Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is a branch of synthetic chemistry typified by its focus on compounds composed of elements other than carbon and hydrogen. But don’t let that fool you!
SLiThEr #23: "Strategies to Pre-assess First-year STEM students"
This is our 23rd SLiThEr. The collection can be found here.
This discussion focused on ways to assess readiness for the general chemistry course sequence.
The YouTube video link for SLiThEr #23 is below under "Web Resources"
SLiThEr #22: Using D2L in Teaching
This is the link to the 22nd SLiThEr (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable), presented by Professors Kate McCusker (Eastern Tennessee State University) and Kyle Grice (DePaul University). The SLiThEr was recorded and posted on YouTube (see the web resources link).
This roundtable discussed the use of the D2L learning management system during the pandemic and moving forward. The use of quizzes, forum discussions, awards, and surveys were presented.
SLiTher #21: Teaching During COVID-19: A Catalyst for Positive Instructional Change
Meghan Porter (Indiana University) and Matt Cranswick (Colorado State University - Pueblo) lead the discussion in the 21st SLiThEr on lessons learned during the pandemic and how some of the on-line tools that they used and developed will continue to be used in their classes moving forward.
Predicting solubility using HSAB and Bronsted acid/base strength
This activity is a guided approach to answering the following: "Give an example of a silver (Ag+) salt that is expected to be soluble in water." It requires students to consider both HSAB and Bronsted acid/base concepts when evaluating solubility.
I use the activity at the end of the unit on reactivity of ions in aqueous solutions, after we have gone over all of the relevant concepts, and the question (without scaffolding) is similar to what I might ask on an exam.
Predicting reactivity with the HSAB principle
This activity is designed to give students practice with predicting the preferred direction of double displacement reactions using the hard-soft acid-base (HSAB) principle. It includes a question where students must determine the relative softness of two soft bases. This activity was used after the lecture where students were introduced to these concepts.
Acids, Bases, and Solubility Rules
This activity is designed to serve two purposes. The first is to give students practice with assigning the acidity of cations (acidic or non-acidic) and the basicity of anions (basic, feebly basic, or non-basic). The second is to guide students to discover the general trends in solubility for combinations of Bronsted acids and bases. The thermodynamic underpinnings of these generalized "solubility rules" are taught in the subsequent lecture.
Determining the Basicity of Oxo Anions
This is an in-class activity that I use in my advanced general chemistry course to teach students how to qualitatively assign oxo anions as non-basic, feebly basic, or basic. Being able to qualitatively make these assignments helps students when we get to predicting solubility of compounds using Bronsted acidity and basicity.
Reactions of cations with water
This is an in-class activity that I use in my advanced general chemistry course to teach students how to rank the relative acidity of monoatomic cations and how to qualitatively predict the strength of the interaction of these cations with water (hydration and hydrolysis).
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