"Jerry Bell and the Joy of Chemistry" Symposium
Monday, August 29, 2011

MORNING SESSION

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Chemistry
8:40-9:00 a.m.

Jerry Bell: Joyful chemist extraordinaire
A journey full of learning, mentoring and service: from Davenport, Iowa, to Harvard, to UC-Riverside, to Simmons College, to NSF, AAAS and ACS in Washington, D.C., and to UW-Madison. On the occasion of his 75th birthday, we salute Jerry for his contributions and accomplishments...and we look forward to more.

Leonard Soltzberg, Simmons College Dept. of Chemistry
9:05-9:25 a.m.

Jerry Bell and the craft of chemistry
A great painter possesses artistic imagination and creative drive, to be sure. But without mastery of the craft of painting, she would be but a dreamer. Similarly, a chemist must be able to envision molecules and reaction paths; but the craft of chemistry − hands−on laboratory craft − is also essential if the potential benefits of chemical research are to be realized.
Jerry Bell's teaching has stressed hands−on chemistry from his earliest endeavors. That vision has flourished at Simmons College, most recently in the Undergraduate Laboratory Renaissance project. This transformation recognizes that laboratory craft encompasses planning, organization and communication in addition to operational skills. We are systematically replacing expository laboratory experiments with course−based guided participation in ongoing faculty research projects. Three years of assessment data indicate that this approach has a positive impact on student attitudes and achievement.

Barbara Pressey Sitzman, Granada Hills Charter High School
9:30 a.m.-9:50 a.m.

Opportunity, encouragement, support: Opening doors to careers in chemistry
Jerry Bell led the first Dreyfus/Woodrow Wilson Institute for Chemistry Teachers at Princeton University. With this first and important experience, he opened the door to the professional chemistry community for this high school teacher. One such opportunity can dramatically impact a person's professional life. I invite you to consider the nature of doors that can be “opened” and think about ways that we can increase opportunities for prospective chemists. Our support, encouragement and action are critical to the future of science in the United States.

Ron Perkins, Greenwich High School, retired; University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Chemistry
10:05-10:25 a.m.

What do you get by mixing birds, a bell, a snake, a clock, and seven mysteries?
A few times in each generation, a great teacher will appear who has the ability to engage others in making the abstract concrete and the complex simple; then, effortlessly demonstrate that one's simple understanding is actually far from complete! In fact, it might be incorrect. I enter my conversations with Professor Bell with “full understanding”; I leave knowing that there is much more to be learned! Bell makes the study of chemistry exciting, active, and open. This is the sign of a truly Great Teacher!

Glenn Crosby and Jane Crosby, Washington State University Dept. of Chemistry
10:30-10:50 a.m.

Effectiveness of teacher professional development programs: Perception and reality
The authors have spent a quarter−century working with middle− and high−school teachers and students. Their activities were state−wide, regional, national and international. Some of the programs were integrated with ACS Regional and National Meetings and DivCHED Biennial Conferences, while others were independent of any formal scientific society. The speaker will review the intent of such programs, the perception of success and failure, and some of the logistical, social and political difficulties encountered when running professional development programs.

Henry A. Bent, University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Chemistry, retired
10:55-11:15 a.m.

Suggestions for simplifying general chemistry
Chemistry's hard. It's new words for new concepts—a foreign language twice over. It can't be made too easy. Presented will be remarks regarding SI prefixes, the two topics high school chemistry students say are the most difficult, the problems of atomic orbitals, helium in periodic tables, and VSEPR Theory, a new notation for dative bonds, a Valence Stroke Termination Rule, a simple route to Valence Sphere Models of Molecules, and a challenge: to teach chemistry in “The Grand Manner,” arguably the most distinctive thing that chemists can do, as chemists, for education. And the hardest.

Rodney Schreiner, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Chemistry
11:20-11:40 a.m.

Seeing (and hearing and tasting and smelling) is believing (perhaps)
What we know about the world, especially what we know through science, has come to us by means of our senses. Thus, to improve the reliability of our knowledge, we need to appreciate how our senses mediate physical stimuli to create our perceptions. Over the course of many years, I have worked with Jerry Bell to develop numerous “classroom” demonstrations of physical phenomena, including some that reveal aspects of perception. I will describe and present some of these latter types of demonstrations, in whose development Jerry has been essential.

AFTERNOON SESSION

Sylvia Ware, American Chemical Society Education Division, retired
2:00-2:20 p.m.

Programs—and man—for all seasons
I joined ACS staff as the first manager of the Office of High School Chemistry in 1979, when ACC had few activities for high school teachers and students, but was anxious to expand in this area. This expansion involved not only new staff activities, but growth within the member Division of Chemical Education, Inc., and a new committee at the governance level. Beginnings have always fascinated me, and I was fortunate then, and for the next 26 years, to have Jerry Bell as an advisor, a consultant, a staff member, but especially as a friend, as the Education Division grew to administer, not only new pre-college programs but also new undergraduate and graduate activities. This growth, and the role of Jerry Bell in ACS education programming will be discussed.

Morton Z. Hoffman and Dan Dill, Boston University Dept. of Chemistry
2:25-2:45 p.m.

John W. Moore, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Chemistry
2:50-3:10 p.m.

Norbert J. Pienta, University of Iowa Dept. of Chemistry; Editor, Journal of Chemical Education
3:15-3:35 p.m.

Mary Ann Stepp, George Washington University Dept. of Anatomy and Regenerative Biology and of Ophthalmology
3:50-4:10 p.m.

Jerry A. Bell, Simmons College, retired; University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Chemistry
4:15-4:55 p.m.