BITeS

A blast from the past

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 10/21/2016 - 10:07

I recently attended my ##th (not a typo, I just don't want to think about the number) college reunion. As one tends to do at these things, I walked through my old stomping grounds. A lot has changed over the years. One thing I noticed was the interesting teaching aid for learning how to write ionic formula shown below. I don't remember seeing those when I was a student, so I imagine they were tucked away in some back corner collecting dust, which is a real shame.

San Francisco reminder

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 10/14/2016 - 10:19

I know it isn't exactly the due date yet, but I wanted to remind you that October 31st is the deadline for submitting an abstract for the DIC. I have a feeling that overall submissions are a bit lower than expected at this point seeing how I recently got a reminder from Steve Koch about getting people to submit abstracts. If you want to submit to our Undergraduate Research at the Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry poster or oral sessions, click here.

Lab Report Grading

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Mon, 10/03/2016 - 00:16

After completing nearly every household task known to humanity, I finally sat down to grade the semester's first batch of inorganic lab reports. One hour later, I had scores assigned to 12 abstracts. And now I find myself procrastinating even further by writing this blog post.

The parental unit of all community challenges

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Mon, 09/26/2016 - 09:14

Greetings IONiC community. It is time again for a community challenge, and let me tell you, this is going to be a challenge. The topic: fundamental aspects of organometallic chemistry. The challenge: making Literature Discussion LO's using papers from ACS journals. Is that enough of a teaser to get you interested? I sure hope so.

Philadelphia Reflections

Submitted by John Miecznikowski / Fairfield University on Wed, 09/14/2016 - 09:20

A recent Inorganic Chemistry viewpoint article, "Great Expectations: Using an Analysis of Current Practices To Propose a Framework for the Undergraduate Inorganic Curriculum” (Inorg. Chem., 2015, 54, 8859-8868) summarized that the undergraduate inorganic chemistry curriculum in the United States is broad and that there is tremendous variation in content coverage.  There is no single inorganic chemistry course.

If you're going to San Francisco

Submitted by Flo / Slytherin' State on Wed, 09/07/2016 - 08:39

Be sure to sign up for the IONiC VIPEr sessions...

With apologies to Scott McKenzie.

"Teaching Inorganic Chemistry" in the City of Brotherly Love

Submitted by Betsy Jamieson / Smith College on Wed, 08/10/2016 - 11:30

It is hard to believe that August is already here and that in less than two weeks chemists will gather in Philadelphia for the Fall ACS meeting.  For those of you attending the meeting, we wanted to draw your attention to a symposium organized by John Miecznikowski from Fairfield University on "Advances in Teaching Inorganic Chemistry Lecture and Laboratory" that will take place on Wednesday, August 24.  Building upon the Inorganic Chemistry viewpoint article "

IONiC at BCCE

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Mon, 07/25/2016 - 16:15

Are you heading to Greeley, CO for the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE)? If so, keep in mind the following opportunities to learn more about VIPEr and swap inorganic stories with other members of the IONiC community.

Everyday Chemistry

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:26

There are times during the semester that I really have to work hard to get my fellow LC members to get their BITeS posts written. I understand, there is always so much to do. Not that the summer is really any better, but it is often a time to step back from classes for a bit and re-energize. Sure there are research students and workshops and conferences and placement exams and scheduling and advising and, wow, there just really isn't any down time is there? But we do frequently find time to sneak in some vacation.

Hail! to the victors valiant

Submitted by Flo / Slytherin' State on Tue, 06/28/2016 - 22:33

This is a workshop with IONiC VIPEr. 

-Adam Johnson

You have to imagine this being sssung...loudly (and poorly) to the tune of Captain Jack Sssparrow. Yes, the LC is having some fun at the workshop. But there is also some really incredible work being done. You can check the ssschedule here for the details, but I wanted to give you a little update.