UC Riverside 2008
AP Institute
August 4 - August 8, 2026

[ e-mail Addresses ]   [ Resources ]

Amy
Cathy
Chip

Chris
Dave
Donald

Gary
Helen
James

Karen
Lily
Manuel

Nichole
Patricia
Raj

Sheri
Steve
Tara


The Participants
Raj Bains Bloomington HS [email protected]
Manuel Colón University Preparatory [email protected]
Cathy Doub William Workman HS [email protected]
Donald Easter Capistrano Valley Christian HS [email protected]
Sheri Harris Arlington HS [email protected]
 
Tara Knight Santiago HS [email protected]
Nichole Lindersmith Hesperia HS [email protected]
Dave Markie Aquinas HS [email protected]
Lily Min Etiwanda HS [email protected]
Karen Montoya Ontario HS [email protected]
 
Patricia Noonan Village Academy HS [email protected]
Steve Oster Arlington HS [email protected]
Amy Pippenger Mt. View Jr. High [email protected]
Chris Schrempp Osos HS [email protected]
Gary Strittmater Santiago HS [email protected]
 
Chip Ungermann Livermore HS [email protected]
Helen Wagner Cornelia Connelly HS [email protected]
James Yeap Roosevelt HS [email protected]
Paul Groves South Pasadena High School [email protected]




Resources from Groves or Mentioned During the Institute

Answers: Ornament Labette [.JPG]
This is a handout about the ornaments we make at Winter Break. I don't have a Word File of this anymore. Here is a scan of the hardcopy.

Answers: Hydrolysis Labette [Word]
This worksheet is not as obvious as the others and deserves an answer sheet. I am understanding more and more about conjugate acids and bases and I may go back and revise this labette. I wanted two examples of conjugate bases of weak acids and two examples of conjugate acids of weak bases. The conjugate bases were fine (acetate ion and sulfite ion). I am learning that the only common conjugate acid of a weak base is ammonium ion. Read the explanation to see what I mean. Just to let you know... even after 25 years of teaching AP chemistry, I am still learning and refining my understanding of this stuff!

Lab Handout: Analysis of a Aluminum-Zinc Alloy (.pdf)
Here is the handout of the lab we performed on campus on Thursday. Dr. Simpson told us he buys the gel capsules at Clark's Nutrition. He will get the information of where he buys the alloy.... I'll post it here.

Video/DVD: Chemistry Classics
I showed this in the class. I have the old VHS, but it is also available on DVD for the same $20 price. There is a Chemistry Classics II as well that I think I may have to purchase. Lee Marek is famous (infamous) for his traveling Weird Science demonstration shows and many visits to the David Letterman show. Chemistry Classics I contains my favorite 50's shows... Properties of Gases and Properties of Liquids. The late Chris Schraeder throwing chunks of sodium into a strip mine pond is also included. Click on the link for the Order Form in Microsoft Word format.

Website: History of Science Trip 2009
Lee Marek runs a trip each year based on a scientific concept of individual. This year it will be Charles Darwin. Here is a Microsoft Word file with a preliminary description.

ChemEd -- A Great Summer Meeting
On even-numbered years, there is a big summer chemistry meeting called the BCCE (Biennial Conference in Chemical Education). In 2010 it will be at Denton, TX. On odd-numbered years, you can go to ChemEd. In 2009 it will be in Christchurch, New Zealand!! I can't find a link to a conference site, yet, but here is the university.

National Chemistry Olympiad
This is part of the American Chemical Society's web site. The multiple choice tests are useful as practice exams for both the NChO Competition in March as well as for AP practice. These exams are kind of heavy in organic. The National Exam each year also includes two open-ended laboratory questions. The older exams can be found on the Chem Team web site (link from chemmybear). I have sorted some of these by topic and use them as additional practice topic by topic. Look for these on my "Handouts by Chapter" list on my AP chemistry class's page.

Gels (theatrical cellophane) used in the ROYGBV Photoelectric Effect Demo
Roscolux Rx25 (Lt. Red) -- (this leaks a little)
Roscolux Rx22 (Deep Amber)
Roscolux Rx10 (Med. Yellow)
[Note: I put some of the Med. Yellow behind the Red and Orange windows, too.]
Roscolux Rx 389 (Chroma Green)
Roscolux Rx 68 (Sky Blue)
Roscolux Rx48 (Rose Purple)
I bought my gels at: Premier Lighting.

Website: Flash Animation of Tom Lehrer's Element Song.
This is a wonderful presentation that shows all the names and follows the music beautifully. The little animations are great... the more the student's know about the elements, the more they will get out of this.

Here are a couple of my Written Lecture and Lab Notes in their original condition... so you can see the pictures better.
  1. Atomic Structure and Bonding Lecture [Word | Acrobat]
  2. Predicting Reactions Lecture [Word | Acrobat] and Labs [Word | Acrobat]
  3. Equilibrium Lecture [Word | Acrobat] and Labs [Word | Acrobat]
  4. Redox Lecture [Word | Acrobat] and Labs [Word | Acrobat]

D&S; Marketing
We talked about the question books from D&S; Marketing. The multiple choice questions are written in the same format (non-calculator) as the AP exam. The website has some sample pages to look at. There are free-response questions as well. You need to buy the books in lots of 10.

