Classic experiment difficulties

Submitted by Jason K. Vohs / Saint Vincent College on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 19:24
My students are performing the classic synthesis and use of Wilkinson's catalyst lab. So far, all the groups have been able to prepare and characterize the catalyst; however, when they attempt to convert the aldehyde (heptaldehyde) into an alkane, it doesn't work. I've consulted every single write-up of this lab (taken from Microscale Inorganic Chemistry by Szafran and Pike) and the students follow the experiment to the letter, but no yellow crystals. Can anyone offer suggestions? Many thanks.
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Laboratory Equipment

Submitted by Betsy Jamieson / Smith College on Tue, 09/29/2009 - 11:17
I am curious as to how others deal with glassware, etc. for student labs.  For our intro chem courses, we have lockers for each student.  Inside each locker is the glassware, etc. that each student needs for the semester.  She checks into the locker at the start of the semester, makes sure the equipment is there, and then checks out of it at the end.  We've thought about going to a system where we just provide the equipment needed for each exercise on a common side bench, but so far haven't been able to break away from the locker idea.  I'd like to hear how other places do this.
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Anyone know of good games or activities for teaching nomenclature

Submitted by Chris Mullins / University of Kentucky on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 06:52

We are know working on basic chemical nomenclature of ionic and diatomic molecular compounds (we are in Chapter 2 of Chang) in our first semester General Chemistry course. I am looking for a good, low prep time resource for using an in-class activity to aid in the learning process. I'd like to utilize this either tomorrow (Friday) or next Wednesday (after the Labor Day holiday). I apologize for the short notice.

Things I have found online but am uncertain about are:

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games

Dealing with Problem Sets

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 09:39
Hi everyone, A beginning of the year question for everyone: I don't know why, but I get frustrated grading problem sets when I get students answers to problem sets on all different kinds of paper, formatted in all different kinds of ways, unstapled, etc. Does anyone have any good tips for taming the chaos of problem sets and making them easier to grade?
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September Academic Commons Paper
The journal Academic Commons published our description of the VIPEr project as a case study for their special issue Innovative Practices for Challenging Times. Your comments are most welcome here! If you haven't already, you can create an account in order to post, using the "Register" link at the top right.
Hilary Eppley / DePauw University Fri, 07/31/2009 - 05:14
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VIPER
IONIC

What are your favorite resources for writing research papers?

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 02:12

Yesterday, I went to an outstanding talk by Simon Peyton Jones on how to write a scientific paper. It was directed towards people in CS writing a manuscript for a conference proceedings, but it was still broadly applicable. That got me thinking about other resources on writing research papers and how can we best help students learn to write about their research.

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Whitesides

Field trips?

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 14:09
OK, so I was driving in a town near campus the other week and happened to see a little start up company that produces medical imaging agents (not sure if they are inorganic or not, haven't had the opportunity to check yet), but it got me thinking. It would be great to show students inorganic chemistry at work in the "real world" not only in the classroom but out there actually in the REAL WORLD. The logistics of planning a field trip are a bit of a pain...
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Best of YouTube

Submitted by Margaret Scheuermann / Western Washington University on Sat, 05/23/2009 - 18:23
I've occasionally found myself talking to students about various reactions during office hours or lab and wishing I could just show them. There are a surprising number of good videos of chemistry demos on YouTube but finding the best ones to show students takes time. Here are a few that I've found and liked. Has anyone else come across any that seem especially good?

Sugar and sulfuric acid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7siZ0ON0b8I
-this one is short and has no narration
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