used to create targeted, age-appropriate lessons, small breakout groups to brainstorm ideas for a fun, engaging chemistry lesson for students in grades K-12, and a hand-on demonstration of a chemistry lesson used at a previous STEM Cubs event.
     
    • K-12 - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Monday, 29th July, 03:45 PM-05:15 PM
    • Glenn Gilyot, ggilyot@hsc.edu, Hampden-Sydney College
    • John Himmelberg, jmhcxf@umsystem.edu, University of Missouri-Columbia
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 282, Cost $10

 

  • Copper: Two Inquiries to Begin and End the School Year - Copper is used in plumbing, coinage, and electrical wiring; yet we often take this element for granted. Copper has been known since at least 9000 BC, but many of its reactions and properties have only been determined in recent centuries. This inquiry requires students to: research the chemical reactions of copper (redox, double displacement, and decomposition), apply prior knowledge of stoichiometry and conservation of matter, analyze a copper solution using spectroscopy, and use proper laboratory techniques and skills. NGSS standards HS PS1-2, HS PS1-5, and HS PS1-7 will be addressed. Participants will: Research and design an Inquiry experiment, use technology to collect/analyze data, & visualize what occurs on the submicroscopic level by employing particulate drawings. Join this workshop to take home a two-unit inquiry lab which is a perfect beginning of year lab and end-of-course lab practical. There will be time allotted for participant questions. Handouts will be provided
     
    • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Monday, 29th July, 03:45 PM-05:15 PM
    • Greg Dodd, gbdodd@gmail.com, George Washington High School (retired)
    • Classroom based, Workshop 151, Cost $10

 

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Tuesday workshops

  • Art and Archaeology-Inspired Chemistry Labs and Activities - Teaching chemistry concepts in the context of real-world applications improves learning outcomes for students. This workshop will provide chemistry instructors the opportunity to engage with several chemistry laboratory activities contextualized in art and archeological topics including: lipid residue analysis of archaeological pottery, arsenic screening of natural history and anthropological specimens, pigments and paint making, pigment analysis of paintings, and dyeing natural fibers. Participants will be provided with background information of each topic, engage in several of the lab activities, and leave with procedures and protocols to reproduce and expand upon these activities at their home institutions.
     

 

  • A Tale of Two Platforms: Using Achieve and Smart Worksheets in Labs As laboratory coordinators for chemistry service courses know, it can be very difficult to balance all of the needs for a lab course: (1) to make sure that students are engaged with an experiment, (2) that students are cognizant of safety protocols, and (3) that everyone is having an equitable and enjoyable experience before, during, and after lab. A major problem, though, is what happens after the lab experience: students may struggle completing the data analysis and results part of a laboratory experience. Worse yet, students may not see the chemical principles behind the experiment: they cannot see the forest for the trees. How do you level the playing field for everybody? That's where we come in!
     
    In this hands-on, immersive workshop, participants will learn (with apologies to Charles Dickens) about Macmillan Learning's online learning platform, Achieve, and our partner, Learning Science UK, tool inside the Achieve platform, Smart Worksheets, and how both of these programs work together to transform a laboratory experience into an equitable digital learning environment that covers both students and instructors before, during, and after an in-person laboratory experience. 
     
    After a brief introduction to both Achieve and Smart Worksheets, participants will get the full student experience by completing an introductory chemistry experiment and then experience Achieve and Smart Worksheets as students to see how the systems work together. Afterwards, we will have a debriefing session led by several professors to tell us their own curriculum re-development story using both Achieve and Smart Worksheets. Finally, we will discuss how to implement both Achieve and Smart Worksheets at your home institution. 
     
    We would like to invite lab coordinators at two- and four-year schools. Lunch and breaks/snacks will be provided. Participants will need to bring their own laptop to this workshop.
     

 

  • Real Intelligence (Still) Beats Artificial Intelligence: Engaging Students with Inquisitive Molecular Modeling - Attend this workshop and learn how to work with two research-adjacent molecular modeling programs that are fully adapted for chemistry instruction in secondary and higher education. Incorporating compelling three-dimensional visualization, the computational engines at the core of the programs (for molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics, and quantum chemistry) allow students and teachers to truly interrogate molecular-level phenomena (as opposed to reformatting information from a vast resource). The workshop will use ODYSSEY Molecular Explorer and SPARTAN Student Edition to explore a number of examples from the standard course sequence for General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. In essence, science, i.e., on-the-fly solutions of fundamental physical equations, will be used to teach science. 
     
    Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop (Windows or Macintosh) in order to install fully enabled test versions of the programs.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Jurgen Schnitker, jurgen@wavefun.com, Wavefunction

    • Classroom based, Workshop 985, Cost $10

       

  • An ACS Exams committee experience: Writing and editing exam items as well as considering partial credit assignment of incorrect responses in the writing process - Exam committees for ACS Exams follow a process for exam development that includes item writing, editing and selection. Newer exam committees have also included partial credit analysis and assignment to incorrect responses. It has become evident that incorporating the partial credit discussion within the item writing process aids in considering better responses. At this workshop, you will have an opportunity to work collaboratively on writing items, editing items and considering partial credit assignment within the writing and editing process. Further, we will discuss how to use the partial credit assignment in scoring and making decisions based on assessment results. These activities will not be limited to any specific course(s) or multiple choice items and will include opportunities to develop open response items with a grading rubric incorporated into the writing and editing process.
     

 

  • Making the Most of the Syllabus: Centering Learning from the Start - The course syllabus is often the first interaction students have with a course and their instructor. While it is often considered a contract, this document can also be leveraged as a tool for setting expectations for learning at the beginning of the semester. During this workshop participants will evaluate the extent to which their syllabus centers learning rather than policies and procedures, identify components of the syllabus they could modify to increase the learning focus of the document, begin making modifications, and explore strategies to encourage students to interact with the syllabus in meaningful ways. We will use Palmer's Measuring the Promise rubric along with results from our nationwide study of Physical Chemistry syllabi to structure the workshop for instructors of any Chemistry course. We will encourage participants to focus on high impact changes, such as ensuring transparent alignment between assessments and learning goals and objectives in the syllabus. While the focus of the workshop will be on the document itself, participants may find that modifying their syllabus prompts them to reflect on the learning-focus of their course design as well. Participants should bring a syllabus for one of their courses or a device they can use to access a syllabus.
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 08:30 AM-10:00 AM
    • Julie Donnelly, julie.donnelly@ucf.edu, University of central florida
    • Kurt Winkelmann, kwinkelmann@valdosta.edu, Valdosta State University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 53, Cost $10

 

  • LibreTexts: Building your OER textbook for your class - This workshop will show attendees how to use the LibreTexts system to build custom chemistry textbooks for their curriculum and students. Libretexts provides easy and global online access to open educational resources (OER). Inexpensive printed copies are available. 
     
