The Messy Chemist: Separating a Solid Mixture

Submitted by Mike Norris / University of Richmond on Tue, 06/30/2015 - 14:42
Description

This lab exercise gives students a problem scenario (a mixture of 4 solids) and asks them to determine a way to separate them from each other utilizing experimentation, previous knowledge, and discussion.  Students are expected to write a standard operating procedure detailing the method they determine for the separation at the end of the lab.  A modified version of this lab was originally performed in an accelerated summer class on chemistry given to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders that were on a track for early entrance into college.  The lab was done over the c

PVEducation.org: A resource for teaching solid-state chemistry and photovoltaics

Submitted by Kate Plass / Franklin & Marshall College on Tue, 06/30/2015 - 13:49
Description

This is a website that teaches students about various aspects of pn-junction photovoltaics, from basics about solar illumination, to solid state chemistry, to PV module design. There are numerous animations demonstrating facets of solid-state chemistry and light absorption. Here I will describe how I have used sections 3.1 Basics and 3.2 Generation in Inorganic Chemistry in the context of a specific laboratory application, but the site could have many more uses.

High Energy Density Materials: Bond enthalpy and safety considerations (Christe)

Submitted by Kevin Hoke / Berry College on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 15:00
Description

This is a shorter version of a previously published Learning Object. This version focuses on bond enthalpy calculations and has students think about the risks and safety precautions for the synthesis of an explosive material (nitrogen triiodide). 

There is also a longer version of this activity posted as a literature dicussion.

Copper Oxide Crystal Growth

Submitted by Ellen Steinmiller / University of Dallas on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 14:49
Description

Students in a 2nd year inorganic class read an article describing the effect of additives on the final morphology of copper oxide. (Siegfried, M.J., and Choi, K-S, “Elucidating the Effect of Additives on the Growth and Stability of Cu2O Surfaces via Shape Transformation of Pre-Grown Crystals”J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128 (32), pp 10356–10357.  dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja063574y).

Use of Toulmin’s Argumentation Scheme in Explaining Inorganic Chemistry:

Submitted by Kate Plass / Franklin & Marshall College on Mon, 06/29/2015 - 14:26
Description

This is a presentation to introduce students to Toulmin’s Argumentation Scheme in the context of providing explanations in Inorganic Chemistry. It was inspired by discussions with Rick Moog at Franklin & Marshall College regarding how to encourage students to fully explain the “why” behind chemical behavior, rather than simply cite trends or equations. These slides were used to prompt a discussion about what a complete, logical explanation should include. They also served as a means of defining what is expected on quizzes and exams in response to various prompts.

Inorganic Chemistry Wikibook

Submitted by Tom Mallouk / Pennsylvania State University on Wed, 05/27/2015 - 09:49
Description

Frustrated by the lack of inorganic textbooks that really fit my materials-oriented first-semester inorganic course, I embarked on a project with my students to create a free online textbook. The students did most of the heavy lifting, and I'm pleased to report that the next class to use the book rather liked it. It is still a work in progress, but I would like to encourage everyone to check it out and edit it if the spirit moves you.

Community Challenge #3: Solid state structures

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 04/21/2015 - 09:53

This community challenge was to come up with problems on solid state structures. Not exactly my area of expertise. In fact, I ofter turn to VIPEr for help when I teach this these topics. I think we received some really great contributions for this community challenge. I am honored to have co-authored a few of them with Maggie Geselbracht. I look forward to using the rest of these in my class in the future.

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Thu, 04/16/2015 - 14:53
Description

It is the classic game of telephone (or whatever local varient name you might use). Put a bunch of people in a line. Start by whispering something to the first person and then have them whisper it to the next. This process continues until the last person states out loud what they heard. Usually the starting and ending statements are quite different. When students are reading a paper, it is fairly likely that they feel anything the paper they are reading says about a reference is correct.

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