Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) About CH
111
Welcome to Chemistry 111. I have prepared this
page to answer the most "Frequently Asked Questions" that student ask
me about this course. These questions presented are in the order that
you might ask them as you read the basic syllabus.
Although I have tried to anticipate many of your questions here, feel
free to ask me a question about the syllabus. Perhaps your question
will be included in the next version of my FAQ sheet!
What is "General Chemistry" all
about?
- This course is a designed to give first-year
students an introduction to the basic principles, concepts and
theories of chemistry at the college level.
- While it has no college prerequisites, it
does presuppose that you have had a strong science
background and/or one previous chemistry course.
- As part of the course I will also present a
variety of learning tools to help you master the material. Some of
these are in your text. Other tools can be found in the optional
study guide which focuses primarily on how to learn
chemistry rather than on what to learn.
- Keep in mind that I am here to help you find
your way as you try to accomplish the many learning objectives
that are included in this course. So, even though you have to
learn the material FOR YOURSELF, you don't have to learn it BY
YOURSELF!
What is the optional study guide all
about?
- This is a book that explains in detail
how to study chemistry rather than what to study. It can
help you learn to study smarter, not harder!
- On the learning objective sheets that I
prepare for each chapter, I will classify the content of each
chapter using the four types of chemistry content as defined by
this study guide: facts, concepts, rules and generic
problems.
- A copy of this book is at the reserve desk of
the library under my name. (This way, you can try it before you
buy it!)
- I also have a four page summary of the content
classification scheme used by this book, just to whet your
appetite! It is on the course web page or you can use the link
here: General Study Tips and
Learning Strategies for Introductory Chemistry Courses
What are your lectures like?
- I tend to follow the material in the text and
use many of the figures and diagrams from the book to illustrate
my lectures. So if you want to take good notes, it is worth
bringing your book to class.
- I also have my own summaries of important
facts, concepts, rules and generic problems on transparancies that
I will present in class. I will give you condensed bullet notes of
these transparancies so that you don't have to copy down
everything I put up on the screen.
- I typically begin each lecture with some news
and notes, then I provide some time at the beginning of class to
recap some of the material from the previous class or give you
time to ask questions. This is followed by the main topic or
topics for that class meeting. Then at the end of class I try to
save five minutes to wrap things up and give you hints on how you
can prepare for the next class.
- During my presentation of the main topics, I
try to provide a variety of active learning situations such as
those described in the section on in-class activities in the
syllabus. My goal is to provide learning situations that are
visual, kinesthetic (written) and cooperative as well as
traditional verbalization (lecture), although not all at the same
time or in the same class meeting!
- I also do example problems from the end-of
-the-chapter exercises that I think appropriately illustrate the
concepts being described.
- You are free to ask questions anytime in
class, not just at the beginning. However, I may not answer your
question right away if it anticipates what I plan to do later in
the class meeting. Questions that are not directly related to the
topics of that day can be submitted on a 3"x5" card, sent by email
or asked during office hours.
- When I do answer questions in class, my main
technique in answering them is to try to help you find your own
answer and help you think a question through rather than just
telling you how it is done and you copying down my words or what I
put on the board. This may seem frustrating at first, when I
answer your question with a question. But believe me, it is one
the best active learning strategies.
- Another item I am planning to use during class
presentations are "learning checks". These are short answer or
multiple choice questions tat allow you to immediately test your
understanding, I will ask for answers to these from the class or
take a class poll.
What are the "Learning
Objective Sheets"?
- These contain general notes about each chapter
including any sections that are to be skipped and the list of
problem from the end of the chapter that have been
assigned.
- These sheets also contain a list of everything
you need to be able to accomplish to "master" the material in each
chapter and a classification of it into facts, concepts, rules and
generic problems. These are the four types
of chemistry course content described on in the optional study
guide.
What are your exams really like?
- My exams have a variety of question types. I
typically have 20 points of multiple choice (10 questions, two
points each), 40 points of short answer questions (you do 5 out of
the 6 questions provided, eight points each) and 40 points
covering the application of rules and solving generic problems
(you do 5 out of the 6 questions provided, eight points each).
Only the multiple choice will NOT be similar to the end of the
chapter exercises that I assign as problem strategies.
- A composite sample exam will be available on
the course web page so that you can see in detail the type and
scope of questions I ask, along with brief answers.