    Started over fifteen years ago as the ChemWiki, LibreTexts has over 500 chemistry textbooks spanning the curriculum available for use, remixing or revision. Materials from the biology, mathematics, physics and statistics libraries can be mixed into your texts as needed or used as supplements. There is a plethora of other materials including exercises and an online homework system. LibreTexts operates on a commercial cloud server with high up time, users do not have to provide IT support. Features include online annotation (hypothes.is), online computation via a Jupyter hub, import into LMSs using the LTI Common Cartridge, 3D images (JSMol, GLMol, etc), and more.
     
    In the Chemistry Library, students from ~150 college and universities can access their course LibreTexts directly within branded course shells. Roughly 60% of online traffic comes from outside the US. The system can display any Unicode symbol and LibreTexts in Spanish, Chinese and French already exist. Machine translations of all the roughly 120 centrally curated textbooks are available in Spanish and Ukrainian, with basic books available in French, Portugese, Chinese, Hindi, Kishwali and Arabic. LibreTexts Polyglot Engine can provide machine translation on demand for any of books using  Amazon Web Services AI translator.
     
    An online construction guide is available (attendees will receive a printed copy) and there are videos to help new users as well as video conferencing. This will be a hands on workshop. Registered attendees will be able to start using the system to create LibreTexts on the spot. OER using LibreTexts. 
     
    Participants will need to bring their own laptop to this workshop
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Joshua Halpern, jhalpern@libretexts.org, Libretexts
    • Delmar Larsen, dlarsen@libretexts.org, Libretexts
    • Classroom based, Workshop 85, Cost $10

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Introduction to POGIL Labs - This session will introduce the basic concepts and principles of the POGIL laboratory. Participants will experience a simulated POGIL laboratory experience and examine its components and structure. The criteria for a POGIL laboratory experiment will be introduced and applied to the written description of an experiment. After attending this session, participants will be able to: (1) articulate the components of a POGIL laboratory experiment and correlate them with the components of the Learning Cycle, (2) describe several differences between a POGIL laboratory experiment and a traditional laboratory experiment, and (3) determine the extent to which an experiment meets the POGIL laboratory criteria.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Michael Garoutte, michael@michaelgaroutte.com, Missouri Southern State University
    • Craig Teague, cteague@cornellcollege.edu, Cornell College
    • Classroom based, Workshop 182, Cost $10

 

  • Backward-Design Your Laboratory Course - We have worked collaboratively for several years to develop a first- and second-year inquiry-based laboratory course where students are challenged to individually isolate caffeine from a consumer product as a culminating lab practical. We have found backward design to be the most effective method for developing a course structured around what students are expected to be able to do at the end of the semester. Starting with the end in mind ensures that the course is designed to achieve specific learning outcomes rather than simply covering a broad range of topics or activities without a unifying purpose. Now, we are eager to guide our colleagues through the process of backward-designing their own laboratory course or laboratory module! 
     
    In this workshop, participants will identify what skills they want their students to be able to do at the end of the course or module, and then choose a culminating experiment that allows students to demonstrate those skills. This may be incorporated as a lab practical, like our culminating experiment, or just an experiment that students complete late in the semester. We use a published experiment that we have modified over time to best suit our needs. 
     
    After selecting the culminating experiment, participants will identify the thinking and technical skills that students will need to master in order to perform the culminating experiment. This will allow them to start to envision the overall arc of their laboratory course or module, and they may be able to fill in some ideas or experiments as they backward design. Participants will go home having selected their culminating experiment as well as creating an outline of experiments and assessments leading up to the culminating experiment.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Annette Neuman, annette.neuman@emory.edu, Emory University
    • Brenda Harmon, bharmon@emory.edu, Emory University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 147, Cost $10

 

  • Summative rubric evaluation for the assessment of mechanism questions in the second-year organic chemistry course sequence - This workshop is invitation only. This final follow-up workshop is designed for attendees of any of the three previous workshops run at BCCE 2018 and 2022. Specifically, as a group we will review the initial rubrics created in the previous workshops and optimize them for future use in grading mechanism questions. We intend to generate a set of assessable metrics that lead to rubrics for practitioners to utilize in the assessment of mechanism-focused problems in organic chemistry.
     
    • College and University - Assessment and Research Methods
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Jay Wackerly, wackerlyj@central.edu, Central College
    • Michael Wentzel, wenztelm@augsburg.edu, Augsburg University
    • Sarah Zingales, szingales@usj.edu, University of Saint Joseph
    • Classroom based, Workshop 19, Cost $10

 

  • Beyond "verbatim" transcription: Using techniques from applied linguistics to enhance the analysis of classroom talk in chemistry education research - Chemistry education researchers are increasingly looking at classroom talk to understand aspects of teaching and learning. Many of these researchers draw on approaches from discourse analysis, and these approaches have provided insight into students' argumentation, sensemaking, and discourse moves, among other features. An essential first step in these studies is transcription. While it is common to refer to "verbatim" transcriptions, the meaning of verbatim is not necessarily transparent. Even a transcript that accurately captures every word that was spoken can hide important aspects of conversational dynamics that are relevant to determining what is happening in the recording. 
     
    This workshop demonstrates how techniques from applied linguistics can be used to enhance transcripts for the purposes of chemistry education research. Participants will learn more about the kinds of features that applied linguists pay attention to when transcribing classroom talk as well as conventions that can be used to capture these details in a transcript. Using examples from the workshop leaders' research in the context of general chemistry, participants will compare different transcriptions of the same interactions and discuss how additional layers of detail might change their interpretation of the data. The workshop leaders will explain how these kinds of additional details shaped their development of a codebook for cognitive engagement and open a discussion of the potential advantages and disadvantages of applying these kinds of tools and techniques in other contexts. 
     
    By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
     

    1. Explain how a verbatim transcript can hide important features of classroom talk
    2. Identify transcription conventions for capturing details related to participants' manner of speaking and nonverbal actions
    3. Describe data collection techniques that can be used to enhance transcripts
    4. Compare how different transcription conventions capture relevant aspects of conversational dynamics
    5. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using more detailed transcripts

     

    • College and University - Assessment and Research Methods
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM,
    • Alissa Hartig, ahartig@pdx.edu, Portland State University
    • Safaa El-Mansy, selmansy73@gmail.com, Reed College
    • Jack Barbera, jbarbera@pdx.edu, Portland State University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 93, Cost $10

 

  • A Culminating General Chemistry Laboratory Experiment that Reviews Key Learning Goals Using Natural Pigments - Lab is a unique learning environment that allows students to explore and ask questions with one-on-one attention from faculty and peers. Participants will perform an experiment developed over ten years to serve as the culminating lab for first-semester general chemistry students. Starting with a fresh spinach leaf, we will consider the chemical structure-property relationships of pigment molecules by extracting, separating, and studying their spectroscopic characteristics. We will use a molecular modeling program to build molecules and analyze their molecular orbitals. In addition to reinforcing techniques like spectroscopy and computer modeling, the lab also serves as an introduction to some of the techniques that students will encounter in organic chemistry like column chromatography. 
     
