Bioinorganic Techniques in a Nutshell

Submitted by Betsy Jamieson / Smith College on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 14:20
Description
This website is from the Center for Metalloenzyme Studies at the University of Georgia.  It contains brief summaries of common techniques used in bioinorganic chemistry.  I really liked that for each technique lists what kind of information you can obtain, as well as what the limitations of the method are.  It also provides examples of what kinds of questions can be answered with each technique.  It does not provide in-depth information about how each method works, but rather simply lists the basic facts about each technique.  

In-Class Review of Symmetry Operations and Point Groups

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:50
Description

This in-class activity was used on the first day of Advanced Inorganic Chemistry in lieu of lecture to review symmetry operations and point groups in small molecules.  The learning object was adapted to a small group discussion format from a fundamental quiz posted by Barbara Reisner (James Madison University) and a problem set question posted by Adam Johnson (Harvey Mudd College).

IUCr Teaching Resources

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Thu, 08/13/2009 - 07:26
Description

In the past, I've always found the IUCr crystallographic pamphlets to be useful when teaching diffraction. They've reorganized their website to make their educational resources easier to find. On this link, you can find the IUCr teaching pamphlets, a short description of how to grow crystals,  and other crystallography web resources.

 Teaching Pamphlet Topics

First Day Review of Atomic Orbitals

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 22:30
Description

This is an interactive small-group discussion activity I did on the first day of sophomore-level inorganic chemistry to get students to interact with each other and brainstorm to collectively review what they knew about atomic orbitals.  I also wanted to "set the stage" for non-lecture type activities in this class.  I adapted this in-class activity from one posted by Joanne Stewart (Hope College) with additional questions from a fundamental quiz posted by Barbara Reisner

Energy Nuggets: Engineering Viruses to Build a Better Battery

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 15:29
Description
This literature discussion activity is one of a series of “Energy Nuggets,” small curricular units designed to illustrate: The Role of Inorganic Chemistry in the Global Challenge for Clean Energy Production, Storage, and Use.

Crystallography (in English) & Evaluating Crystal Structures

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 18:04
Description

The University of Oklahoma has put together a nice website on Crystallography which includes a standard introduction to crystallography & crystal symmetry. I also like some of the features that you don't normally come across including evaluating crystal structures and twinning.

Energy Nuggets: Wise Energy Use – The Challenge of Nitrogen Fixation

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 01:33
Description
This literature discussion activity is one of a series of “Energy Nuggets,” small curricular units designed to illustrate: The Role of Inorganic Chemistry in the Global Challenge for Clean Energy Production, Storage, and Use.

Energy Nuggets: MOF’s for CO2 Sequestration

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 03:50
Description
This literature discussion activity is one of a series of “Energy Nuggets,” small curricular units designed to illustrate: The Role of Inorganic Chemistry in the Global Challenge for Clean Energy Production, Storage, and Use.

Henry Taube and Electron Transfer

Submitted by Brad Wile / Ohio Northern University on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 18:07
Description

When teaching reactions and mechanisms of inorganic complexes, I tend to get to the end of the chapter (out of breath) and find myself thinking "*$#&, I forgot about electron transfer". While I think it is important that students get an understanding of this in an upper level inorganic course, I simply don't have, or forgot to budget the time to really talk about it.

Glassware and Apparatus Videos

Submitted by Jason Cooke / Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Canada on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 18:07
Description

A series of videos has been produced to show students the best way to assemble glass jointware.  A variety of different examples are provided, with variations that demonstrate some of the more complicated assemblies that are often used in inorganic synthesis (e.g., how to protect the system with a drying tube or to purge an apparatus with an inert gas).  The intent of the videos is to provide visual learners with a better idea of what they must do in the laboratory, and thereby speed up the process of assembling glass jointware.

Videos include:

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