Abstract:     Through the years, I have collected and edited many misadventures that Rubin Battino and I experienced in doing demonstration shows that were videotaped live. Difficulties encountered in the studio preparation of our three hour set of videotaped demonstrations were also saved. These will make up one part of these showings. Gil Haight has given me permission to show portions of his Haightful Perils of Teaching which are spectacular in spite of technical problems. A videotape of Hubert Alyea doing his Old Nassau demonstration will be shown along with some tapes of others such as Bassam Shakhashiri and Ron Perkins caught in live demonstrations that presented problems. Portions of demonstrations by the Weird Science group will also be shown.

Biography:     John Fortman is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Wright State University where he retired in 2001 after 36 years of teaching freshman and inorganic chemistry. In 1998 he was appointed the Robert J. Kegerreis Distinguished Professor of Teaching and won seven different teaching awards over the years at Wright State. In 1998 he received the CMA Catalyst Award for Outstanding Teaching of College Chemistry. Dr. Fortman received his B.S. from the University of Dayton in 1961 and his Ph.D. in physical inorganic chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1965. He has published over 50 papers in chemical education in addition to his research publications. With Rubin Battino he has produced three sets of videotapes which contain over ten hours of chemical demonstrations for use at middle school through college levels. For over 25 years he has done chem demo outreach shows for middle and high school students in the Dayton area and continues to inspire and fascinate over 7500 students each year with at least 15 shows. He has done workshops on teaching and demonstrations around the country. He has designed alternative courses for general chemistry, elementary chemistry and chemistry for elementary education majors. His course for non-science students was cited as a model in the 1990 AAAS report on "The Liberal Art of Science: Agenda for Action". The alternative general chemistry course was developed while he was a member of the General Chemistry Task Force of the ACS Division of Chemical Education and starts with organic and biochemistry moving through materials and finishing with energy while empathizing applications and bringing in only those principles that are needed as they are necessary. The course has been characterized as being taught inside-out, upside-down, and backwards. His interests in addition to demonstrations and course content and organization include the use of analogies and videotaped material. John has been an ACS member since 1962 and is currently Councilor for the Dayton section and member of the Committee on Constitution & Bylaws after serving for five years on the Local Section Activities Committee. As an ACS Tour Speaker he has given over 200 talks over the past ten years, visiting 150 of the 189 different local sections and doing each of the 28 speaking tours at least once. He has presented in 49 of the 50 states.