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Dr. John Moore, a chemist with a tie-dyed lab coat to prove it, recently authored a book to help readers grasp the basics of chemistry. Moore, professor of chemistry at Stephen F. Austin State University, said that although he never owned a chemistry set as a child, he always loved science. As a college student, he became fascinated with chemistry and with the idea of creating new compounds. His most recent creation is “Chemistry for Dummies,” a book that explains the basic concepts of chemistry with examples from everyday life.

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Shirley Luna – Feb. 22, 2003

SFA Professor Writes Chemistry Book For Dummies

When it comes to chemistry, Dr. John Moore is no dummy. And with the publication of his first book, he’s making sure no one else has to be either.

“Chemistry for Dummies” helps readers understand everything from atoms to elements, combustion to cosmetics, and compounds to chemical structures.

“A colleague introduced me to a publishing company representative, and she asked if I would be interested in writing a book,” said Moore, a professor of chemistry at Stephen F. Austin State University. “So I wrote a chapter. The publishing company called me one day and said there was good news and bad news. The good news was that I had a contract for the book. The bad news was that I had three months to write it.”

While many SFA faculty members last year were enjoying Spring Break, Moore was busy writing. He completed the task and is now enjoying seeing the product of his effort on the shelves of local bookstores.

Moore joined the SFA faculty in 1971 and specializes in training elementary school teachers to teach chemistry and physical science. He said his years of teaching at SFA provided a wealth of information to draw from when he was writing his book.

“ Teaching college chemistry courses gave me the content, but working with area elementary school teachers gave me the technique to be able to explain chemistry in a way that made it understandable to the average reader,” Moore explained.

Moore plans to use the publication as a textbook for his chemistry course for elementary education majors. In addition to training SFA pre-service teachers, Moore has received four Eisenhower grants for the professional development of area elementary school teachers.

Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, a master’s degree from Furman University in South Carolina and a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction from Texas A&M. He received the SFA College of Science and Mathematics Teaching Excellence Award in 2002 and currently serves as interim chair of SFA’s Department of Chemistry.

Moore serves as co-editor of “Chemistry for Kids,” a feature of The Journal for Chemical Education. He is currently working with an SFA colleague on a curriculum guide for advanced placement chemistry courses taught in public high schools.

“Since science is going to start showing up on state testing, we’re seeing more interest from school districts,” he said. “Television programming, like the CBS program ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,’ has also made science much more cool than it used to be.”

Moore hopes that this surge in the popularity of science will equate to higher sales of his book. And higher book sales will prove the point his has been making during his entire teaching career: chemistry is for cool people, but it’s not for dummies.

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