Many faculty and students now have iPads and Apple Pencils for use in their classes. At Merrimack, we have a 1:1 iPad program (called Mobile Merrimack) in which all students and faculty are provided an iPad and students are also given an Apple Pencil and a keyboard.
ChemCrafter, from the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation), is a free iPad app that mimics a classic chemistry set. It is set up as a game, with three sections: reactions with water, reactions with acid, and salts. The app shows the progress of the reaction (smoke, color change, etc.) when two elements are mixed in a reaction vessel, and also gives the change in enthalpy of the reaction.
This is a flipped classroom module that covers the concept of dynamic equilibrium, and how dynamic equlibrium plays a role in the anticancer mechanism of the therapeutic cisplatin.This activity is designed to be done at the end of the typical second quarter/second semester general chemistry equilibrium unit. Students will be expected to have learned the following concepts prior to completing this activity:
This is an in-class case study activity that introduces relevancy between atomic structure (specifically isotopes) and animal migration. Students will apply their knowledge of isotopes, writing atomic symbols, and calculating average atomic mass while also connecting this information to another application (in this case animal migration).
This LO is an in-class assignment to prepare students for literature readings involving catalytic cycles in which multiple protons and electrons are transferred. Students practice assigning oxidation states to complexes with aquo, oxo, superoxo, and hydroperoxo ligands then use this information to analyze a proposed water oxidation mechanism from the literature.
This is a flipped classroom module that covers the concepts of time-integrated rate laws. This activity is designed to be done at the end of the typical second quarter/second semester general chemistry kinetics unit. Students will be expected to have learned the following concepts prior to completing this activity:
It is important for students to be able to effectively communicate the results of their scientific work. This does not only inlcude written and oral communication, but the creation of appropriate representations of the complexes they have investigated. It is crucial that students learn how to draw molecules using electronic structure drawing programs, but site licenses for structure drawing programs can be prohibitive for some institutions.
This literature discussion uses a recently published article on solvatochromic Mo complexes to introduce students to the different components of a research article. The activity is divied into to two parts. Before class students read the paper and focus on defining terms, investigating the "meta" data of the paper, and the different sections iof the paper. In class the students work in groups to investigate the scientific content of the paper
This first-year laboratory is designed to give students an introduction to basic solid-state structures using both CrystalMaker files and physical models. I think this would work in a foundations level inorganic course as well. It could be used alternatively as an in-class activity or take-home problem set depending on the instructor. It was adapted by me and later, David Harvey, from an original activity that was posted as an educational resource on the CrystalMaker website in the mid 2000s.