Start with career, because chemistry sits at the front of more paths than students might realize:

✅ Nursing and health professions, where dosage math and pH come up daily
✅ Cosmetic science, a growing field built on formulation and safety testing
✅ Environmental work, from water quality monitoring to remediation
✅ Emergency response, where reaction rates shape evacuation decisions

Then, widen it. Students may have an interest in the food they cook, the sport they play, or the medication a parent takes. (And there’s chemistry there, too!)

General chemistry can be challenging, and students who hold on to a personal motivation to keep studying are the ones who push through that stretch.

Instructors, what question gets your students talking about why chemistry matters to them? Share your go-to prompt in the comments!

#ChemistryEducation #BackToSchool #HigherEd #ChemEd #STEMEducation #REALCHEM

Biodiversity Month reminds us that connecting chemistry to what matters to students can motivate them to tackle challenging concepts and abstract problems with greater interest and understanding.

What local environmental examples do you bring into your general chemistry course, and which concepts do they help students understand?

To bring these connections into your course, visit realchem.org and get access to all of REAL CHEM’s Explorations.

#REALCHEM #BiodiversityMonth #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #GeneralChemistry #GenChem

In this tutorial video, cobalt(II) nitrate dissolves in water to form a pink aqua cobalt complex.

Adding hydrochloric acid introduces chloride ions. Then, those ions interact with the complex, and a new chlorocobalt species forms while the color shifts in front of you. The underlying chemistry is rich, and the demonstration gives students a foothold before the math arrives.

The principle it illustrates is Le Chatelier’s:
• Add a reactant and the system shifts right, toward products
• Add a product, and it shifts left, toward reactants
• Concentration and temperature both give students a lever they can reason through

Watch the full video at realchem.org.

#REALCHEM #ChemistryEducation #HigherEd #ChemicalReaction

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.

#ChemistryEducation #ActiveLearning #HigherEd #ChemEd #LearningScience #REALCHEM

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

Stop by to see the courseware in action, talk with the researchers and instructors who built it, and pick up the latest on our CMU OLI and ASU ETX Courseworks partnership.

The Mentor Coaching Corner is open at the booth this week. Bring a research question or a set of your own classroom data and work through it one-on-one with a REAL CHEM mentor. Walk-ins are welcome, and you can sign up at the booth for a scheduled session.

Tomorrow, we present symposium S203, Improving Chemistry Learning Through Interactive Online Courseware and Shared Data Insights, in three sessions at the Pyle Center.

Come say hello! There’s a giveaway at the booth, too.

#BCCE2026 #ChemEd #ChemistryEducation #REALCHEM

BCCE 2026 is almost here — and our team at REAL CHEM can’t wait to see you!

Stop by Booth #23 & #24 in Tripp Commons, meet our REAL CHEM team, drop in on a mentor session, and find out how chemistry instructors across the country are turning classroom data into real research insights.

📅 July 26–30 · UW–Madison

📍 Booth #23 & #24 · Tripp Commons

🎁 Door Prizes!

Let’s Connect: https://realchem.org/

Register /Learn More about BCCE here: https://lnkd.in/gBxma7wY

hashtag

#BCCE2026 hashtag
#ChemistryConference hashtag
#UWMadison hashtag
#ResearchInsights hashtag
#MentorSession hashtag
#ClassroomData hashtag
#NetworkingEvent

The answer starts with chemistry.

Your body cools itself by producing sweat. As sweat evaporates, it absorbs heat from your skin, helping lower your body temperature.
But on humid days, the air already contains a large amount of water vapor. That makes it harder for sweat to evaporate, reducing your body’s ability to cool itself efficiently. Even if the air temperature is only in the low 80s, it can feel much hotter because your natural cooling system isn’t working as well.
This familiar summer experience illustrates several foundational General Chemistry concepts, including:

• Heat transfer
• Evaporation
• Intermolecular forces
• Water vapor

This everyday example illustrates why contextualized learning matters. Concepts like heat transfer, intermolecular forces, and phase changes become more meaningful when students can connect them to experiences they already have. REAL CHEM is built around this principle, helping educators make General Chemistry more relevant by connecting foundational concepts to authentic, real-world phenomena that promote engagement and lasting understanding.
Everyday questions often lead to the best chemistry discussions.

We’ll be at BCCE this July — Booth #23 & #24, Tripp Commons. Come find us to learn more about how REAL CHEM works in your classroom, and we’d love to share valuable data from our extensive research with students using REAL CHEM.

July 26–30 · UW–Madison

Let’s Connect: https://realchem.org/

Register /Learn More about BCCE here: https://lnkd.in/gBxma7wY
#Chemistry #Science #STEM #Education #Teaching #Faculty #Students #REALCHEM

Stop by Booth #23 & #24 in Tripp Commons to explore REAL CHEM courseware, connect with our team, and discover how chemistry instructors across the country are turning classroom data into real research insights.

Your students’ data has a story to tell. Come hear ours.

📅 July 26–30, 2026
📍 Tripp Commons · Booth #23 & #24 · UW–Madison

Let’s Connect: https://realchem.org/

Register /Learn More about BCCE here: https://lnkd.in/gBxma7wY

#BCCE2026 #ChemistryEducation #RealResearchInsights #EducationalInnovation #DataInClassroom #ChemistryInstructors #StudentSuccess #NetworkingOpportunity