General chemistry lecture/laboratory

In order to assess the gains in rmderstanding of the chemistry principles presented during the flame atomic absorption experiment. General Chemistry II Laboratory students were offered a volrmtary pre-lab survey (A) and post-lab sttrvey (B) given before and after the pre-lab lecture and subsequent completion of the atomic absorption spectrometry experiment. These surveys were handed out dttring the weekly recitation periods before and after the experiment. In addition an attitude survey (C) was offered to students to fill out online oirtside of class. For all three surveys, a consent form was provided in order to inform students of the voluntary and anonymous nature of the strrveys. A brief explanation of the purpose of the surveys was included. 

Nickel nanowires are prepared using a nanoscale template to control their dimensions (50-52). Prior to performing this experiment, students should learn about electrochemistry and the components of an electrochemical cell in their general chemistry lecture class so that they urrderstarrd the procedtrre. Freshmen in Florida Tech s Nanoscience and Technology laboratory cotrrse fourtd this experiment to be the most challenging experiment due to the ntrmber of steps involved. Some students did not achieve satisfactory resrrlts due to their inattention to details. 

It is expected that, in the future, inquiry, project-, problem- and context-based approaches will be given more emphasis. Cooperative forms of laboratory instmc-tion must surely be further and systematically explored, taking into account the research-based recormnendations. Lecture demonstrations, effectively designed and performed, will also be useful. Other nonconventional methods can be effectively employed, such as the use of home-laboratory kits to teach general chemistry through distance education (Kermepohl, 2007). 

The Scholars, working with their mentors, did an outstanding job during their residencies, and many laboratory experiments and new lecture snapshots were developed. Lecture snapshots are short discussions of timely or fundamental polymer topics. They are designed to minimize the time necessary for faculty to familiarize themselves with the topic and to prepare their presentation on it In general, the lecture snapshots require only a few minutes of lecture time and setup and interface with topics that already are covered in general chemistry courses. The snapshot format is as follows ... 

Our main focus in current and future work is to base guided-inquiry activities for both lecture and laboratory portions of General Chemistry on data that can be obtained from modem chemical instmmentation or computational molecular modeling as illustrated by the shaded bold arrows in Fig. 1. This approach tries to instill an interactive view of chemical sub-disciplines in students learning. 

For example, a researcher may observe the lectures in a general chemistry course and repeatedly hear the instructor characterize the laboratory experiments as inquiry-oriented. Yet, a document analysis of the actual experimental procedures using a rubric for laboratory inquiry reveals that most of the experiments require the students to do little more than follow directions and perform calculations as directed. Or, during interviews students may tell a researcher that they consider themselves to be hands-on learners and that visual information is very important for their learning. Yet, during observations of homework problem-solving sessions throughout the semester, the researcher observes that these same students do not once pick up a model kit and build models of compounds to help them answer the homework questions even when such tools are readily available. 

Erwin, D. K. Unifying Laboratory and Lecture in General Chemistry. J. 

Two new classes have been developed to support nanoscience awareness at JMU. The first is a general education class entitled ""Physics, Chemistry and the Human Experience" (GSCl 101). The second is an upper-division elective lecture-laboratory course primarily designed for science and technology majors entitled, ""Science of the Small An Introduction to the Nanoworld" (CHEM 480P). Each course will be discussed in further detail. 

The authors have striven to make the book something more than a collection of recipes. Owing to deficiencies in the teaching of the subject, there is to-day a tendency for the student to think that there is a lecture-room and a laboratory variety of organic chemistry. To such an extent does this division exist that a student who in the lecture-room knows the general method for the preparation of, say, anhydrides, in the laboratory is quite at sea when asked to prepare any anhydride other than that of acetic acid. To combat this, the preparations of several compounds of a given type have been included in most sections of the book. 

Edward Grubb taught chemistry at the School (in addition to Latin, mathematics, and psychology), and Sturge and Clark commented To his lectures on chemistry his audience came in a mood of prophetic sympathy, awaiting the experiment Will it Won t it It generally wouldn t Why should it For before the laboratory was built in 1884 there was no scientific equipment worth the name. 8... 

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