    The experimental methods rely on concepts like molecular polarity and solubility that are reinforced by pigment separation using mixtures of polar and non-polar solvents. Using spectroscopy, students correlate the color of the pigment to the absorbance spectrum, demonstrating that the color you see is the complement to the absorbed color. Building molecular models of smaller molecules with a variety of double bonds correlates the degree of conjugation with energy transitions. Students apply the wavelength and energy equations they learned for the H-spectrum to complex molecules and correlate the color of molecules with the magnitude of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap. 
     

    • Extract and isolate photosynthetic spinach pigments using chromatography.
    • Analyze absorbance spectra of colored compounds.
    • Build and analyze molecular orbitals in a molecular modelling program.
    • Calculate energy transitions and perform wavelength calculations.
    • Correlate compound color to features of their chemical structures.

    Workshop participants will learn to set up and perform the experiment and incorporate molecular modeling into the general chemistry curriculum. The experiment will also be used as a point of discussion on how participants may develop a cumulative experiment based on the curriculum of their home institution.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     

    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Jennifer Schmeisser, jschmeiss@stlawu.edu, St. Lawrence University
    • Nadia Marano, nmarano@stlawu.edu, St. Lawrence University
    • Emily Metzger, emetzger@queenbsuryschool.org, Queensbury High School
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 262, Cost $10

 

  • Reducing Barriers to Learning with Digital Chemistry Notebooks - Designing active-learning modules that function across in-person, hybrid and remote learning spaces remains challenging and nontrivial for chemical educators at all levels. One route to future-proof course modules is via interactive electronic notebooks. Through demonstrations and hands-on activities, participants learn how to create new or distill existing activities into digital  Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition (W|ANE) notebooks. W|ANE notebooks bridge multiple learning spaces by combining molecular visualization, chemical data exploration and natural language computing into one document all while quietly teaching programming along the way. Example activities for use in an introductory chemistry course at the high school or undergraduate level are provided. Time is allocated for notebook explorations with emphasis on significant digits, chemical conversions, chemical reactions, 2D & 3D visualization along with cloud publishing.
     
    Participants should bring their own device such as a laptop or tablet and have access to W|ANE. A trial version of W|ANE is available at https://account.wolfram.com/access/wolfram-alpha-notebook-edition/trial. Be sure to enter "BCCE participant" in the dialog box.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Jason Sonnenberg, jasons@wolframalpha.com, Wolfram|Alpha LLC
    • Classroom based, Workshop 227, Cost $10

 

  • ACS Custom Exams: How you can build and use an ACS exam that fits your needs while still having national data for comparison. - ACS Exams develops exams by utilizing an exam committee structure where this committee is populated with experienced faculty and instructors teaching the targeted course(s). This process has produced exams that speak to many variations of teaching the targeted course(s) with input on the content coverage, depth of coverage and difficulty of items. However, even with this process, it is possible that testing needs for your institution could vary such that the standardized exam is not an ideal match for your course. In the past, building a custom exam has been a possibility but without the ability to have any national data available for comparison. Through recent work by the ACS Exams research team, we are now able to provide custom exams with national comparison data. This workshop will share the capabilities of custom exams as well as take you through a process of building a custom exam using specialized software that provides content arrays and national norms to consider in the design process. This is available for single-semester or full-year general, organic and inorganic (foundational) chemistry.
     

 

  • Classroom Exercises for General and Organic Chemistry Involving Wildlife Forensics and Food Fraud - Chemistry, now and in the future, has a pivotal role in combating the growing global criminal entities associated with wildlife and food crimes. Why not teach some aspects of general or organic chemistry in the context of these real-world issues?
     
    The goals of this 90 minute workshop are to: 1) familiarize participants with the use of three common active learning teaching methods- Think/Pair/Share (TPS), Jigsaw, and Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT), and 2) incorporate wildlife forensic and/or food fraud problem-based learning (PBL) classroom exercises into the General or Organic Chemistry curricula. 
     
    In this workshop faculty participants will do what we ask our students to do. Participants will be exposed to TPS, Jigsaw, and JiTT active learning teaching methods, along with the use of small whiteboards, to solve real-world problems related to wildlife crime and food fraud. The wildlife forensic and food fraud problem sets were designed by the presenter to be used by students in General Chemistry 1 and Organic Chemistry 1/2. 
     
    The PBL classroom exercises related to wildlife forensics/crime and food fraud center around seminal principles or concepts taught universally in general and/or organic chemistry- namely, stable isotopes (C-13, H-2, N-15, O-18, Sr-88, and so on), interrogating graphs and other data visualizations, proposing a plausible molecular structure or quantitative conclusion supported by the data, and/or interpretation of spectroscopic evidence (for organic, 1D 1H and 13C NMR (decoupled and DEPT), IR, and mass spectrometry). 
     
    Time permitting, participants will work together to create a new classroom exercise focused on either wildlife forensics or food fraud, broadly defined.
     
    • Two-Year - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-03:30 PM
    • scott donnelly, scott.donnelly@azwestern.edu, Arizona Western College
    • Classroom based, Workshop 35, Cost $10

 

  • ADAPT: LibreTexts Online Homework System - ADAPT is a new online homework system being developed by LibreTexts to serve the Open Education community. This workshop will showcase the ADAPT online homework system which incorporates LibreStudio for building H5P questions and sophisticated learning analytics. We will demonstrate how to use ADAPT to augment existing and newly constructed OER textbooks and embed them in LMSs, LibreTexts textbooks, as a standalone application for summative testing and to use with cell phones as in-class clickers.Today, online homework systems are the most commonly required curricula materials. With the support of the California Educational Learning Lab, ADAPT is designed to combine adaptive learning with culturally responsive pedagogy at minimal cost.
     
    The workshop will demonstrate how the ADAPT homework system empowers faculty to use existing questions in multiple modalities. Participants will learn how to build autograded questions based on four technologies – H5P, WebWork, IMathAS, and native (QTI) – that can be used interchangeably to allow for maximal impact. Open ended questions can be evaluated using a sophisticated checker to rapidly mark text, audio or other files for grading.
     
    We will also introduce the LibreStudio platform for construction, storage and distribution of H5P assessments. Participants will be able to join LibreStudio to create and share H5P assessments, review the H5P of other authors, and build/join a community within Studio.
     
