Practical chemical problems in the cement industry are being solved by such techniques as infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, atomic absorption and arc spectroscopy, thermally evolved gas analysis, Mossbauer spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy. (CP)

The commonly used method of reliance on failure to reject the conventional null hypothesis as a positive indication of equivalence is questioned in a study. An alternative method, based on a re-visioning of the null hypothesis, is proposed which also avoids the uncontrolled type II error present in the traditional method.

Students are learning too many facts, and not enough emphasis is being placed on observational skills. An activity is suggested for college students which shows how observations are made and problems formulated from them. (BB)

Advocates the use of discovery or guided inquiry experiments for developing critical thinking in problem solving. Provides a stepwise method for creating inquiry experiments and provides an example by comparing the two methods for a freezing point experiment. (JM)