A guided inquiry activity for students to build the MO diagram for HF based on energetic and symmetry considerations. Students then compare their model to a standard MO diagram and examine what additional information a MO diagram conveys that the Lewis structure does not.
This Literature Discussion LO was created for the ACS Inorganic Chemistry Award Winners. Dr. Kit Cummins was the recipient of the 2023 Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry. This LO is based on a recent paper from the group of Dr. Cummins, entitled "Sustainable Production of Reduced Phosphorus Compounds: Mechanochemical Hydride Phosphorylation Using Condensed Phosphates as a Route to Phosphite", published in ACS Central Science, 2022, 8, 332-339.
Have you heard about alternate grading systems such as specifications (specs) grading, but don't think you have the time or energy to remake a whole curriculum? Come hear about a hybrid-points-specs grading system! The hybrid system does not require a complete course redesign, but still integrates standards-based grading practices that promote mastery of material and make grading easier. Implementation and outcomes in general chemistry and inorganic chemistry classes is discussed.
Dr. Rebecca Jones from Geoge Mason University presented and led a discussion on peer review in chemistry. The Youtube Video is shown below and linked as well.
Chip Nataro (Lafayette College) hosts a live discussion covering the favorite labs that people teach. The discussion somewhat evolved into a conversation on "so, you are teaching inorganic lab for the first time...what do you do?"
A colleague and I started using this Peer Review "lab" activity in our studio-based General Chemistry II course to get students to critically think about what they and their peers were writing on lab reports. When the studio-based course was axed, we continued it in the traditional lab during the fifth or sixth week of a 14 week semester.
Stanley-Gray, Zhang, and Venkataraman from UMass Amherst mined the Cambridge Structural Database to put together graphics that show trends for coordination geometry, distribution of oxidation states, overall coordination geometry, and coordination geometry with specific ligands to understand the influence of ligand on geometry.
In SLiThEr #39 Chip Nataro (Lafayette University) introduces us to the discussion LOs he uses in his senior-level inorganic course and the topics covered.
A sampling of the peer-reviewed literature describing the use of educational games in the undergraduate chemistry classroom. Given that well over 200 publications exist on this topic, this is intended to whet one's appetite for chemistry games rather than be an exhaustive list.