    The workshop will conclude with an overview of the associated analytics infrastructure to provide real-time learning analytics to instructors on student progress with pre-defined learning objectives.
     
    Participants will need to bring their own laptop to this workshop.
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    •  
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Delmar Larsen, dlarsen@libretexts.org, Libretexts
    • Classroom based, Workshop 94, Cost $10

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Student-Centered Learning in the Laboratory: The Science Writing Heuristic Approach - In this session, participants will explore an active learning strategy known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH). Features of SWH including beginning questions, procedures and results, and claims and evidence will be demonstrated through a lab simulation experience. After attending this session, participants will be able to: (1) articulate the components of an SWH laboratory experiment, (2) describe methods for soliciting and facilitating the generation of beginning questions, (3) show students how to derive evidence-based claims that are drawn from the actual data collected in lab, (4) articulate the structure of the SWH laboratory experience and contrast it with the laboratory report format.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Steve Gravelle, steve.gravelle@stvincent.edu, Saint Vincent College
    • Brandon Fetterly, fetterlyb@uwplatt.edu, University of Wisconsin Platteville
    • Classroom based, Workshop 183, Cost $10

 

  • Active Learning in Organic Chemistry: Backward Design - Active, student-centered pedagogies can dramatically improve student outcomes, but before implementing new teaching methods, it is essential to clarify, both to yourself and to the students, what students should be learning. This workshop will apply principles of backward design to the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum based on Wiggins and McTighe's Understanding by Design (2006), Fink's Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses (2013), and Zakrajsek and Nilson's Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors (2023). Participants will develop course and topic-level learning objectives as well as various types of assessments by cognitive level. This clearer understanding of goals and assessment methods provides the foundation for instructional change. While the backward design process aids in the development of any course, the workshop leaders will be focusing on its application to an organic chemistry course. High school teachers who wish to participate should be teachers of organic chemistry. Generated materials will be disseminated to the Organic Education Resources community via the website at www.organicers.org.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Cathy Welder, catherine.o.welder@dartmouth.edu, Dartmouth College
    • Catherine Serrano Lugo, cathy.serrano@tamu.edu,Texas A&M University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 213, Cost $10

 

  • Aligning laboratory experiments with learning objectives for focused formative assessment - This workshop guides participants in aligning their lab curriculum with expectations, assigning learning outcomes/laboratory skills, and guides the next steps in aligning assessment with those outcomes. The Labflow Experiment Library (LEL) has been developed as an Open Educational Resource (OER) of General, Introductory, GOB, and Organic chemistry laboratories. Over the two years of development, we have had the opportunity to look at student responses (over 70,000 students in Fall 2023, alone!), we have built a data-informed approach to organizing lab topics (streamlined "Broader Topics"), assigning learning objectives and laboratory skills (over 200 pre-written LOs and Skills), and working to create more formative assessment structures to help students achieve those objectives. This workshop will expect faculty to bring along their own lab experiment(s) they wish to improve, and then to walk through thinking about the framework for their lab courses, the objectives they wish to implement, and then how to streamline the experience for their students to bring the focus of laboratory learning back to reiterative learning rather than summative reports. Participants should expect to leave with a framework of topics for their lab courses and a plan for reworking their assessment materials, including learning objectives and skills to incorporate. 
     
    Participants will need to bring their own laptop to this workshop.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Justin Shorb, justin@catalystedu.com, Catalyst Education, LLC
    • Mandy Dark, mandy@catalystedu.com, Catalyst Education, LLC
    • Classroom based, Workshop 148, Cost $10

 

  • Writing equitable assessments: Strategies for chemistry educators and chemistry education researchers to construct more accessible and inclusive assessments - Constructing equitable assessments is crucial for promoting accessibility, inclusivity and accurate evaluation of students' content knowledge and skills. Since language plays a fundamental role in comprehension, we will explore evidence-based techniques to writing chemistry assessment items that reduce the academic language barrier in chemistry and enhance accessibility of assessment items. We will discuss approaches of universal design and linguistic simplification to mitigate the cognitively demanding features within items and ways to include features that elicit understanding. By learning to craft items with simplified linguistic features, we can ensure that the focus of the assessment remains on chemical concepts, not the complexity of the language itself. This approach encourages better understanding, reducing the risk of misinterpretation or confusion among students.
     
    Participants are encouraged to bring their own assessment items to revise for the purposes of linguistic simplification. Participants will spend the majority of the workshop time discussing and applying linguistic modifications to revise existing assessment items.
     
    • College and University - Assessment and Research Methods
    • Tuesday, 30th July, 03:45 PM-05:15 PM
    • Eshani Lee, egl51@psu.edu, Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton
    • Jack Barbera, jbarbera@pdx.edu, Portland State University
    • Anna Eunji Kim, aek5559@psu.edu, Pennsylvania State University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 200, Cost $10

 

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Wednesday Workshops

  • 3D Printable Resources for Engaging Students in the Exploration of Instrument Design and Performance: Inexpensive and User-Friendly Instrument Kits for STEM Educators - While much has been accomplished in developing low-cost instruments using children’s building blocks and household items, greater access to 3D printing via community makerspaces and university fabrication centers allows educators to transcend the limitations of conventional tooling. The recent and accelerating advances in computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D printing methods provide access to innovative approaches in the development of new educational tools. While this evolving technology offers great potential, the barrier to entry is often intimidating for those unfamiliar with CAD software and fabrication equipment. This workshop will guide participants in the design of a colorimeter or fluorimeter instrument for lab use. Each participant will be provided with a 3D printed instrument kit to take home to use in their classrooms. Additionally, participants will receive a user-friendly set of computer-aided design (CAD) models and stereolithography (STL) files for the production of simple and inexpensive 3D printed analytical instruments. These designs allow educators to provide active learners with tools for constructing instruments in activities aimed at exploring the technology and fundamental principles related to quantitative analysis. These digital models are flexible in design, printed quickly, and each requires less than a dollar’s worth of plastic filament. Once printed, the resulting instruments perform very well when compared to commercially available tools. No previous CAD, 3D printing, or electronics experience is required. This workshop welcomes both beginners and those with some experience.
     
