Result: Chemistry Class Gets Real.

Beginning chemistry students spend plenty of time memorizing formulas and balancing equations, but they may not get to practice other indispensable skills, such as synthesis and sample analysis. To help students think like chemists, David Yaron of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and colleagues launched ChemCollective, a new set of simulations, Java applets, and interactive experiments aimed at high school and introductory college classes. Instead of grinding through cookbook experiments, students must design their own procedures to, for example, determine the amount of silver in a solution.