- Please read carefully the section of the
syllabus that deals with exams. It outlines the procedure that
comes into play should you miss one of the first two exams in case
of an unforeseen emergency. There are NO make up exams given in
this class. Instead you will take the comprehensive exam at the
end of the semester to replace a missing exam score. You can also
use this to recover from a low score on one of the regular exams.
The comprehensive exam is also designed so that if you are better
at long term learning, over the entire semester, you can get a
second chance to display your mastery of the previous course
material. In summary, there 4 exams given during the semester. I
will take the top three exams scores to calculate your final grade
so there is no penalty for taking the comprehensive exam if you
have taken the other three.
- Keep in mind that the exams are only a little
more than 50% of the final grade. Therefore, the score on one exam
will not make or break you in this course.
- Finally, I also allow students to use note
cards on exams. On these cards you can write anything you feel
will help you on the exam. However I will provide basic tables of
data such as periodic tables, etc.
- There are a few rules for using these
cards:
- they must be 3"x5", but you can write both
sides
- they must be handwritten
- they must be turned in with the
exam
- While this may seem like a "cheat sheet", keep
in mind that by following these guidelines you will need to
selectively summarize and write down the information that you feel
is most important. In fact, once you have created the note card
you may have learned the material well enough so that you don't
really need it. However, it does act as a safety net so that you
won't forget anything important under the stress of the
exam.
The only other evaluation item I recognize is
the lab component of the course. Why?
- I have very specific learning goals in mind
for each of these other items, so I am using these titles to avoid
some of the traditional mental associations with words such as
"quiz" and "homework".
- "In-class Activities": I believe that an
active learning environment is more effective than a passive one.
Thus, as often as possible, a portion of the class meeting will be
devoted to an activity that will require active participation and
thinking on your part. These will replace traditional "quizzes"
and will be quite different from the problem-example format. In
most cases, you will not need to prepare for them. If preparation
on your part is required, I will announce this at the class
meeting before the activity is going to occur.
- "Problem Strategies": Rather than just
assigning homework problems to be completed, I want you to make a
conscious effort to examine your thought processes as you answer
each the end-of-the-chapter exercises. By recording how you
answered a question, you can begin to understand how you are
trying to use the material you have been studying . This will
allow you to refine and improve your learning habits and problem
solving skills. Some good models for problem strategies appear as
example exercises within each chapter. I will also do example
exercises as a regular part of many class meetings. You should
note that on the "Learning Objectives" sheet for chapter 1, I have
included answers for those questions that do not have short
answers in the appendix. I always assign exercises with brief
answers because I want you to focus more on the process
of achieving the answer and less on the answer itself. There are
often many ways to answer a question, so it is important that you
document your strategy then trying to mimic the text of me. In
fact, I deduct no points for incorrect final answers on the
problem strategy sets. I want these to be learning tools, not
evaluation tools or "mini exams". Each person learns a bit
differently and may use a different logical path to arrive at the
answer. Also, some students are minimalists in their explanations,
others are more detailed.
- How much should you include in a problem
strategy? That depends on you! You can use any style of Problem
Strategy that seems comfortable and fit the question but keep in
mind that I evaluate problem strategies by...
- first checking to see if you wrote down
more than just the answers from the appendix or a
simple paraphrasing of these answers
- then I look to see if your strategy is
pointing you in the right direction and is pertinent to the
question asked
- I look to see if your citations of text,
example exercises that are similar, tables, figures, etc.
and most important HOW you describe how you used each
item
- Finally, I look for questions you want me
to help you with.
- Things that I DO NOT look for are in a problem
strategy are:
- Whether you arrived at the "right
answer".
- Whether your problem strategy is
exhaustive.
- Whether you used a narrative or
diagrammatic format such as dimensional analysis to solve a
numerical problem.
- The "Good Questioner Points" are included to
give you an additional incentive to ask questions in class and in
other situations. Framing a question, verbalizing it, reacting to
the answer and then following up with a related idea or question
is one of the most effective ways to "learn" something. First,
this is definitely an active learning process. Second, it helps
you fit the topic into your own personal frame of reference. As
you can see from the basic syllabus there are a wide variety of
ways to do this including during office hours or by using question
cards (for those who are too shy to ask in class). Remember the
only stupid question is the one you don't ask! This item can be
satisfied in a number of ways. You do NOT have to ask questions in
class. You can also send questions by e-mail, come to my office
hours or ask questions after class.
Why is there so little in the syllabus about the
lab part of the course?
