James Flack Norris Award
The James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry pays tribute to outstanding contributions to the field of chemical education. The Award consists of a $3,000 prize and a certificate. The presentation takes place at an Award Ceremony and dinner in November, followed by a formal address by the Awardee.
The Award, the first national award for outstanding achievement in the teaching of chemistry, was established in 1950 by the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society to honor the memory of James Flack Norris, Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a teacher of great repute. For more information, please see the Brief History of the Norris Award.
The first award was made in 1951 to Professor George Shannon Forbes, an outstanding teacher at Harvard and, in retirement, at Northeastern University. Past awardees are given in the list of Norris Award recipients.
 
Click for a brief history of the Norris Award
 
Click for a bio of James Flack Norris
 
Click for a list of previous Norris Award recipients
 
Vicente Talanquer
2012 Norris Award to Professor Vicente Talanquer
photo from Vicente Talanquer's Facebook page
The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society is pleased to announce that Professor Vicente Talanquer is the winner of the 2012 James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry.
The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society is pleased to announce that Professor Vicente Talanquer is the recipient of the 2012 James
Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry.
As part of the core faculty in an innovative science teacher preparation program within the College of Science at the University or Arizona, Dr. Talanquer has targeted research focused on trying to characterize the conceptual frameworks and the patterns of reasoning used by chemistry students to answer questions and solve problems that require qualitative reasoning (classification, prediction, comparison). He then explores how students’ ideas and reasoning strategies evolve as they develop more expertise in the discipline.
As a chemical educator, Dr. Talanquer has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals in English and Spanish and 10 textbooks, four of which are the elementary school science textbooks used from 1996 through 2008 by all elementary schools in Mexico. At the undergraduate level, he has created a knowledgecentered environment where students develop their understanding of concepts through specifically designed activities rather than being told what the concepts are, impacting how students learn. He has developed a new curriculum, CHEM XXI, funded by the National Science Foundation, that implements principles of how people learn centered on research-based, best teaching practices. At the graduate level, he guides students to become well-rounded and independent researchers by providing them with meaningful experiences such as in developing research questions for their dissertation without dictating to them what area to study, thereby giving them a sense of ownership of their research project. The Award will be formally presented to Professor Talanquer at the November 8 meeting of the Northeastern Section.