Who lit your spark? Likely if you’re reading this you were inspired at some point in your life to study chemistry by some person, probably a teacher or by something you read or watched. This month we’d like to put our ACS-GHS spotlight on the Metropolitan Houston Area Chemistry Teachers Association. This group of teachers is a local affiliate of the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas. They meet three to four times a year to network, share and learn from each other. Teachers can earn professional development credit by attending the meetings. In the fall they met to coincide with the ACS National Chemistry Week Marvelous Metals. The Metro Houston area chemistry teachers met on the Saturday before National Chemistry Week for some food, friends, and chemistry fun. There was a periodic table game, in honor of the International Year of the Periodic Table (courtesy of Bean Burr); activities related to the chemistry of metals, in honor of the National Chemistry Week theme of Marvelous Metals; and a few gas related demos and activities (thanks to Amiee Modic) for our teachers who were new to the Metro group and new to teaching chemistry.

Roxie Allen, brought out some metal related activities that some had never seen, and others had forgotten about, and the exploring began. There was creating an activity series or table of reduction potentials using just small bits of metals, a few drops of solution, and some filter paper in a petri dish; then we used a variety of 9V batteries assembled in series to anodize niobium and titanium wire, creating colorful pieces that could be made into jewelry.

The information about these metal activities can be found in the Metro Houston folder on the ACT2 website. If you’d like more information about MHCTA or ACT2, please email Roxie  at rallenchem@gmail.com.

Thank you for being dedicated volunteers to Houston area students!