    Participants should bring goggles and wear laboratory appropriate attire.
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Lon Porter, porterl@wabash.edu, Wabash College
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 44, Cost $25

 

 

  • Active Learning in Organic Chemistry: Improve student learning and engagement with formative assessment and collaborative learning - Many faculty are excited about using more technology and the "flipped" classroom is making headlines, but these alone don’t improve student engagement and learning. This workshop will introduce proven active learning pedagogies, discuss why they are effective, and provide key characteristics of effective instruction that can use technology and work within the “flipped” paradigm. Participants will develop activities and materials for a particular class session of their choosing. Workshop facilitators will use examples from their experience teaching active-learning organic chemistry courses with enrollments of 20-200 students. Emphasis will be placed on effective in-class use of collaborative learning and formative assessment techniques such as classroom polling, concept maps, structured problem solving, categorization grid, round table, and background knowledge probe.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Justin Houseknecht, jhouseknecht@wittenberg.edu, Wittenberg University
    • Janell Mahoney, jmahoney@unr.edu, University of Nevada, Reno
    • Classroom based, Workshop 240, Cost $10

 

  • Introduction to Machine Learning in Chemistry using Python. Part 1: Working with a data set and building a chemistry machine learning model. Part 2: Building data sets and cheminformatics models - Machine learning has exploded in popularity and use in chemistry over the past five years. Maybe you have heard the term machine learning but aren’t really sure what it is or why it matters for chemists. Or maybe you are excited about incorporating machine learning into your curriculum and want to learn more. Either way, this workshop is for you. The workshop will introduce fundamental concepts in machine learning and discuss how they apply to chemistry using the python programming language. No prior experience with machine learning or python is required. The workshop will consist of live coding examples and hands-on coding activities, where every participant will learn to build and evaluate machine learning models. Topics covered will include: what is machine learning, basic python syntax, importing data sets, the pandas data science library, EDA tools, visualizing data with seaborn, building machine learning models with sci-kit learn, evaluating the quality of ML models, molecular representations, and building a cheminformatics dataset with RDKit.
     
    Participants should bring their own laptop computers. We will use a cloud computing environment that has all the required software installed; participants will not need to install software on their own computers. The session will conclude with a group brainstorming/discussion section about incorporating machine learning into chemistry courses. No prior experience with machine learning or python is required to attend the workshop. The workshop is open to anyone who teaches undergraduate students, including faculty at any level of higher education.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-05:15 PM
    • Ashley McDonald, armcdona@calpoly.edu, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
    • Bonnie Hall, bhall@grandview.edu, Grand View University
    • Mohammad Mostafanejad, smostafanejad@vt.edu, The Molecular Sciences Software Institute
    • Classroom based, Workshop 187, Cost $10

 

  • Inventorying in-lab opportunities to engage in expert-like thinking - Literature tells us that to become an expert, you first need to have had opportunities to practice expert-like behaviour.  If we want our chemistry labs to develop highly skilled chemistry researchers, those labs need to allow students build specific research skills.Many teaching labs do a great job of that in terms of technical skills (e.g. handling glassware, manipulating solutions, operating an instrument), but may not be so good at offering opportunities to practice the kinds of thinking that expert chemists do. Using an adaptation of Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman's inventory of such thinking, or 'cognitive tasks', this workshop will get you started on determining which cognitive tasks are required of students as they work through your lab experiments.We'll start with a brief over-view of the cognitive tasks and a discussion of where they typically show up in chemistry experiments. Then you'll get hands-on, assessing which tasks are present in one or more of your lab experiments. We'll wrap up with suggestions for easy adjustments to lab manual wording to offer additional opportunities for students to practice cognitive tasks.Bring your lab manual and, if possible, a couple example student submissions for one experiment of interest (e.g. a lab report).  Lab courses from 1st to 4th year are suitable.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-10:00 AM
    • Robin Stoodley, stoodley@chem.ubc.ca, University of British Columbia - Vancouver
    • Classroom based, Workshop 197, Cost $10

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Classroom Facilitation - There is no single way to implement POGIL—each time there are unique characteristics that can influence how particular goals are achieved. Effectively facilitating a POGIL classroom involves more than student groups and collaborative activities; it requires careful planning and effective classroom management through reflective facilitation techniques. This workshop is designed to provide participants with an introduction to facilitating POGIL activities. Through this experience, participants will reflect on how facilitation can enhance or interfere with student learning, as well as how facilitation strategies can be critical in the development of student process skills. After attending this session, participants will be able to: (1) name different components of classroom facilitation, (2) explain how the actions of the instructor can promote or inhibit development of student process skills, and (3) propose facilitation strategies for classroom use.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Laura Trout, troutl@lancastercountryday.org, Lancaster Country Day School
    • Rodney Austin, rcaustin@geneva.edu, Geneva College
    • Classroom based, Workshop 184, Cost $10

 

  • From Seed to Tree: Integrating Racial, Social, and Environmental Justice Principles into your Chemistry Curriculum - "Students deserve an education that is deeply relevant to the future they will inherit.” - David W. Orr, The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror
     
    Connecting introductory chemistry curriculum to principles of racial, social, and environmental justice (RSEJ) – and doing so with a sense of community and with a foundation in experiential learning – seems a tall order. Workshop facilitators Drs. Amanda Glass and Kristy Wittman Howell have been doing this work for years, though, and are excited to spend a full day at BCCE helping you better understand the principles of education for racial, social, and environmental justice, and to develop a level of comfort with these principles. 
     
    This workshop is for you if you: have teaching experience in the chemistry classroom and an idea of at least one course concept or unit where you might like to have the conversation. You will bring deep curiosity about the ways chemistry education might overlap with civics and/or RESJ. You might find the quote above resonates within your teacher-heart, even though you struggle to find the time and energy to make that next step. 
     
    During the workshop, you will become more familiar with concepts of RESJ and increase your understanding of and capacity for interdisciplinary conversations in the chemistry classroom. While doing so, you will develop a pedagogical tool for use in one or more classes that focuses on the intersection of chemistry and concepts of RESJ. You will leave with: connections to other scholars doing the work in their own classrooms, and an outline of your curriculum piece(s) with assessments. Your facilitators will provide: workshop materials and notes, a reading list, and a commitment to follow up as a group at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.
     
    • Two-Year - Professional Development
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-05:15 PM
    • Amanda Glass, aglass9@jccc.edu, Johnson County Community College
    • Kristy Wittman Howell, khowel13@jccc.edu, Johnson County Community College
    • Classroom based, Workshop 257, Cost $10

 

  • Integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) into the Chemistry Curriculum with OpenStax and Aktiv Chemistry - As educators grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising tuition, student course material costs are top of mind at every institution. These trends, amongst others, are driving the movement towards open education resources (OER) that provide students with free alternatives to (traditionally) costly materials such as textbooks. Recent surveys show that only 5 percent of higher education faculty used OER course materials in 2015, which has jumped to 22 percent as of 2022.
     
    Aktiv Chemistry is a next-generation learning platform built specifically for chemistry courses such as General Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, GOB Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. The platform helps instructors easily incorporate active learning into their classrooms and can also keep students engaged outside of class with homework, extra practice, or quizzes that they can access anytime on their smartphones and other personal devices.
     
