Predicting the outcomes of chemical reactions is not only key to chemistry, but also a skill that some kids view as impossible.  How are...

Christmas break is almost over.  This inevitable day has been breathing down your neck for a while now.  And now, your mind has to shift...

Scan teacher social media and you will see all sorts of gifts that teachers give to their students.  Silver plated ornaments, copper...

Can you picture the giant stack of lab reports that you still haven’t graded?  Maybe they have a digital notebook and you haven’t clicked...

Sometimes simple wins. This is one of those times. Try using marshmallows to introduce VSEPR theory and have the kids use inquiry to...

Buffers can be challenging. Over the years, I have found that kids tend to get stuck in understanding buffers more than they should. This...

We all have them, favorite labs. You know the one that you can’t wait to do again next year. The Rocket Lab is that one for me. I will explain how this useful lab can be used to introduce empirical formula or stoichiometry. Even after the unit is over, I find myself referencing that lab and the kids remember! I am sure that there are kits online but the method I am using came in honor of my chemistry teacher, Mr. Gantz. I remember loving the rocket lab in his class in h

Have you had an experience like this? You just gave an articulate, succinct and accurate description of a chemical process. You chose...

Your classroom might just be too quiet. The longer I have taught chemistry, the louder my room has gotten. And not because I’m losing...

How many different ways have you introduced periodic trends? It’s been many for me. This year may have been the best. It balanced...

To celebrate Mole Day or not to celebrate, that is the question. If you go online right now you can make yourself feel pretty bad...

Le Chatelier’s Principle is easy. To you. But for whatever reason, it can take kids a while to see how perturbations to a system in...

Here we go. Parent teacher conference time. For some of us, our blood pressure shoots sky high, we develop a twitch, and our eyes begin...

We should all embrace the redneck side of teaching. Simple. Functional. Unconventional. Odd. Even us hoity-toity chemistry teachers...

Are your lab reports too big? Probably. Over the past few years, I have taken a hard look at my lab reports from AP chemistry down to...

I’ve been using the flame test lab in the wrong unit. Have you? For years, I’ve always used the flame test lab in my grade-level...

You might do it too. The teacher before you and the teacher before them had a unit at the beginning of the year to teach dimensional...

In your students’ minds, significant figures are not significant. In fact, they are an insignificant inconvenience. Just a random thing...

Your students think they are clean in the lab. They aren’t. Every one of us, during the lab safety talk, mentions keeping a clean and...

I’ve been overcomplicating the way I teach periodic trends. Have you? The goal of teaching periodic trends on the table is to allow the...