This letter comments on the paper "Analysis of Citric Acid in Beverages: Use of an Indicator Displacement Assay" ["J. Chem. Educ." 2010, 87 (8), 832-835 (EJ918557)]. Discrepancies in figures and host:indicator complex behavior are discussed and an alternative experimental protocol presented.

Safety education is absent in the chemistry curriculum. This commentary discusses the consequences of the missing safety education for graduates and institutions that hire them. It suggests and discusses the application of the theory of Normalization of Deviance to explain why safety education is missing. It suggests ways to fix the shortcoming by…

This paper will provide several examples of science and mathematics integration: navigation/map-reading, ecology/ecosystems/population growth, and chemistry/molecular structures. This paper underscores integrating STEM subjects with problem-based learning with technology such as video/computer simulations/programming/coding and the dynamic free…

The author was invited to write this opinion piece following a presentation at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) conference on Methods in Education Chemistry Research related to translating creative teaching ideas and innovations into chemistry education research outputs. With a keen interest in learning and teaching and a solid training in…

Marie Ståhl and Anita Hussénius have defined what discourses dominate national tests in chemistry for Grade 9 in Sweden by using feminist, critical didactic perspectives. This response seeks to expand the results in Ståhl and Hussénius's article "Chemistry inside an epistemological community box!--Discursive exclusions and inclusions in the…

Despite advances in active learning pedagogy and other methods designed to increase student engagement in the chemistry classroom, retention and engagement issues still persist, particularly with respect to women and minorities underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. Relevancy also remains elusive in…

Green and sustainable chemistry (GSC) will become ever more central to the study of chemistry. This is demonstrated by commitments from the American Chemical Society, particularly the Committee on Professional Training and the Green Chemistry Institute, and the United Nations (UN Sustainable Development Goals), which underscore the urgent need for…

This article is a response to a commentary entitled "Comment on 'Rabbit-Ears Hybrids, VSEPR Sterics, and Other Orbital Anachronisms': A Reply to a Criticism," which focuses on the fundamental question of whether there exists a unique set of supposedly "real," or "best," orbitals for a given molecule. The authors of…

The article, "Using Animations in Identifying General Chemistry Students' Misconceptions and Evaluating Their Knowledge Transfer Relating to Particle Position in Physical Changes" (Smith and Villarreal, 2015), reports that a substantial proportion of undergraduate students expressed misconceived ideas regarding the motion of particles in…

In this article, the author reflects on chemistry teaching in the next century. He questions--Was anything he taught in his fundamental chemistry course of value? And, how will our current understanding of the molecular world change during his students' lifetimes? It reminded him of a pseudo-quote he remembered from his own university…

Studies of the philosophy of chemistry over the past 15 years suggest that chemistry is a hybrid science which mixes scientific pursuits with technological applications. Dominant universal characterizations of the nature of science thus fail to capture the essence of the discipline. The central goal of this position paper is to encourage…

This commentary summarizes the authors' basic disagreements with the paper, "Rabbit-Ears, VSEPR Sterics, and Other Orbital Anachronisms," which criticizes the authors' usage of the hybrid orbitals for H[subscript 2]O in their book, "A Chemist's Guide to Valence Bond Theory" (Shaik and Hiberty, 2008). The current article shows…

This paper is a response to Maria Andree's paper. Andree tells in the paper how mistakes in practical lessons may be critical events to change students' attitudes in regard science. While traditionally mistakes in practical lessons could obligate students to repeat the experiment in order to get the "right result" in the paper we have a good…

The 2018 Cleveland conference screened a documentary film titled "Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis Rocked the Boat and Started a Scientific Revolution." NAMTA conference participants enjoyed this memorable premier event in honor of Lynn Margulis, her symbiotic worldview, and her intimate community of scientific stars. This article is…

In this reply to Elon Langbeheim's response to an article recently published in this journal, authors Smith and Villarreal identify several types of general chemistry students' misconceptions concerning the concept of particle position during physical change. They focus their response on one of the misconceptions identified as such: Given a solid…