    This workshop will highlight the popular chemistry OER titles offered by OpenStax from Rice University, which have been tightly integrated into the Aktiv Chemistry platform. These include the long-standing OpenStax Chemistry and Chemistry Atoms First titles for General Chemistry courses, and the new 10th edition of John McMurry’s bestselling Organic Chemistry textbook. 
     
    Workshop participants will learn the best practices to drive student engagement and outcomes while using the Aktiv Chemistry platform for assignments aligned to OpenStax OER titles. This will include technologies that instructors can take advantage of such as Aktiv’s scaffolded question types, intelligent feedback, spaced Adaptive Follow Up activities, and mobile apps that foster productive learning environments for students. Participants will get hands-on experience with the Aktiv platform and OpenStax OER where they will create and experience student assignments tailored to their own courses. Assignments will be reviewed and discussed within peer groups.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Justin Weinberg, jb@aktiv.com, Aktiv Learning
    • David Harris, dfh1@rice.edu, OpenStax
    • Classroom based, Workshop 212, Cost $10

 

  • Transitioning from Excel to Python for Chemistry Lab Data Analysis - Working with Microsoft Excel and comparable products such as Google Sheets provides a great introduction to data analysis techniques that are standard in the chemistry lab and research environments—both experimental and computational-focused experiments. However, with the push towards analyzing large sets of data containing millions to billions of data points in many aspects of chemistry research, at some point, it becomes necessary to transition from data analysis in Excel into a more scalable and flexible programming solution like Python, MATLAB, or Origin. So, how does one transition from Excel to programming languages like Python? Slowly, and step-by-step. Mastering programming languages is the same as learning another language like Spanish or a musical instrument; it takes time, repetition, practice, and a willingness to put in the effort to play with phrasing, syntax, and writing. With enough introduction and exposure, anyone can work with code syntax and leverage their existing skills to expand and acquire new abilities to improve your workflow and research productivity.
     
    This workshop will give users an introduction to the tools and libraries Python uses for scientific data analysis and visualization through hands-on coding activities on how data can be transferred, analyzed, and visualized from Excel to Python. Using inquiry-based active learning, participants will learn how to visualize data that can fit to a linear and/or nonlinear regression model and return information like the uncertainty in the best fit slope and intercept using the Google Colab platform, a free cloud computing platform that allows anyone with a Google account to create and run Python codes linked to their Google Drive. Participants will be able to use the information and tools gained from the workshop to continue exploring Python on their own terms to develop and tailor Python-based data analysis exercises for chemistry labs.
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Prajay Patel, pmpatel@udallas.edu, University of Dallas
    • Classroom based, Workshop 130, Cost $10

 

  • Writing Competitive Grant Proposals - This workshop is designed to provide practical guidance for preparing proposals for submission to grant agencies. Research projects require funding for people, material, and infrastructure. Four main factors determine if grant proposal outshines its competitors and succeeds in securing funding. These include the significance of the problem that will be addressed through the project, the alignment of the proposed project with the mission of funding agencies and the goals of the specific funding opportunity; project design or research approach; and lastly, the overall quality of the presentation of the entire proposal. This workshop will provide information on funding sources, tips on writing and presenting proposals, and do's and don'ts of interacting with funding agencies. In addition, participants will learn about common errors in grant writing and how reviewers evaluate proposals. The workshop will include activities designed to develop specific skills. The awarding of grants is a competitive process and there is no guarantee of success in obtaining funding. The workshop provides guidance on optimizing the presentation of a grant proposal. 
     
    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 08:30 AM-10:00 AM
    • Joerg Schlatterer, j_schlatterer@acs.org, American Chemical Society
    • Classroom based, Workshop 89, Cost $10

 

  • Engaging Organic Chemistry Students Using an Effective Active-Learning Approach - In this workshop, participants will gain hands-on experience using an innovative and objectively-assessed method for improving student engagement and true learning. These teaching techniques incorporate the most effective approaches from educational psychology. The methods we will workshop help organic chemistry students deeply understand essential concepts and build analysis skills. By learning and using these techniques, students will be better able to work important reactions, retain information in long-term memory, seamlessly correlate concepts and apply information to newly encountered situations. Students become much more proficient at understanding complex ideas, engaging as life-long learners, interpreting new discoveries, tackling new questions in research, and applying organic chemistry to other disciplines.Participants will receive a workbook.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM
    • Barbara van Kuiken, barbara.vankuiken@svu.edu, Southern Virginia University / Mariner Media
    • Classroom based, Workshop 68, Cost $25

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Development and Implementation of Guided Inquiry Experiments for Physical Chemistry - The NSF-funded POGIL-PCL project implements the principles of Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) in order to improve student learning in the physical chemistry laboratory (PCL) course. Tested POGIL principles are being used to develop inquiry-based physical chemistry experiments that emphasize macroscopic and molecular models of chemical phenomena. The goal of the POGIL-PCL project is to make available a wide range of physical chemistry experiments with training materials and practitioner support so that instructors may assess their needs and resources and choose from a variety of turn-key experiments that best enhance their students' learning. This workshop will introduce the structure of a POGIL physical chemistry experiment through a classroom-tested, hands-on example, providing participants with both the POGIL-PCL experience from the student perspective and an illustration of what makes an effective guided inquiry experiment. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to discuss how to use the POGIL-PCL principles to write new experiments, how to convert existing physical chemistry experiments, and how to participate further in the POGIL-PCL project.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Rob Whitnell, rwhitnel@guilford.edu, Guilford College
    • Jordan Beck, jordan.beck@cuw.edu, Concordia University of Wisconsin
    • Laboratory based, Workshop 181, Cost $10

 

  • OK I know about active learning but how do I do it? - Bored with lecturing? Want to relieve the monotony by trying a different teaching strategy like active learning (AL)? Perhaps you know or have heard about AL and would like to try using them in your classroom. But what if you have never done it before, or have tried but would like to improve? If these circumstances reflect you situation, then this half-day (3 hour) workshop is designed for you. In the first 90 minutes you will participate in an AL activity that uses the AL strategies Think-Pair-Share (TPS), Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT), and Jigsaw. The purpose for this is simple: What better way to learn how to do something than to be an active part of it. Participants will work in self-assembled groups/teams. Each group will be given different information about an insect aggregate pheromone (intra-group discussion). The groups will then interact with other groups (inter-group discussion) and in the process be exposed to new information (of varying degrees of complexity) that may or may not aid in piecing together a plausible structure - supported collectively by the evidence - of the insect aggregate pheromone. The goal for each separate group is to propose a molecular structure of an insect aggregate pheromone that is supported by all the evidence presented. In working individually and then together participants are likely to find themselves committing tentatively to answers (either as a group or individually), critically evaluating proposed answers (their own and others), communicating their 'finding(s)' and defending them (or perhaps revising them), and applying and testing new ideas while learning how to use AL teaching strategies. In the second half of the workshop, each self-assembled group will develop and then model (put into action what they learned about AL) a short classroom activity using an AL technique.
     
