Evaluation of General Chemistry Textbooks

Based on the historical reconstruction presented in the previous section, here we present criteria for the evaluation of introductory, university-level general chemistry textbooks. In each criterion textbooks were expected to describe two aspects (a and b), and based on these the textbooks were classified as  

Criterion 4 Role of Experiments by G. P. Thomson. Thomson was also independently working to provide experimental evidence for wave-particle duality and reported his results to Nature about two months after Davisson (Medicus 1974). This shows how various research groups may work on the same problem and arrive at the same conclusion using different experimental techniques. Furthermore, it illustrates that there is no one way of doing science. For this criterion to be met, it is important for the textbooks to describe the following aspects  

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Evaluation of General Chemistry Textbooks Results and Discussion... 

Formulation of six criteria for evaluating general chemistry textbooks based on the historical reconstruction of wave-particle duality (aspects a, b, c, d, and e, in 1 above). 

Evaluation of introductory, university-level general chemistry textbooks (published in U.S.A.), based on the six criteria. 

Table 1 Evaluation of wave-particle duality in general chemistry textbooks (n = 128)...

It is plausible to suggest that evaluations of textbooks based on a historical reconstruction, constitute a stepping-stone for further classroom studies to evaluate the effect of including criteria presented here to improve students understanding of wave-particle duality. Besides the criteria, this study provides science teachers with 26 Satisfactory (S) presentations (with extensive excerpts) based on 128 general chemistry textbooks. In their textbook. Physics, the Human Adventure, Holton and Bmsh (2001) have endorsed such strategies in unequivocal terms ... 

The definition above is a particularly restrictive description of a nanocrystal, and necessarily limits die focus of diis brief review to studies of nanocrystals which are of relevance to chemical physics. Many nanoparticles, particularly oxides, prepared dirough die sol-gel niediod are not included in diis discussion as dieir internal stmcture is amorjihous and hydrated. Neverdieless, diey are important nanoniaterials several textbooks deal widi dieir syndiesis and properties [4, 5]. The material science community has also contributed to die general area of nanocrystals however, for most of dieir applications it is not necessary to prepare fully isolated nanocrystals widi well defined surface chemistry. A good discussion of die goals and progress can be found in references [6, 7, 8 and 9]. Finally, diere is a rich history in gas-phase chemical physics of die study of clusters and size-dependent evaluations of dieir behaviour. This topic is not addressed here, but covered instead in chapter C1.1, Clusters and nanoscale stmctures, in diis same volume. 

A wide variety of experimental techniques are used in radiochemical studies a review of this subject is beyond the scope of this chapter. The interested reader should refer to the reviews and textbooks of actinide chemistry listed in the Section 9.06.1.2 above. Some general points, which should be considered in evaluating... 

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