Hello again, and welcome to November! In this newsletter, I’ve included the following important updates about ChemQuiz.net:
- *NEW* Aufbau diagrams added to Electron Configurations Quiz!
- *NEW* advanced options for nine quizzes!
- More new features, bug fixes and other improvements
- Site licenses for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard
*NEW* Aufbau diagrams!
I’m really excited to announce the latest addition to ChemQuiz.net: Aufbau diagrams in the Electron Configurations Quiz!
Students can practice building Aufbau diagrams by clicking on the boxes to change them to one up arrow (↑), a pair of up and down arrows (⇅), or an empty box. For big elements with lots of electrons, students can use the “Check/uncheck all boxes” feature to make it easier to complete diagrams. You can also generate questions that only show the outer orbitals, which works better for multiple choice questions:
This is my first attempt at a completely graphic question style using JavaScript, so I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Try it out and let me know what you think! I’d also love to hear if you have any suggestions for other diagram-based questions that would be useful to you and your students.
New advanced options for nine quizzes!
I get lots of requests from Chemistry teachers who want more control over the questions generated by the assignments they create for their students, and as a classroom teacher who has always been very picky about the materials I use, I completely understand! Since I created ChemQuiz.net, I’ve tried to balance giving users more options with keeping the quizzes easy to use by students.
To try to resolve this issue, I’ve created a number of “advanced options” that give teachers more control over their assignments. These options appear in the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard when you create an assignment, but are also accessible to teachers on the main page of each quiz, as long as they’re logged in. Here are some of the new advanced options that are available to use immediately:
- Average Atomic Masses Quiz – specify the number of isotopes in each problem, and only generate isotopes with whole number masses (thanks, Susan!)
- Density Calculations Quiz – specify the wanted value (D, m or V)
- Gas Laws Quiz – specify the wanted value (P1, P2, T1, T2, V1, V2, n, P, T or V)
- Laboratory Equipment Quiz – only show OSHA pictograms (thanks, Matthew!)
- Lewis Dot Structures Quiz – only generate Lewis structure questions with a single central atom (thanks, Debra!)
- Light & Energy Quiz – specify the wanted value (ν, λ, E, bond dissociation energy)
- Naming Compounds & Calculating Molar Masses Quiz – exclude compounds with Dy, Eu, Mn and U ions (thanks, Jason!)
- Periodic Trends Quiz – ignore exceptions and focus on the trend only (thanks, Patrisha and Andrew!)
- SI Conversions Quiz – exclude specific SI prefixes (thanks, Ryan!)
Remember, these advanced features are currently only available to teachers with an active site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard. You can find out how to purchase a site license here, or you can sign up for a free 30-day demo by filling out this short form!
I hope these new features help you generate the kinds of questions you want for your students! If you have a suggestion for improving any of the quizzes on ChemQuiz.net, please send it to me, because I’m always interested in hearing what my fellow Chemistry teachers have to say.
More new features, bug fixes & other improvements
In addition to the new advanced features listed above, I’ve also made the following updates to the site:
Dashboard – these features and bug fixes also apply to PhysQuiz.net!
- bug fix: colleagues at the same school couldn’t see assignment previews (thanks, Ashley!)
All Quizzes
- new feature: students can no longer paste into answer boxes on quizzes
- correction: improved quality of fake atomic masses to make them more realistic (thanks, Matthew!)
Bond Polarity & Electronegativity Quiz
- correction: electronegativity value for Pb was incorrect (thanks, Lan!)
- bug fix: answers were calculated using density values directly from the database instead of rounded values given in the problem (thanks, Elaine!)
- bug fix: density problems solving for mass or volume using kg/m3 and g/L were off by a factor of 1000 (thanks, Scott!)
- bug fix: “Load More Problems Like This” button caused quiz to crash due to referencing an empty array key
- bug fix: selecting multiple choice option could crash the quiz if elements 102-104 were randomly selected for problems
- correction: updated electron configuration of nickel to reflect research literature (now [Ar] 3d9 4s1)
- new feature: added questions to determine subatomic particles of ions (thanks, Michael, Shauna & Jillian!)