    • Two-Year - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • scott donnelly, scott.donnelly@azwestern.edu, Arizona Western College
    • Michelle Brooks, m_brooks@acs.org, American Chemical Society
    • Classroom based, Workshop 23, Cost $10

 

  • Do we test what we want to test?: From learning outcomes to an assessment plan to using assessment results to inform classroom and programmatic targets - Writing a test specification is a key part of planning an assessment. However, this specification is also dependent on the learning outcomes or objectives for the course. How this specification is communicated to the students is valuable for understanding the purpose of the assessment and alignment to instruction and expectations. What may be considered less is whether the assessment results also align to the specification and learning outcomes or objectives. Further, how the results are shared with students along with action based on these results would be valuable. These results can also inform the instructor on the efficacy of instruction as well as how the course may be fulfilling the learning outcomes or objectives for programmatic assessment. At this workshop, you will consider your course learning outcomes or objectives and plan one of your assessments by constructing a test specification. Following this, you will plan how to use the assessment results to communicate performance and possible action to students as well as what you may choose to do for your course. Finally, you will also be able to discuss how to use this for programmatic assessment.
     

 

  • The POGIL Project Workshop: Teaching computational chemistry using Chemcompute - ChemCompute.org is a free website dedicated to providing computational chemistry resources to undergraduates. ChemCompute promotes equity by ensuring all students have access to high quality computational packages without the need to purchase licenses or computing hardware. All jobs on ChemCompute are run for free through the XSEDE supercomputer network.
    This workshop will focus on training faculty to use the ChemCompute site so that they can assign it in their classes. Instructions for several computational labs for General Chemistry, Organic, and Physical Chemistry are available on ChemCompute, but this workshop will focus on working through a P-Chem lab in cooperation with the POGIL-PCL group. After this workshop faculty will be able to perform a variety of common quantum / electronic structure calculations: geometry optimization, display of molecular orbitals, calculation of thermodynamic properties, and visualization of normal vibrational modes. Faculty will also learn about the POGIL-PCL group and methodology. It is hoped that faculty are able to design new computational labs to share back.
     
    Faculty should bring a laptop and create a free account on ChemCompute.org.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Melissa Reeves, mreeves@tuskegee.edu, Tuskegee University
    • Laine Berghout, hlberghout@weber.edu, Weber State University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 185, Cost $10

 

  • Enhancing Assessment of Student Learning in Your CURE - Are you eager to enhance your ability to assess student learning in your CURE? Our workshop is designed to empower faculty members with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively evaluate student learning outcomes in CUREs.
     
    1. Identify and Refine Measurable Learning Outcomes: Discover how to define clear and meaningful learning outcomes for your CURE that align with your course objectives and expectations.
    2. Select Assessment Instruments: Learn how to choose the right assessment instruments that best match your learning outcomes and the unique context of your CURE.

    3. Customize Assessments: Understand the importance of tailoring assessments to the specific needs and nuances of your CURE, and explore strategies for developing your own assessments when needed.

       

    • College and University - Professional Development
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Erika Offerdahl, erika.offerdahl@wsu.edu, Washington State University
    • Diane Ugwu, diane.ugwu@wsu.edu, Washington State University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 305, Cost $10

 

  • Introduction to IONiC / VIPEr: Using and Sharing Inorganic Chemistry Education Resources - Inorganic chemistry finds its way into the curriculum at a variety of levels from general chemistry to upper division undergraduate courses. VIPEr (the Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Electronic Resource) is a website (www.ionicviper.org) that provides a platform to share content and materials for teaching inorganic chemistry while building a community of inorganic faculty known as IONiC (Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists). Workshop participants will be introduced to the IONiC community and will 1) learn how to find and adapt “learning objects” (in-class activity, literature discussion, laboratory, etc) on VIPEr for teaching general chemistry and inorganic chemistry, 2) learn how to use the social networking features of VIPEr to give and receive support in teaching and research, and 3) learn how to design and upload a learning object to the site. Participants will be encouraged to bring a learning object and publish it on VIPEr by the end of the workshop. Both experienced and new users of the site are welcome.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Wednesday, 31st July, 02:00 PM-05:15 PM
    • Amanda Reig, areig@ursinus.edu, Ursinus College
    • Meghan Porter, mmulcron@indiana.edu, Indiana University
    • Sarah Shaner, sshaner@semo.edu, Southeast Missouri State University
    • Catherine McCusker, mccusker@etsu.edu, East Tennessee State University
    • Anne Bentley, bentley@lclark.edu, Lewis & Clark College
    • Classroom based, Workshop 250, Cost $10

 

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Thursday workshops

  • WebMO Hands-On Workshop - Computational Chemistry is now a requirement for ACS-approval of chemistry programs. This workshop focusses on using WebMO as a low-cost, high-performance platform for introducing computational chemistry into the chemistry curriculum.
    WebMO is a web-based interface to modern computational chemistry programs (Gamess, Gaussian, MolPro, Mopac, NWChem, Orca, PQS, PSI, Q-Chem, TeraChem, Tinker, Quantum Expresso, VASP, and xTB). Using just a web-browser, students can draw 3-D structures, run calculations, and view results. WebMO is simple enough for novice users (reasonable defaults are provided, and result are presented graphically) but flexible enough for experts (full access to input and output files is provided). Workshop topics will include:
     

    • Overview of WebMO features and capabilities
    • Drawing molecules using the WebMO Editor
    • Running various job types
    • Visualization of results using the WebMO Viewer
    • Importing and exporting structures and jobs
    • Using WebMO on Apple and Android portable devices
    • Installation and administration of a WebMO server

    This is a hands-on workshop suitable for high-school and college faculty. Participants are encouraged to bring their own Windows or Mac laptop, or an iPad. In addition to workshop activities, a WebMO developer will be available for questions and individual consultation.
     

    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Thursday, 1st August, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • William Polik, polik@hope.edu, Hope College
    • Classroom based, Workshop 296, Cost $10

 

  • Real Intelligence (Still) Beats Artificial Intelligence: Engaging Students with Inquisitive Molecular Modeling - Attend this workshop and learn how to work with two research-adjacent molecular modeling programs that are fully adapted for chemistry instruction in secondary and higher education. Incorporating compelling three-dimensional visualization, the computational engines at the core of the programs (for molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics, and quantum chemistry) allow students and teachers to truly interrogate molecular-level phenomena (as opposed to reformatting information from a vast resource). The workshop will use ODYSSEY Molecular Explorer and SPARTAN Student Edition to explore a number of examples from the standard course sequence for General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. In essence, science, i.e., on-the-fly solutions of fundamental physical equations, will be used to teach science. 
     
    Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop (Windows or Macintosh) in order to install fully enabled test versions of the programs.
     
    • College and University - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
    • Thursday, 1st August, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Jurgen Schnitker, jurgen@wavefun.com, Wavefunction
    • Classroom based, Workshop 304, Cost $10

 

  • Chemistry with Unity - This workshop will teach participants how to begin creating dynamic chemistry simulations using the power of Unity®, a professional video game development engine. Using prefab atoms and molecules, users can create meaningful simulations representing molecular behaviors and chemical reactions with just a few mouse clicks.
     
    Two levels of creating with Unity will be introduced in this workshop. The first level requires no coding skills whatsoever. The second level will introduce participants to writing simple C# code to control the behaviors of model atoms and molecules.
     
    This workshop will also provide several templates that will allow participants to create digital card/tile games that can help students learn vocabulary and master concepts in any area of chemistry. Prior to attending this workshop, participants should have installed a free version of Unity on a laptop (PC or Mac). An introductory guide to installing Unity is available using the "Chemistry with Unity" Playlist featured on the "Sogo Chemistry" Youtube Channel. 
     
    Lead presenter Steve Sogo has been using Unity for several years to create web-based games and simulations for Chemistry Education.   Many of these games and simulations are freely available on the InteractiveChemistry.org website.  Presenter Peggy Au has created a vast library of card and tile games that she has recently begun adapting to digital formats using Unity.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Thursday, 1st August, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Steven Sogo, sgsogo62@gmail.com, Laguna Beach High School Emeritus
    • Peggy Au, mpeggyau@gmail.com, Ernest Manning High School
    • Classroom based, Workshop 143, Cost $10

 

  • Online certification courses to help experimental graduate students incorporate molecular modeling into their research - Schrödinger’s materials science online certification courses teach students about applications of molecular modeling in chemistry and materials science through the use of the Schrödinger Materials Science platform. The target audience of the courses are experimental scientists and engineers wishing to broaden the tools they have at their disposal to understand and advance their research. The courses come with access to computing resources, allowing for researchers without access to computing clusters to still perform complex calculations. This makes the courses particularly useful for graduate students whose main focus is in experimental domains but want to make use of computational tools to further improve their research.
     
    For the workshop, participants will be given a limited license to the Schrödinger Materials Science platform and access to a virtual cluster to run calculations. The courses are guided by active learning principles, with tutorials on how to set up and run different calculations interspersed with short (~10 minute) lectures. We will guide participants through one of the materials science online certification courses for the first 1.5-2 hours of the workshop with periodic breaks for discussion and to make sure participants are staying on track. Examples of the types of tools that will be discussed include density functional theory calculations, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, and the use of machine learning for predicting material properties. The last hour will be reserved for participants to attempt their own calculations with guidance and help from the workshop presenters. By the end of the workshop, participants should feel comfortable using the Schrödinger’s Materials Science platform and have an understanding of how computational modeling can be an asset to their research goals. 
     
    Participants will need to bring their own laptop that is able to connect to the venue wifi and the workshop presenters will need access to a projector.
     

 

  • Aligning ELIPSS transferable skill rubrics with assessment needs - Transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving are frequently cited as important outcomes for STEM degree programs. However, these skills are not always explicitly developed and assessed during typical coursework. Recent research on process-rich exam questions has shown that it is not enough to provide assignments that cause students to USE particular transferable skills; questions and tasks must compel students to reveal use of these skills in their written work or group interactions, and assessment must be the final step in this loop. 
     
    The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with strategies to tailor the ELIPSS transferable skill feedback rubrics (elipps.com) to particular assignments within their courses, thus allowing for the assessment of a variety of skills to augment content evaluation. Feedback-focused skill rubrics will be explored within the context of a particular assignment in order to choose the appropriate categories to facilitate development and assessment of a specific transferable skill. 
     
    • Be introduced to the transferable skills and transferable skill rubrics from the ELIPSS.com project
    • Explore how some common assignments in chemistry courses can be aligned with transferable skills such as teamwork, information processing and critical thinking.
    • Compile a set of rubric categories to assess an assignment of their own choosing.
    • Take away strategies for using rubric components in combinations to assess process skills, as well as the rubrics that support these efforts.
  • K-12 - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments
  • Thursday, 1st August, 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM
  • Suzanne Ruder, sruder@vcu.edu,Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Juliette Lantz, jlantz@drew.edu, Drew University
  • Renée Cole, renee-cole@uiowa.edu, University of Iowa

  • Classroom based, Workshop 149, Cost $10

     

  • Development and Implementation of a Learning Model Where Students Experience the Scientific Research Process Through Bioinformatic Protein Modeling​ - Here we present an instructional model for undergraduate students to gain experience in protein modeling by developing a molecular story. Initially run as an independent study course for a few students at a time, the experience developed into an interdisciplinary course co-taught by faculty in different departments. Students use various protein-focused bioinformatics tools to develop their story and model. Peer mentors who previously participated in a protein modeling project are available to assist students. Primary literature, course materials, and protein modeling tools provide students with the ability to learn the scientific process, to understand molecular mechanisms. All finished projects included a protein model description sheet, poster, oral presentations, Jmol script, and 3-D printed protein model. Many participants present models at various conferences. To better understand student learning gained as part of this experience, a Research on the Integrated Science Curriculum Survey was administered post semester. This course represents a successful example of a course-based undergraduate research opportunity (CURE) that can be replicated in a wide variety of institutions and provide research opportunities for many students. 
     
    The workshop at BCCE will focus on exploring this model with participants and allowing time for them to work on a protein story that they find interesting and will come out with the resources to implement this type of CURE course within their own classroom. The primary faculty presenter will be joined by a student who had participated as a student in the course and has subsequently returned as a peer mentor for the next cohort of protein modeling students. He will be a great resource in explaining the student perspective of this pedagogical style. 
     
    Participants will leave the workshop with a concrete plan for implementation of this course structure and the resources to be successful in their home institutions. Participants will need to bring their own laptop to this workshop.
     
    • College and University - Curriculum and Cognition
    • Thursday, 1st August, 08:30 AM-11:45 AM
    • Arthur Sikora, asikora@nova.edu, Nova Southeastern University
    • Omar Saleh, os315@mynsu.nova.edu, Nova Southeastern University
    • Emily Schmitt Lavin, eschmitt@nova.edu, Nova Southeastern University
    • Classroom based, Workshop 87, Cost $10