North Jersey ACS Members at The Biennial Conference on Chemical Education

The Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) was held last week at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Over 1300 chemical educators who teach at the college and secondary school level attended it. There were over 840 papers, which is a record for that event! This meeting is organized by the Division of Chemical Education for chemical educators to exchange the latest information about the teaching and learning of chemistry at every level K-25. The meeting also consists of plenary lectures given by experts for the whole conference. Experts in chemical demonstrations exchange the latest in demonstration and put on a show for the entire conference. Every evening there is a social event after the evening plenary. The meeting is always held on a college campus and most attendees live and eat in the dorms. In fact even if a person opts to live in a near by hotel you can eat in the dorm because that is where you network with other members of the profession and find out informal information.(Photo caption Bettyann, Jeannette, Tom, Diane)
Every year members of the North Jersey Section of the ACS attend this conference. This year three members presented papers, Anita Brandolini, Jeannette Brown and Valerie Kuck. Diane and Tom Krone, and Betty Anne Howson also attended the meeting.

Jeannette Brown and Valerie Kuck (a Purdue alumni) gave presentations in a Symposium entitled " Women in Chemistry Education. Ms Brown's presentation was "The History of African American Women Chemists” Ms Kuck's presentation was "Analysis of the Doctoral Training of faculty members at Research Universities". Both women have done extensive research on their topics and will be publishing books in the future.

(photo caption Val Kuck)

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Dr. Brandolini's paper was entitled "The Keys to Chemistry: Interactive Web-Based Tutorials". Her paper was about a simple way for students to learn the background information that they need in order to understand chemistry courses. It is intended for college students whose secondary preparation was not up to par, but it is also being used by current secondary students as a tutorial. (Photo caption Anita Brandolini)
Diane Krone and Bettyanne Howson are high school teachers who attend these conferences for professional development to hone their skills. They spent a lot of time attending the demonstration lectures and POGIL workshops. POGIL is Process Oriented Guide Inquiry Learning, a student -centered discovery-based teaching strategy designed to simultaneously develop content knowledge and key process skills such as critical think and teamwork. This method prepares students for working in teams in college and industry.

(Photo caption The Aldehydes and Ketones whop it up)
Just so you know this meeting is not all work and no play. Sunday night there was an ice cream social sponsored by the Journal of Chemical Education, Monday night there was wine and cheese in the exhibit area and Wednesday night there was music and dancing. The music was played by a pick up band of chemists called "The Aldehydes and Ketones". This group was started two years ago at the Biennial at Iowa State University and was such a hit they came back for an encore presentation at this convention. They played music from the 60's and 70's. They had people such as Dr. Glenn Crosby retired chemical educator, dancing along with the younger chemists!