Online Courses Directory

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 07:41
Description

This website is a free and comprehensive resource that is a collection of open college courses that spans videos, audio lectures, and notes given by professors at a variety of universities. The website is designed to be friendly and designed to be easily accessed on any mobile device.

keeping a lab notebook

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 09/13/2012 - 23:19
Description

I found this great website linked from somewhere a few days or a week ago and already forgot where. But I am teaching organic lab this semester and convinced one of the students to do a little research. As a reward, I am going to buy her, and the whole class, gelly roller pens for keeping their notebooks.

This is a GREAT site that has so much detail on keeping a lab notebook. There is a lot of great stuff in there.

Analyzing a journal article for non-content issues of style and convention

Submitted by Sarah K. St. Angelo / Dickinson College on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:59
Description

This is an in-class activity--or an activity students do prior to class to in preparation for an in-class discussion--to help students identify stylistic components of published writing.  I provide the students with an appropriate journal article, typically a communication from Inorganic Chemistry, such as Inorg. Chem. 2008, 47, 2922-2924 (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/ic702373b) or Inorg. Chem.

Home Built Equipment Links

Submitted by Chris Bradley / Mount St. Mary's University on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 15:09
Description

I am always interested in building/modifying equipment and glassware, and the following C and E News article led me to an interesting website, also linked, where details on building homemade rotators and stir plates are in place. Both models can be constructed with materials for less than $30. As I'm always looking to keep costs down for equipment like this, I thought I would share it. If anyone knows of other links, please let me know.  

 

 

Identifying Organometallic Reaction Classes in Literature Examples of Catalytic Cycles

Submitted by Nicole Crowder / University of Mary Washington on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 14:05
Description

This learning object has the student search the chemical literature for a paper focusing on a catalytic cycle (Wilkinson’s, Grubbs, Heck, Wacker, Suzuki, Click, etc.). They answer a set of guiding questions for reading the literature, then analyze the catalytic cycle presented in the paper to assign oxidation state, d electron count, valence electron count, and preferred geometry for each complex in the cycle. They also identify the process(es) occurring during each step in the cycle.

Colored Note Cards as a Quick and Cheap Substitute for Clickers

Submitted by Chris Bradley / Mount St. Mary's University on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 10:23
Description

For many years I have resisted using clickers, mainly because at our university there is no standard universal clicker. I wanted to keep student costs as low as possible but also desired the type of live feedback during a lecture that clicker questions can provide. In both my general chem. (200-300 students) and upper division courses (50-75 students), I now pass out 4 or 5 colored notecards on the first day of class and make sure everyone has one of each color.

Learning to Search the Chemical Literature

Submitted by Nicole Crowder / University of Mary Washington on Mon, 07/16/2012 - 11:27
Description

This assignment is intended as an introduction to searching the chemical literature to identify an article on specific topic (in this case a specific metal within a specified time range). Once they have located their articles, they are expected to name a metal complex and give the oxidation state, d electron count, and geometry.

Writing assignment series related to topics discussed in organometallic chemistry - Assignment 1 Literature Summary

Submitted by Abby O'Connor / The College of New Jersey on Mon, 07/16/2012 - 10:58
Description

Searching and reading the literature is an important tool in teaching organometallic chemistry. This overall project focuses on the improving students' writing skills and to begin to think critically about articles in the literature through a series of different writing assignments. This project is used in a semester long course on organometallics and reaction mechanisms. The first assignment (this LO) is a summary, the second is related to the NSF highlight, and the third is a literature critique.

Chemistry Ethics Discussion: Professor Americium and the Case of the Dreaded Kink

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Fri, 07/08/2011 - 16:25
Description

This collaboratively developed inorganic chemistry-based ethics case study has been designed for use with general science students (not necessarily chemistry or inorganic chemistry students).  It could be used as part of a research ethics training program for undergraduates or as a stand-alone research group meeting on ethics or class assignment on data integrity. In this particular case study two data points are suspected of being in error because of a student mistake in labeling samples.

Letters of recommendation

Submitted by Lee Park / Williams College on Sat, 06/25/2011 - 13:55
Description

This is a document that I hand out to every student I have, outlining what I