The chemistry behind battery makers, chipmakers, and corrosion-resistant bridges connects directly to topics in general chemistry.

– Redox reactions explain how batteries store and release energy.
– Electrochemistry helps us understand corrosion.
– Equilibrium plays a role in how contaminants interact in water treatment.

Making these connections in the classroom helps students see where chemistry concepts show up beyond the textbook, from the infrastructure around them to the technologies shaping what comes next.

Which industry connection resonates most with your students? Tell us in the comments!

#NationalChemistryWeek #ChemEd #GenChem #STEMEducation #REALCHEM

The discoveries below range from the ozone layer to the insulin in a pharmacy today:

• Mario Molina traced stratospheric ozone loss to chlorine radicals from CFCs and shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Luis Federico Leloir discovered sugar nucleotides and won the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Luis Miramontes completed the first synthesis of an orally active progestin at age 26
• Lydia Villa-Komaroff was the first author on the 1978 paper showing bacteria could be engineered to make proinsulin
• Norma Alcantar turns cactus mucilage into a water treatment that binds arsenic and bacteria

Their work shows up in kinetics, metabolism, functional groups, recombinant DNA, and colloid chemistry. Swipe through for the story behind each one.

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Temperature and pH help explain why the same tea can feel so different.

In this lesson, Clarice Phelps, nuclear chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, explores the chemistry behind temperature, pH, acids, bases, and proton transfer, and how these concepts connect to the world around us.

While temperature changes the energy and motion of molecules, pH tells us about the balance of protons in a solution. Together, these properties shape everything from the taste of your tea to the health of ecosystems and the success of industrial processes.

Because chemistry is happening everywhere, even in your teacup. Watch the full explanation at realchem.org.

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Maybe that’s a new way to introduce a difficult concept. A different kind of practice before an exam. A quick look at where students are getting stuck. Or a resource that gives them another way to work through a problem.

We pulled together six ideas from REAL CHEM that you can use throughout the semester, from real-world explorations and cinematic videos to scaffolded practice, analytics, and a digital online tutor.

Envision your own course and students at your desks. Try out the resources that feel right to you!

#REALCHEM #ChemistryEducation #HigherEd #GenChem #BackToSchool #ActiveLearning #TeachingTips

A simple, repeatable process can help students build those habits:

Read & Deconstruct → Visualize → Identify the Chemistry → Plan → Execute & Verify

REAL CHEM uses scaffolded practice, real-world data, active learning, and personalized feedback to give students opportunities to apply what they’re learning and build confidence along the way.

With practice, students can begin to recognize the thinking patterns behind different types of chemistry problems and carry those strategies into new situations.

#ChemistryEducation #ChemistryTeaching #GeneralChemistry #STEMEducation #HigherEducation #ScienceEducation #Chemistry

Take a cut apple. Leave it on the counter for a few minutes, and the surface starts to turn brown.

Why?

Cutting the apple exposes compounds inside its cells to oxygen. Enzymes help drive reactions that produce brown-colored compounds, a process called enzymatic browning.

That simple observation can become a much bigger chemistry question: What happens if you change the temperature? The pH? The amount of oxygen? The surface area?

Students can make a prediction, test one variable, collect observations, and use chemistry to explain what they see.

Sometimes a good chemistry investigation starts with something sitting in the kitchen.

#REALCHEM #ChemistryEducation #GeneralChemistry #Chemistry #STEMEducation #HigherEd

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for discoveries involving asymmetric synthesis, autocatalysis, and molecular handedness.

At a general chemistry level, their work shows how molecular structure affects chemical behavior. Two molecules can contain the same atoms and have the same connections, yet differ in their three-dimensional arrangement. Those differences can influence how they interact with biological molecules.

↳ Kagan helped chemists favor the formation of one mirror-image form over the other.

↳ Soai demonstrated how a chiral product could help promote the formation of more product with the same handedness.

Their discoveries show how fundamental chemistry concepts can lead to new possibilities in research and application.

REAL CHEM helps instructors build the foundational chemistry knowledge students need to pursue further study, develop their expertise, and contribute to the materials, technologies, and processes shaping our future.

#NobelPrize #Chemistry #ChemicalEducation #STEM #WorkforceDevelopment #REALCHEM

It’s science (learning science 😉🧪), and the evidence here is substantial. Across 225 STEM studies, average failure rates ran near 34% under traditional lecturing and near 22% in courses built on active learning.

Every design decision in REAL CHEM traces back to that body of research. Woven together, those threads accomplish more than any single feature could on its own.

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The study, published in Environment & Health, tracked particles shedding from the bags themselves. Concentrations climbed across 30 days of storage, reaching 7 to 20 times the level in a freshly opened bag.

Two pieces of general chemistry:
• Mechanical stress and heat accelerate polymer breakdown
• Raman and FTIR confirm what the particles are

Some outside researchers read it differently. Jordi Petriz noted the study never established a mechanism, and that storage damage already has documented causes, including cell aging and oxidative stress. Particles being present is not particles being responsible.

When a study like this lands in your feed, how do you use it with students? Check out the research, linked in the comments.

#Chemistry #ChemistryEducation #REALCHEM #AnalyticalChemistry #ScienceLiteracy #ChemistryInTheNews

1. The paths students take through interactive courseware
2. What learning curves reveal over a full term
3. How to turn a hunch about your own course into a study, using data the courseware is already collecting

Thank you to everyone who presented and everyone who sat in!

We’re at Booth #23 and #24 in the Exhibit Hall through Thursday. The Mentor Coaching Corner is open for drop-ins, and there’s still time to enter the giveaway.

#BCCE2026 #ChemEd #ChemistryEducation