Naming Compounds & Calculating Molar Masses Quiz
- bug fix: some excluded ions were still showing up in questions (thanks, Pamela!)
- correction: added “hydrogen phosphate ion” and “hydrogen phosphite ion” as alternate names in the database for their respective ions (thanks, Scott!)
- correction: gallium is multivalent but didn’t have parentheses in its name (thanks again, Scott!)
- bug fix: student progress on multiple choice questions was not being saved (thanks, E!)
- correction: two beryllium beta decays were incorrectly producing beryllium daughter isotopes instead of boron (thanks, Matthew!)
- bug fix: new “simplify trends” option prevented displaying results because of missing array values (thanks, Andrew and Kasey!)
- bug fix: Liter-to-gallon conversions weren’t calculating the correct answer (thanks, Scott!)
- bug fix: answers for rounding problems that were less than 1 that were entered without a leading zero (e.g., .01) were being scored as incorrect (thanks, Scott!)
- correction: changed justification question to “Best justification?” so that it’s clearer for students (thanks, Patrisha!)
Thanks again to everyone who has sent in a suggestion or reported a bug! Please let me know if you encounter any problems while using the site, because I want the site to be as bug-free as possible so that it works properly for everyone.
Site licenses for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard
Thank you to the 153 schools and tutors who have purchased or renewed their site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard for the 2024-2025 school year! Site licenses help me pay for the web hosting and software I use to write the quizzes, and it keeps the website ad-free. They also make it possible for me to spend time adding new features to the quizzes and the Dashboard.
With an active site license, you can:
- create assignments for your students using the quizzes on the site
- select the options you want that best match your students’ needs (e.g. ionic compounds only)
- use the “tab switch detection” anti-cheating feature
- review results with your students so they can correct misconceptions and grasp concepts more quickly
- track your students’ progress and download results for data analysis
If you’d like to purchase a yearly site license for just US$70, you can do so in any of the following ways:
- credit card through Square (the most popular option)
- school purchase order (contact me for a sales quote – I’m also happy to fill out any paperwork required by your institution or state)
- personal check
- CashApp, PayPal, Venmo or Zelle at chris@chemquiz.net
Additional schools in the same district can purchase an add-on license for 50% off at just US$35 per school. If your school offers physics, you can bundle a site license for the PhysQuiz.net Dashboard for just US$35 more! Please contact me if you have any questions about how to purchase a site license.
Site licenses also make it possible for me to make the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard free for 178 public schools in the United States where the majority of students are economically disadvantaged. If you teach in a high poverty public school (at least 50% of your students on free/reduced lunch or designated “economically disadvantaged”), please send me a link to the supporting documentation and you’ll get a free site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard forever (PhysQuiz.net, too!).
Help me share ChemQuiz.net with the world!
If you like using ChemQuiz.net, there are three quick and easy things that you can do to help me promote the site!
- Add your school to the list of supporters on the About page! Simply go to the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard, click on “Your Info” in the top menu bar, activate the box next to “Display School on ChemQuiz.net“, and click the “Update Your Info” button.
- Tell another Chemistry teacher about ChemQuiz.net and encourage them to try out the Dashboard!
- Follow @ChemQuizDotNet on Facebook and Threads and share my updates with your fellow Chemistry teachers!
With Halloween, daylight saving time, and Election Day all within a week of each other, this can be a really challenging time to be in school! I hope you’re in a position where you can block out the noise and focus on the joy of sharing science with your students, although that’s easier for some than it is for others. Our society needs scientists and scientifically literate citizens, so what you’re doing matters – a lot!
Thanks again to everyone for all of your support, suggestions and feedback! Please use the Contact form or email me at chris@chemquiz.net if you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns. Take care, and to those of you in the United States, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
-Chris