nanoCHAts: Informal conversations about teaching

A collection of all of the IONiC VIPEr NanoCHAts. These are short discussion on a teaching topic by 4-5 faculty members from different institutions. Each of these events is recorded and posted to the IONiC VIPEr YouTube Channel.

Hilary Eppley / DePauw University Wed, 04/07/2021 - 14:33
Bonding in electron-rich uranyl complexes (Burns)
Description

This In-Class Activity Learning Object explores a series of uranyl, UO

Joanne Stewart / Hope College Thu, 04/01/2021 - 16:31
Effect of Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonding on Cupric Superoxide Complexes (Karlin)
Description

This study guide/question set will help a student navigate through the related research paper and test the student's understanding on the effects of hydrogen bonding in synthetic Cu-O2 adducts in the realm of bioinorganic model chemistry.

Mayukh Bhadra / Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thu, 04/01/2021 - 12:56
The Organometallic Chemistry Behind the Polymer of Squares (Chirik)
Description

The discussion covers a 2021 publication by the Chirik group (Nature Chemistry, 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-020-00614-w) which details the discovery of a new way to polymerize butadiene through iron-catalyzed [2+2] cycloadd

Megan Mohadjer Beromi / Princeton University Sat, 02/20/2021 - 12:34

SLiThEr #7: Assessment Using Literature Discussions

Submitted by Kyle Grice / DePaul University on Tue, 12/29/2020 - 17:55
Description

This is the seventh SLiThEr () in the series. In this presentation/discussion, Dr. Shirley Lin explains how she used a literature discussion with students to assess their learning and knowledge. This was for a upper-division senior seminar course. In particular, she discusses questions at various levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. She also explains how to use concepts from Chemical Education Research to really dig down and assess student knowledge. 

Molecular Orbital and Bond Polarity

Submitted by W. Stephen McNeil / University of British Columbia Okanagan on Wed, 12/16/2020 - 15:30
Description

In 2009, Flick Coleman at Wellesley whipped up a brilliant little web-based tool that showed how the electronegativity and energy difference of atomic orbitals leads to changes in the resulting molecular orbitals. I've used it every year. But it runs on Flash, Flash is about to die forever (no longer supported as of Jan 2021), and I don't think Flick is going to make us an HTML5 version. (And wow I know I can't do that. Does somebody else know how to do that?)

Pencasts for Inorganic Chem: Finding Vibrations from Group Theory

Submitted by Kyle Grice / DePaul University on Mon, 12/14/2020 - 13:18
Description

These are two "Livescribe Pencasts" I have used for inorganic chemistry. I made them with an Echo 2 Livescribe pen for my 10-week Junior/Senior Inorganic chemistry course. We teach with MFT and I use these as supplemental materials outside of class (both for f2f and online versions of this class).

Comparing Homonuclear and Heteronuclear Diatomic Molecules with WebMO

Submitted by Catherine / East Tennessee State University on Wed, 11/04/2020 - 13:07
Description

Students first learn the basics of WebMO by building and optimizing 2 small molecules. They then calculate and visualize the molecular orbitals of two diatomic molecules (N2 and BF) and observe how going from a homonuclear to heteronuclear molecule changes the shape of different molecular orbitals. 

As written this activity uses the WebMO demo server so no computational chemistry software/licences are required.

Delta and Phi Bonding in Actinide Complexes

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Sun, 10/25/2020 - 13:28
Description

This article provides an entry point for students to apply their knowledge of electron configurations and molecular orbital theory to the lanthanide and actinide elements. We have provided a large number of possible questions to use, grouped by theme.  Instructors can pick and choose questions that best fit their course.

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