The Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED) is one of the 33 technical divisions within the American Chemical Society (ACS). Its members come from the entire educational spectrum (pre-secondary, secondary, two- and four-year colleges, universities, research institutions), and include those from industry who are concerned about the education and professional training of future chemists and other molecular scientists. DivCHED provides a common ground for teachers and students of chemistry to examine chemical education in its broadest sense through its committee and governance structure, website, Newsletter, programs at national and regional ACS meetings, the ACS Exams Institute, the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE), and the premier journal in its field, the Journal of Chemical Education.
The Board of Publication, in its management role for the Journal of Chemical Education, is exploring the benefits of associating the Journal with the extensive resources of ACS Publications, which might benefit us in areas of processing manuscripts, producing the Journal, serving existing subscribers, identifying new modes of distribution, and marketing the Journal.
At the 236th National Meeting of the ACS the Division of Chemical Education received its third ChemLuminary" award sponsored by the ACS Divisional Activities Committee. We were recognized for the Division of Chemical Education Region Awards for Excellence in High School Teaching. At the awards ceremony our Chair-elect, Mark Freilich, accepted the award on behalf of the Division as the following award citation was read.
“The Division of Chemical Education Region Awards represent a major form of recognition for high school chemistry teachers. They also involve innovative cooperation between a Division with the ACS Regions.”
The ChemLuminary Award was presented to us this year because 2007 was the first year for the awards, which represent a four-year planning, development, and implementation effort by the Division and its members, in particular Glenn Crosby, Jane Crosby, and Morton Hoffman.
Members should be proud of this award, because its endowment means it will continue into the future. Nominations are now open and most of the regions have posted the forms on their Web sites. To access all the Web sites, visit the ACS Regional Meetings Web page (accessed August 2008). Finally, the endowment is still open for further contributions. An online form is available for this.
In the photo, Mark is flanked by ACS President-elect Tom Lane and member of the Division Activities Committee, Barb Moriarty.
Have you thought about traveling to an international conference dealing with chemical education? Are you willing to share your experiences with the membership? The Division of Chemical Education would like to encourage such experiences by offering some financial support. At the New Orleans meeting, the Executive Committee adopted the guidelines developed by the International Activities Committee.
The Division of Chemical Education is developing a strategic plan to make the division more responsive to its members. The plan is based upon the needs assessment that you may have filled out earlier this year, and we would now like to seek feedback from you the members of the division. We are also seeking volunteers to serve on task forces for each goal of the strategic plan.
Be a part of the effort to honor great teachers and great teaching. If you have not yet contributed to the Regional Awards endowment—or even if you would like to contribute again—your donation will be greatly appreciated. An online form is available.
Along with our parent organization, the American Chemical Society (ACS) and our monthly publication, the Journal of Chemical Education (JCE), we offer the "Chemistry Teacher Connection" (CTC) to secondary school teachers.
The University of the Virgin Islands invites applications for a full time, tenure track Assistant/Associate Professor of Science Education to begin in August, 2009. The successful applicant will hold a Ph.D. in a science or science education field, a demonstrated educational research focus within the science discipline, and ability to teach at the undergraduate level.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is establishing a university-wide institute, the mission of which is to develop, strengthen, and promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research, education and outreach in the region.
WMU is seeking to fill two positions in chemistry education. Both candidates must have strong chemistry credentials. The successful candidates will share the following responsibilities: the coordination of first year chemistry, supervision of chemistry education masters and doctoral students, supervision and teaching of chemistry for elementary teachers, conducting funded research in chemistry education and science education.
In 2009, in order to emphasize and integrate the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approaches to Visualisation in Science and Education, the conference will be organised into daylong themes. Each theme will be examined from the perspectives of physical scientists, cognitive scientists and psychologists, and science educations.