Formal NSF Styled Proposal Writing in Preparation for Original Multi-Week Laboratory Projects

Submitted by Lon Porter / Wabash College on Sat, 07/17/2010 - 13:23
Description

The advanced inorganic chemistry course is completed by all chemistry majors at Wabash College during the fall of their senior year. The capstone character of the course provides an excellent opportunity for utilizing an investigator model of laboratory learning. Student teams are responsible for the preparation of a formal, National Science Foundation (NSF) styled proposal stating the goals, context, experimental timetable, safety considerations, and budget for the execution of an original laboratory project.

Organometallics and Named Reactions

Submitted by Laurel Goj Habgood / Rollins College on Sun, 07/11/2010 - 18:38
Description
A list of named reactions involving transition metal-complexes is provided to the class and the students present a brief overview of each which includes the original paper and a current application.

Descriptive Chemistry Wikipedia project

Submitted by Lori Watson / Earlham College on Mon, 06/21/2010 - 16:11
Description

Students select, research, and then post an article on an inorganic compound to Wikipedia. The compounds are chosen from a list of “stubs” (short articles that need to be expanded) found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Inorganic_compound_stubs and might include such items as the synthesis, processes of isolation, structure, interesting facts about the compound in history, and/or an application of the compound.

ACS Meeting Content- Slides and Audio

Submitted by Margaret Scheuermann / Western Washington University on Sat, 05/15/2010 - 23:08
Description

The ACS has posted slides and audio for selected talks from recent national meetings. Students have the opportunity to listen to talks by research leaders whose work may relate to a topic discussed in class or to an undergraduate research project. This will also be a great resource for students who are gathering information about potential graduate research groups.

The Chemmies: A Descriptive Chemistry Audio/Video Research Project

Submitted by Neal Yakelis / Pacific Lutheran University on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 01:31
Description

This project was initiated as a way to enhance the descriptive inorganic chemistry unit presented in our General Chemistry II curriculum.  As the time available in the term prohibited the amount of lecture time needed to cover this vast array of material, the idea of a research project allowed for students to investigate an inorganic chemistry topic of keen interest to them over the course of the semester.  A previous term's attempt using a research paper project was quite unpopular, so the idea of a multimedia presentation was devised as an alternative to achieve similar learning goals.  S

Palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions

Submitted by Brette / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 22:33
Description
This powerpoint presentation was created as part of the requirements for Chemistry 165 "Organometallics" at Harvey Mudd College during the fall semester 2009.  The authors of this presentation are Athena Anderson, Brette Chapin, Michelle Hansen, and Kanny Wan, all HMC students.  The activity consists of three items:  a powerpoint presentation, a script that goes along with the presentation, and a literature review (annotated bibliography) for further reading.  All figures in the powerpoint presentation were created by the authors to prevent copyright violations.

Metal - Noble Gas Bonding

Submitted by Sisyphus / Harvey Mudd College on Tue, 12/15/2009 - 21:54
Description
This powerpoint presentation was created as part of the requirements for Chemistry 165 "Organometallics" at Harvey Mudd College during the fall semester 2009.  The authors of this presentation are Thomas Avila, Mark Hendricks, and Camille Sultana, all HMC students.  The activity consists of three items:  a powerpoint presentation, a script that goes along with the presentation, and a literature review (annotated bibliography) for further reading.  The presentation has links to figures;  the actual figures have been removed to prevent copyright violations.

Coordination chemistry via Inorganic Chemistry ASAP

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:23
Description
This in-class activity is a fun way to show students how to apply basic concepts of coordination chemistry to complicated systems that appear in a recent issue of Inorganic Chemistry. After quickly reviewing types of ligands (monodentate, chelating, bridging), how we assign charge to ligands and metals in complexes, and the idea of coordination number, I took my class through a number of "real world" examples from the latest ASAP edition of Inorganic Chemistry.

Theo Gray's Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home--But Probably Shouldn't

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Wed, 07/08/2009 - 16:18
Description

Theo Gray has compiled some of his Popular Science columns into a beautiful book of sometimes dangerous experiments, many of them with particular relevance to inorganic chemistry! With chapter names like "Experimental Cuisine", "Doomsday DIY", and "Twisted Shop Class", you know you in for a wild ride. Some particularly intriguing experiments include electroplating a copper design on your iPod, making glass and elemental silicon out of sand, making a burning Mg/dry ice sculpture, anodizing Ti for cool color effects, and creating a "hill billy hot tub" using 600 lbs of quicklime.

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.
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