Under the surface of new narratives, we tell and retell the same stories and relearn the same lessons. From the reasons we teach in the first place, to recalling that progress is not always made linearly, openly, or transparently, and on through to the daily decisions we face as educators, we are in the business of providing enlightenment to the next group that comes through the door, over and over again. This selection of book and media recommendations visits (and revisits) the theme of how we need to learn (and relearn) the important lessons we wish to convey.Keywords: Ethics; General Public; Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary; Public Understanding/Outreach; Textbooks/Reference Books;

Humans are keenly sensitive and responsive to effective storytelling. An effective oral or written narrative, combined with experience, is still one of the most compelling ways to understand something new. Recently, using information from cognitive science, people have been re-examining the hallmarks of effective written communication, producing advice and guidelines that are certainly relevant to any formal or informal instructional setting.

This selection of recommendations starts with a set of speculative questions and answers them from the world of proven facts. Turning that on its head, the other selections start with some known facts, and pose intriguing questions about the way things might be, or might have been, in a speculative world.Keywords: Ethics; General Audience; Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary; Public Understanding/Outreach; Textbooks/Reference Books;

An online discussion is used to engage students in data interpretation and analysis in an introductory organic chemistry laboratory course. Students post an audio or video recording to explain their problem-solving processes and to provide interpretation of laboratory data. The discussion board (VoiceThread) features a drawing tool that also supports the inclusion of images and graphical representations of data. The activities described are broadly applicable to any science discipline and are particularly useful in high-enrollment classes where opportunities for students to practice data interpretation and discussion of lab results may be limited.Keywords: Communication; Computer-Based Learning; IR spectroscopy; Laboratory Instruction; Organic Chemistry; Safety; Second-Year Undergraduate; Thin Layer Chromatography;

Higher education is under huge financial and political pressures to change. Another critical driver is not always as present in the conversation: just what is being learned and how well. A recently proposed model for transformational teaching provides three empirically determined principles for what might constitute criteria for the distinctiveness of higher education. The third of these principles, which is to promote positive, learning-related attitudes, values, and beliefs, creates a compelling challenge for educators to demonstrate the enduring values from an education.Keywords: Chemical Education Research; Curriculum; Distance Learning/Self Instruction; General Public; Learning Theories;