Many students can probably recite or at least recognize definitions of elements, compounds, and mixtures. But the articles in this issue go beyond definitions and examples to show students the application of this knowledge. These activities also engage students with interesting and creative activities in a variety of formats.
One of the misconceptions my students had was that chemicals were things that you mixed together to create explosions, with vapors and odors as byproducts. But several articles in this issue demonstrate how chemical compounds are present in everyday substances that we use and take for granted. Green Beauty has descriptions of ingredients often found in cosmetics and other personal care products and potential risks they pose. At an age where students are interested in these products, examining the list of ingredients could be a relevant activity. The article also has a list of references. Thermal Paper Exposed describes an investigation of materials we take for granted. Literacy for the Digital Generation: Enabling Students to Develop 21st-Century Skills Through Real-World Chemistry also looks at common household substances as students create a blog about poisons. The author includes suggestions for blogging and a rubric. As you consider other activities involving chemicals, be sure to consider safety issues (NSTA’s SciLinks has several collections of websites related to safety, such as Chemical Handling and Safety.

It’s ELEMENTary, My Dear Watson combines a forensic investigation to show characteristics of materials such as pH, conductivity, and density. The activity also includes Google maps and science notebooks. Check out other resources for forensic science in SciLinks. (As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I don’t think he ever used this phrase in the original stories, but the title is a clever play on words.)
No study of elements would be complete without the Periodic Table. Deal Me In: Using Playing Cards to Model the Period Table of Elements has some ideas (using the 5E model to help students to understand patterns and infer the properties of “missing” elements. The Romance of the Atoms: Animated Atomic Attractions has a new twist on the element reports that many teachers assign: cartoons created with the computer animation software Scratch from MIT, which is free and downloadable. The article has screen shots of some of the projects. (I tinkered with Scratch, and it looks like fun! And I suspect that students will catch on quickly.) SciLinks has more on the periodic table as well as collections of sites on individual elements (see Manganese, for example).
SciLinks has resources on these topics related to articles in this issue:

• Elements
• Compounds
• Mixtures
• Lunar Eclipse
• Photovoltaic Cells
• Solar Cells

NSTA Recommends has a review of the book Exploratorium Science Snackbook: Cook Up Over 100 Hands-On Science Exhibits from Everyday Materials. The Exploratorium in San Francisco is a wonderful, hands-on place to explore science (if you’re going to the NSTA convention in March, put it on your list of places to visit). In addition to the book, the “snacks” are also available on Exploratorium’s Snack website.