GEMS (Great Experiences in Math and Science)
These are wonderful teachers guides that each outline 5 - 8 days of activities about a science topic. While geared for middle school and younger, some of the activities are the basis for some of my Labettes. My favories are Color Analyzers, Bubbleology, Paper Towel Testing, Crime Lab Chemistry, Chemical Reactions, and Fingerprinting.

Poem That Makes Sense After Studying Predicting Reactions:
Everyone has heard the poem:

Johnny was a chemist,
But Johnny is no more.
For what he thought was H2O,
Was H2SO4!

I found this second verse:
Johnny's mother, an M.D.,
Gave him CaCO3.
Johnny's neutralized, it's true,
But now he's full of CO2.

Hot Potatoes
This is a downloadable free (to educators) program that allows you to make your own online quizzes. Many formats of quizzes are supported.
One of MY examples of a Hot Potatoes Test: Midterm Practice Test



Great Resources from the Participants!


This is Chris Schrempp's website with his demos and book.
The more I look at it, the more impressed I am.

You-Tube: Happy Mole Day To You
This is the You-Tube movie that Raj told us about on our last morning.

You-Tube: "It's A Family Thing!"
Here is a fun and informational chemistry rap about the organic families and functional groups.

You-Tube: Physics Guy Rap
Inventive, if a little repetitive, physics rap.

Website: United Nuclear.comHere is a guy who will sell you uranium, rare earth metals, carbon sticks, and lots of other unusual stuff. I'm not sure that your house won't be watched if you buy stuff from this site, but it's interesting to look.


Resources From Former Years:
Website: Science Geek
This site has a lot of good information for AP teachers including Powerpoints.

Website: ChemistyGeek.com.
Neil Rapp from Bloomington, Indiana has a CD with many Chemistry and AP Chemistry PowerPoints that he will send to "visiting teachers" for a cost of $5. His instructions on how to obtain a complete set of his powerpoints can be found near the bottom of the page if you follow the link.

Website: General Chemistry Online
Fred Senese has put together tutorials, interactive construction kits, and tools that you might find valuable. I especially like the Isomer Construction Kit, the graphing tool, the animations of dipole-dipole and London Forces and a cool electrolyte simulation.

Website: Chemistry Comes Alive!--CD's
Amy highly recommended this set of 8 CD's published by the Journal of Chemical Education. Purchasing the set is much cheaper then buying them individually. They are a great collection of video clips of reactions and include the British Braniac video clips of the alkali metals.

Website: Activity of Metals Simulation
John Gelder at Oklahoma State University has many useful simulations and animations that he uses in this chemistry classes as well as his distance learning classes. It is worth looking around his site for little gems such as this one. They may be part of his chemistry courses. Explore.

Website: Tom Greenbowe at Iowa State--Lab Simulations
I have worked on some committees with Tom Greenbowe and he has been developing some great-looking laboratory simulations. This looks like the main page for finding all of them, but I haven't fully explored the site. They generally have nice graphics and are interactive.

Website: Physics 2000!
This is a rather extensive website that tells the story of the development of the Atomic Theory in a comic-book format. Interspersed throughout are good graphics and animations that may be useful on their own or as extra reading for the students.

Qualitative Analysis Lab Sim--Anions
From Dartmouth College, this Java laboratory simulation is called Soluble Puzzles in which you need to determine the Anion in an unknown substance.

Qualitative Analysis Lab Sim--Cations
From Dartmouth College, this Java laboratory simulation is called Soluble Puzzles in which you need to determine the Cation in an unknown substance.

Zumdahl Powerpoints
Here are some useful powerpoint presentations designed to follow the Zumdahl text.

Website: Dr. Cotton's Pre-AP Chemistry Class Notes
This website has a collection of Powerpoint presentations. They may be useful as is or as a starting point for your own presentations.

Website: Nancy Clark's Resources
Nancy Clark from Massachusetts has retired after 39 years of teaching Science. She has a page with links to Mrs. J's PowerPoints, Jeopardy software, "World of Chemistry" videos, Chemistry jokes, a student safety contract, and much more.
--Note from Paul... I've taken a little time to look at this site... it is PACKED with good stuff... I will definitely come back to grab more resources.

Website: Chemistry Applets from Davidson College
Here is a nice set of simulations and problems based on Applets. The graphics are simple, but they present various good ideas. Check them out.

Demos from Univ of Wisconsin
I was looking around the Internet for some images of demonstrations and came across this site. It is sort of a catalog of demos so the college professors can choose which ones they want to have set up for their classes... there are some good images here and a good reminder of some demonstrations worth doing.

Chromate-Dichromate Equilibrium:
I found this site when I was looking for a picture of the chromate-dichromate Le Chatelier's demonstration. It is actually a cute little interactive website.

Some interesting media files to accompany a Prentice Hall Book.

Atom Builder:
This is a cute Shockwave program that asks you to build a stable atom by creating proton and neutrons (using quarks) and placing the protons, neutrons, and electrons in the correct places. Try it.