News & Updates

This past summer AACT hosted an AP Chemistry Content Writing Team to create AP chemistry focused teaching resources for our High School Classroom Resource Library. The four teachers chosen focused on creating teaching resources directly related to the Learning Objectives for the topics of intermolecular forces, photoelectron spectroscopy, Coulomb’s Law, electrolysis, reaction mechanisms, and kinetics.

As chemistry teachers around the country head back into their classrooms and begin planning activities for their students, AACT will be highlighting resources from our high school resource library that can be used to reinforce topics in different units throughout the school year. We’re beginning the year with articles, videos, simulations, and activities that could be used to support a Chemistry Basics unit.

Apply now to participate in Science Coaches for next school year (2018-2019)!

Are you planning to attend BCCE 2018 hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana this summer? AACT will be there, along with many AACT members! You will find us in the exhibit hall at our booth and at the workshops we are planning for K-12 teachers of chemistry.

Are you planning to attend the 7th Annual STEM Forum & Expo hosted by NSTA in Philadelphia, PA on July 11–13, 2018? AACT will be there too, along with many AACT members! There will be many opportunities to connect with AACT and other members at the AACT booth and at the workshops that we are planning for K-12 teachers of chemistry. Here is a list of events hosted by AACT.

In our last news post, we looked at classroom resources that focused on equilibrium. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching acids and bases. This includes pH, acid theories, strong versus weak acids and bases, titrations, indicators, and buffers.

AACT members have access to 50 ACS Publications articles each year. We will be highlighting one article each month that you might consider downloading through this member benefit. This month we are featuring a hands-on student activity from the August 2008 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled, The Sweeter Side of Density, by Michael Davis and Charles Henry.

With just over a week to go before the AP exam, you’re involved with review activities to get your students ready for the big test. But have you thought ahead to what you’ll be doing after May 7th? Many teachers use that time to complete lab work they didn’t get to during the school year. Others cover topics that are no longer included in the curriculum framework. Others decide to lighten things up with a long term project.

In our last news post, we looked at resources that focused on resources for teaching thermochemistry and thermodynamics. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching equilibrium. This includes establishing equilibrium and equilibrium constants, the reaction quotient, and LeChatelier’s Principle.

AACT members now have access to 25 ACS Publications articles each year. We are highlighting one article or activity each month that you might consider downloading through this member benefit. This month we are featuring an AP level “dual” investigation from the February, 2018 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education, titled “Studying Intermolecular Forces with a Dual Gas Chromatography and Boiling Point Investigation” by AACT member W. Patrick Cunningham and four members of his 2016-17 Scientific Research and Design class at Johnson High School, San Antonio.

In our last news post, we looked at classroom resources that focused on teaching aqueous solutions. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching thermodynamics. This includes endothermic and exothermic processes, enthalpy, Hess’s Law, entropy, and free energy.

Congratulations to the three Chemistry Teachers of the Year!

We challenged teachers to tell us what they've heard isn't chemistry and we'd show them how it was related to chemistry. Read on to find out the winning answer and how Jenelle Ball, AACT's 2017-2018 Governing Board President, responded.

In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on phase changes and heat transfer. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching aqueous solutions. This includes molarity calculations, solution preparation, dilution, solubility, solubility rules, and colligative properties.

AACT members have access to 50 ACS Publications articles each year. We are highlighting one article or activity each month that you might consider downloading through this member benefit. This month, we are featuring a hands-on student activity from the July 2014 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled A Hands-on Activity Incorporating the Threefold Representation on Limiting Reactant by Angélica M. González-Sánchez, Edgardo L. Ortiz-Nieves, and Zuleika Medina.

There are many K-8 classroom resources available in the AACT Resource Library, many which connect well with other content areas, so teachers can easily incorporate chemistry lessons into their everyday activities.

In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on the gas laws. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching phase changes and heat transfer. This includes exploring kinetic molecular theory, phase changes, heat capacity calculations, and calorimetry.

Join AACT at the 5th USA Science & Engineering Festival (USASEF), April 6-8, 2018.

AACT launches a new member benefit that allows teacher members to have their students independently watch videos on their personal computers or mobile devices from anywhere.

In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on stoichiometry. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching the gas laws. This includes exploring the relationship between pressure, temperature, volume, and moles of gas both conceptually and mathematically.

AACT members now have access to 50 ACS Publications articles each year. We are highlighting one article or activity each month that you might consider downloading through this new member benefit. This month, we are featuring a hands-on student activity from the December 2008 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education titled Clip Clues: Discovering Chemical Formulas by Carmen Fies and Diana Mason.

Chemistry: it’s the central science, and honestly, pretty great. But is there anything that *isn’t* chemistry? We’re challenging teachers to explore, 'What in the World Isn’t Chemistry?'.

This past summer AACT hosted an AP Chemistry Content Writing Team to create AP chemistry teaching resources for our High School Classroom Library. The first three lessons, released on October 19, 2017, focused on Big Ideas 4 and 5. This week we are publishing the final three resources from our content team members which each focus on Big Idea 6.

In our last news post we looked at resources that focused on teaching chemical equations. Now we are moving on to lessons and activities that can be used to support a unit plan for teaching stoichiometry. This includes the following topics: setting up stoichiometry calculations, determining limiting and excess reactants, and calculating percent yield.

It might only be January, but AP Chemistry teachers are starting to think about the May exam date and are putting together their review strategies. We recently posted a new classroom lesson plan that will help prepare your students for the AP exam.