- You will hear more about lab at the first
meeting of your lab section. Your lab instructor will have a
separate syllabus for your lab section. My responsibility as the
lecture instructor is to take the lab grade at the end of the
semester and combine it with your lecture score for the purpose of
assigning the final grade in the course.
- To help you link the lecture and the lab
portions of the course I like to make regular references in
lecture to the lab experiment that is being performed. I also plan
to do some lab experiments in class.
The question I am most often asked is: Do you
"curve" the final grades?
- I do NOT use a "curve" to assign final grades.
This method of grade determination assumes that there will be a
small fixed number of A's, a fixed, somewhat larger number of B's,
a majority of the class would receive C's, etc. I don't like
making this assumption before the course begins. If all the
students in a class end the semester with final grades between 80
and 89%, these students should all receive B's.
- Also, applied properly, a curve means that
regardless of how hard some students work, they must do better
than the class average to get a grade higher than a C. So, their
grade is partially determined by how well other students are
doing. I believe a student's grade should be determined by how
well he or she completes or accomplishes the learning objectives
in the course not by your classmates.
- You will note that the grade cutoffs in the
syllabus are stated to only 2 significant figures. If you compare
this to the "Grading" section you will see that I calculate the
final percent using 4 significant figures. So before assigning a
letter grade, I do round up numbers slightly less than
the cutoff. For example, 79.5 is rounded up to 80%.
Whew! It seems like there is a lot to do here.
How tough is this course going to be?
To answer this please keep in mind the following:
- Much of chemistry is abstract and can be
viewed at the atomic and the macroscopic or "real world" levels.
You must be able to use both views and you must learn to connect
them. Since abstract ideas are more difficult to master this will
perhaps be harder than you expect.
- In many instances the ideas presented in the
earlier parts of the text lay the foundation for other chapters.
For example, if you didn't learn well the material on the periodic
table, you will have difficulty with periodic atomic properties
and electron configurations.
- I do not have time to teach you all the math
or other general learning skills you will need. If you are weak in
algebra or you don't have a study plan, this course will be more
difficult for you.
- Because of its breadth, this course is content
rich. You will be asked to learn a lot in what seems like a short
time. It would be wise to have a personal study plan and to try to
work on the course an hour each day.
- Although it may not seem like it at times,
there is more to studying chemistry than solving word problems. It
helps to use the correct approach for learning each type of
material. You don't learn how to solve problems in the same way
you learn facts. You need to lean to use the proper tool for the
proper task.
- To make the concepts easier to understand the
chemistry you will study is focused on pure substances and is
therefore a simplified version of the real world. So don't expect
it all of the topics to be "relevant" to everyday life. This will
make the material more abstract.
- The course is highly structured and I will try
to provide lots of feedback as to your progress. These are exams,
quizzes, homework, lab reports, etc. Thus these items are
important for more than just creating a grade for this
course.
What if I have a question and my schedule does
not allow me to take advantage of your office hours?
- You can contact me by telephone or by
electronic mail. You can also leave a note on my door or with the
Chemistry Department secretary. I will also be happy to set up a
regular special appointment.
- It has been my observation that many students
feel that they need only see the instructor in the case of some
dire emergency. This is silly. The instructor can be your most
valuable resource. I hope that you will come and see me for any
and all the questions you have. When my door is open, you are free
to walk in and interrupt me. If the door is closed KNOCK LOUDLY!
(My fume hood fan often drowns out weak taps!)
- Always remember, there are no stupid
questions , only questions that are easy for me to answer or
harder for me to answer. In fact, the only stupid question is the
one you are afraid to ask!
- I would also recommend that you find other
students in the course, perhaps in your lab section, for the
purpose of forming a study group. It has been demonstrated by
numerous studies on the learning techniques that student use that
teaching the material to someone else is the most effective ways
to learn yourself
- There are also volunteer tutors from the ACS
Club in Weyandt Room 128 and professional tutors and support in
the Learning Center in Pratt Hall.
- The preface to the text explains how to make
the best use of the learning aids provided by the authors and a
new web site for the text also provides various student support
services.
- And of course, there is always the optional
study guide if you are desperate! However, this is not a quick
fix. To be used effectively it takes time and some careful
planning.
I hope that things go well for you as you complete your first
semester as a chemistry student. Remember that I am also willing to
help and that even though you have to learn the material FOR
YOURSELF, you don't have to learn it BY YOURSELF!
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