Multimedia, physical chemistry

I review the difficulties and opportunities that we need to consider when developing physical chemistry courses. I begin with a comparison of the structure of courses in the USA and the UK, then turn to the question of the order of the course quantum first or thermodynamics first 1 then consider the impact of biology on our courses and then turn to the role of multimedia and graphics. I conclude with an attempt to identify the key equations of physical chemistry. 

Jennings, K. T., E. K. Epp, and G. C. Weaver (2007) Use of a multimedia DVD for Physical Chemistry Analysis of its effectiveness for teaching content and applications to current research and its impact on student views of physical chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice 8(3), 308-326. 

The organization and outline of the ten volumes of this edition of Polymer Science A Comprehensive Reference has been chosen to give consideration to these developments, but also to link the fundamentals of polymer science, as developed over almost 100 years, with the challenges of the ever more complex systems, and introduce connections that will dominate the future development of a polymer-based molecular soft matter science. Besides the classic print edition, this new edition of Polymer Science A Comprehensive Reference is also provided as an e-version, enabled with efficient cross-referencing and multimedia. We invited the top world experts in polymer science to serve as volume editors and this dream team has prepared a ten-volume set with 269 chapters covering both the fundamentals and the most recent advances in polymer science. Volumes 1-5 are directed toward the fundamentals of polymer science, that is, polymer physics and physical chemistry, advanced characterization methods, and polymer synthesis. In spite of the breadth of information collected in these five volumes, it has not been possible to cover all aspects of polymer science. In some cases, the reader must refer to the chapters in volumes 6-10 that address topical developments with a stronger material focus. 

Mariagrazia Costa received her degree in physical chemistry a the University of Florence and served in its Department of Chemistry aU of her professional hfe until 1986 when she moved to the Laboratory of Educational Research in Chemical Education and Integrated Science. She has more than 250 print and 10 multimedia publications to her name. Her research activities have been in the area of spectrochemistry, electrochemistry, and chemical education, as well as in the history of chemistry. 

---