Learning Strategies: The first principle in learning anything new is to recognize that the responsibility for learning must be based on your own desire to learn. To help you succeed in learning the materials of this course, there are a variety of learning tools available. How you use them and how much you use them will depend on your personal goals (why are you taking this course?) and your personal learning style (how do you best learn something new?). Ultimately it is up to you to make the best use of all of these tools, as appropriate for what you need and want from this course.
Textbook: The general approach for "Chemistry in Context" is inquiry-based, where new concepts are brought in as needed to solve a particular problem. The textbook lays out environmental issues related to air quality, water quality, and the uses of energy, and then it uses inquiries along those lines to introduce chemical concepts, terminology, and ways of thinking. Overall the text covers most of the key principles of chemistry that will allow you to move on to more complex issues eventually. Read the Preface and To The Reader sections at the front of the book. The text includes many special features that can help with specific problems:
Appendices briefly address some of the math skills you will need: Appendix 1 on units for typical measurements in chemistry, Appendix 2 on scientific notation and exponents, and Appendix 3 on logarithms. You should own a scientific calculator, and these Appendices will help you make best use of it. Appendices 4 and 5 contain short answers to selected problems that appear in each chapter.
Glossary gives definitions for common terms used throughout the book.
Your Turn offers sample exercises that check whether you understand the concepts just presented (usually preceded by solved examples).
Consider This presents open-ended problems for thought, usually related to some societal impact of chemistry.
The Sceptical Chymist has you evaluate claims, typically taken from mass media or advertisements.
References and additional readings are suggested at the end of each chapter. Keep in mind that more recent materials, available through the library or Internet or the daily newspaper, will provide you with more up-to-date material.
Problems at the end of each chapter will be assigned as homework. Note that answers to some are given at the end of the text in Appendix 5.
Computers: The classroom has an excellent collection of computers and software available for various functions. You should be familiar with most of the standard computer operations from your NSI course experience.
E-mail It will be expected that each student will have an e-mail account. E-mail is a convenient method to communicate with fellow students and the instructor. The class list of e-mail addresses will be made available as soon as everyone is online. My e-mail address is WamserC@pdx.edu .
Internet Access to the Internet is available on the classroom Mac computers via Netscape.
Word Processing You will be expected to be able to use standard word processing for reports and projects.
Data Collection We will have two Macintosh computers set up for direct data acquisition. The material is called "Chemistry with Computers" by Vernier Software and several lab experiments will be done in this way.
Spreadsheets Some of the data analysis from the lab experiments or from your group projects will be done using a spreadsheet program, either Graphical Analysis from Vernier or Microsoft Excel.
Library: We will hold a class orientation session with the Science Librarian to go over the resources available in the PSU library. In addition I will try to keep a small library in the classroom with various useful references, such as workbooks to help review general math and science concepts.
Home Page: The class has a home page that will make many of the course materials accessible via computer:
Instructors: Your instructors have a significant background of experience that you should feel free to tap into. Ask questions, although you should realize that the most likely response will be an explanation of how you can find the answer rather than the answer itself. Keep in touch with your instructors by e-mail.
Your Fellow Students: One of the goals of this curriculum is to have students learn to work collaboratively and learn collaboratively. Use one another as learning aides; teaching things to one another benefits both the explainer and the listener.
Yourself: You can speed up your learning processes by knowing your learning style preferences, so that you can learn to build up your weaknesses as well as use your strengths. Writing in your journal is a good way to analyze how you are learning as well as what you are learning.