In the humanities it is common practice to read a piece of literature and discuss it. This is also practiced in science and is the purpose of this exercise. Each student is assigned a communication from the current literature (inorganic, JACS, organometallics, J. Phys.
Students are asked to choose a type of reaction from a set list (included), determine appropriate starting materials and the resulting product and present the reaction as though they accomplished it in the laboratory setting (5 min oral presentation with a 1 page paper). I asked the students to perform both a rough draft presentation (to me) and final draft presentation (to all students in laboratory).
Although I’m a solid state chemist, I still find it difficult to teach the visualization of solid state structures. I’m interested in any tool that helps my students visualize solids. My experience is that the more representations students can master, the more likely they are to find one that helps them understand solid state structures.
I’ve used many tools. These include
Each spring semester I take on the task of teaching and grading full lab reports for my senior advanced inorganic chemistry class. For most this is their first experience writing a document of this magnitude as most other labs they have previously taken require either lab report sheets or the occasional abbreviated lab memo. As I read their lab reports each year I am reminded both how challenging it is to teach writing (more specifically scientific writing) and to grade the reports objectively.
Leisure activity after days of hard work at the IONiC VIPEr workshop in Seattle, WA.
Participants rented kayaks and paddled around the lake for about 90 minutes.
Pre-requisites: Application of a generous amount of sunscreen.
The original plan was to paddle to Lake Washington, but no directions or map was provided. So given the lack of navigation skills and familiarity with the area it is no surprise that only one kayak made it all the way to lake Washington (Go team FBL & KMH!).
This is a learning object focused on analyzing a specific figure from a research article that show XPS and CV data on Ni(OH)2/NiOOH thin films that have incorporated Fe.
This learning object is based on discussion of the literature, but it follows a paper through the peer review process. Students first read the original submitted draft of a paper to ChemComm that looks at photochemical reduction of methyl viologen using CdSe quantum dots. There are several important themes relating to solar energy storage and the techniques discussed, UV/vis, SEM, TEM, electrochemistry, and catalysis, can be used for students in inorganic chemistry.
This literature discussion is meant to give students an understanding of both the key concept-driven and more “meta” information of a literature paper. Students will use Jillian Dempsey’s paper, “Electrochemical hydrogenation of a homogeneous nickel complex to form a surface-adsorbed hydrogen-evolving species,” to investigate paper authorship, how the scientific method is used in research, and how to understand the important findings of a research article.
Reference: Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 5290-5293
DOI:10.1039/C4CC08662G
I do this activity as an introduction to the nature of science. An object (not easily guessable) is put into a paper bag. The job of the class is to figure out what is in the bag. At first, the students are simply shown the bag (sense of sight). Discussion (hypotheses) ensues on what could be in the bag. I then walk around and shake the bag so students can hear what's in it (hearing). This results in more discussion, with some previous ideas being discarded. The bag is then passed around and students can feel (but not open!) the bag and also try to smell it.
This is a learning object focused on discussing application of the scientific method in the chemical literature. This focuses on the paper “Nickel-Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen-Evolution Electrocatalysts: The Role of Intentional and Incidental Iron Incorporation” (J. Am. Chem.