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The second edition of the eChemistry in the National Science Education StandardsE was made as a response to the changes in the field of high school chemistry education. The book addresses the 1996 National Science Education Standards and its chapters feature collaboration between a high school chemistry teacher and a college or university chemistry professor.

Inquiry-based teaching and learning and technology integration are integral parts of the National Science Education Standards ad AAAA Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy. It is found that there are very few chemistry WBI's in the public domain, and the WBI's found are with a limited scope and content coverage and so the need for extensive Web-inquiry (WBI) in chemistry is expressed.

The magnetic moment of a spinning electron is discussed relative to errors in direction of magnetic field propagated in freshman chemistry textbooks. Over the most recent 20 years, many freshman chemistry textbooks, of which several from the last 40 years were examined, have offered an inaccurate figure showing the relationship between spinning electrons and direction of the resultant magnetic field or spin angular momentum. Before 1980 no figure depicting the magnetic field was offered, but it is growing in popularity for textbook use. Now the error in the illustration is being corrected, but is still found in some 1998 texts, some of which are the widely used ones which have been much reviewed in many editions. Other errors have been seen in the figure as well.

The 9-12 National Science Education Standards have been criticized as lacking chemistry and many feel the requirements are already exceeded due to a misunderstanding of the Standards. The Standards call for basic knowledge in many chemistry areas, including industrial, environmental and organic chemistry. Teachers providing more information in some chemistry areas rather than some in all are failing to meet the Standards while the Standards also require process-oriented, inquiry-based instruction. A lesson plan reader is being designed to help in the interpretation of the Standards.

The National Science Education Standards are a consensus effort primarily focused on K-12 science education but which have implications for all areas of science education. The proposed reforms, including integrating multiple disciplines and emphasizing inquiry, are to be implemented by new teachers. However, the current chemistry and teacher education programs do not support these philosophies, making it unlikely that new teachers will implement them based on the Standards alone. Therefore, teacher training needs to be reformed before the Standards are likely to become reality.

Trends in teaching science in the United States are discussed. It is believed that students should have more experience with science is a process, since many people in the country do not accept scientific explanations and many ignore science when they make decisions. Information about the value system of science is also provided.

The National Science Education Standards call for teaching a kind of science that provides both an understanding of the basic concepts essential for success in society and for solving practical problems. The standards are for content, teaching and student assessment. In-service teacher development and improved teacher-education curricula are necessary to improve the science education system.