Events
- Annual Convention
- Great Teaching Round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- Webinars
"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision."
Events: 2010 Chemistry Schedule
Chemistry Summary
Friday, 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
"Problem Solving in Introductory Chemistry: A Life-Long Skill"
Speaker: Don DeCoste, Author and Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Friday, 2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
"Meeting the Needs of the Allied Health Student by Integrating Chemical Topics and Guided Inquiry"
Speaker: Laura Frost, Professor of Chemistry, Georgia Southern University
Saturday, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
"Online Learning Comes to Lab Sciences – Don’t Re-Invent the Wheel"
Speaker: Patricia Thompson, Professor of Chemistry, North Lake College
Friday, March 5th, 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
"Problem Solving in Introductory Chemistry: A Life-Long Skill"
Speaker: Don DeCoste, Author and Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Don DeCoste discusses the importance and relevance of capturing student interest through accessible explanations, visualizations, and an emphasis on everyday applications. Dr. DeCoste uses a step-by step approach to introduce the basics of introductory chemistry; an approach that has already helped hundreds of thousands of students master chemical concepts and develop life-long problem-solving skills. Significant emphasis is spent on the "big picture" approach to problem solving that will stay with your students long after they leave the course. Dr. DeCoste teaches students how to think their way through a problem using a creative, flexible approach based on understanding the fundamental ideas of chemistry and asking themselves key questions.
Biography:
Don DeCoste received his undergraduate degree in 1988 and his Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of Illinois. He joined the General Chemistry teaching faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. Prior to this, Don taught high school chemistry and mathematics for four years in Bakersfield, California. In addition to teaching General Chemistry, Don developed and teaches Chemistry 495, a course designed for undergraduate and graduate students interested in teaching high school chemistry. Don also serves as an Academic Advisor and is involved with the Institute for Chemical Literacy through Computational Science (ICLCS). Furthermore, Don is the proud co-author of Zumdahl’s market-leading, best-selling Introductory Chemistry text which just published in its 7th edition.
Friday, March 5th, 2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
"Meeting the Needs of the Allied Health Student by Integrating Chemical Topics and Guided Inquiry"
Speaker: Laura Frost, Professor of Chemistry, Georgia Southern University
Allied Health Chemistry courses are often billed as introductions to General, Organic, and Biochemistry (GOB). Many of these courses spend the majority of the instructional time focused on the concepts of general chemistry with as much organic chemistry jammed in as possible. Biochemistry, the topics of which are most relevant to allied health students, is often covered minimally. We will discuss strategies for integrating the topics of General, Organic, and Biochemistry throughout the course to facilitate coverage of topics relevant to allied health students. Quite often this course is populated heavily by female students who learn well through collaboration. This workshop will also introduce you to some guided inquiry group activities that have a positive effect on student learning in this course.
Biography:
Dr. Laura Frost is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Georgia Southern University. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and has been teaching at Georgia Southern University since 1999. In 2007 she received the rare University System of Georgia Regent’s Award for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for her reforms in teaching chemistry to allied health students. Laura Frost is a member of the Chemical Education division of the American Chemical Society and has been active in chemical education reform for the past decade.
Saturday, March 6th, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
"Online Learning Comes to Lab Sciences – Don’t Re-Invent the Wheel"
Speaker: Patricia Thompson, Professor of Chemistry, North Lake College
Teaching chemistry fully online, including a "wet lab," and engaging interactive learning games, quizzes and multimedia is now a reality and the results are impressive. Chemistry professor Patricia Thompson of North Lake College in Irving TX reviews e-learning science teaching methods, and describes the "how to" of transitioning from face-to-face to online learning. Assessment results indicate that students are performing just as well, and sometimes better, than those taking lab science courses on campus. She discusses overcoming obstacles during this transition, best practices, communication methods, and student interaction and feedback. She shows how she uses SoftChalk to create engaging pedagogical methods and explains how students use the commercially prepared lab kit called a LabPaq to perform traditional experiments away from campus. The presentation will conclude with a Q&A session.
Biography:
Patricia K. Thompson is passionate about teaching and working with students at the community college level. She brings over twenty years of experience as a teacher and volunteer curriculum leader. Patricia has a master’s degree in Organic chemistry from Brigham Young University. She is currently teaching chemistry at North Lake College, which is part of the Dallas County Community College District. Patricia has developed and taught the online introductory and first semester general chemistry courses. The first semester general chemistry course has been recognized as meeting the Quality Matters review standards.
Patricia is currently a member of the Wildfire Mentor Program which provides technology training, multimedia support, and preparation for online teaching to North Lake College faculty and employees within the DCCCD community in order to meet the Quality Matters standards for best practices in distant education. In addition, Patricia is presently serving as the Regional Director of the Science Olympiad in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The Science Olympiad is a non-profit organization promoting and encouraging science education in the K-12 grades through exciting team competitions throughout the nation. She enjoys working with youth and has served as a chemistry merit badge counselor with the Boy Scouts of America for several years.
Chemistry Section Chair:
Thomas Jose, Blinn College