Once again I am going to partially stereotype inorganic chemists as having some general chemistry teaching responsibilities. The reason for that is a question that came up at lunch today, "Is Lafayette unique in how we handle tutors?" For 'formal' tutoring, students go to an academic resource center and can get a tutor that is recomended by the faculty member. The resource center pays the tutor, so there is no charge to the student. However, the number of paid meetings per week is limited to one (unless there are special circumstances).

Colleagues,

What tools and tips do you provide to students when they are asked to critique a research article? What do you consider some good advice to help the students prepare a critique?

Thanks,

Sibrina

Happy New Year VIPEr colleauges,

I wanted to let you know that I published an article in the current issue of the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry (an ACS journal) entitled "Celebrating Our Diversity. The Education of Some Pioneering African American Chemists in Ohio." The citation is listed below if you are interested in reading the article. Basically, it focuses on three African Americans that have earned PhDs in the sciences from Ohio State.

Happy New Year VIPEr users!   I am teaching a 3 week full-time course that is an introduction to research during DePauw's January term.  In addition to the lab work, I'd like to give them some general readings that give a sense of the nature of scientific research.   Does anyone have any particularly good readings to suggest that give a good sense of what research is all about?  These will be mostly first year students, so the more accessible, the better!       --Hilary

Does anybody have (good) examples of students displaying "inorganic art," for lack of a better term? After teaching MO theory in my class, mysteriously, someone taped a molecular orbital energy level diagram for oxygen on the sidewalk outside the science center. Below the diagram was "Got O2?" The gerade and ungerade labels were switched on the pi set, but I'll forgive the mix up in light of the creativity. See the attched file.

Dear VIPEr Colleagues,

One of my colleagues found the following J.Chem. Educ. article, which is timely due to the upcoming holiday. I plan to mention this in my class.

Article:

Robert C. Plumb, "Thanksgiving Dinner and Transition Metal Complexes," J. Chem. Educ., 1971, 48(4), p 265.

Dear Colleagues,

I hope all is well. My students have prepared trans-Rh(PPh3)2Cl(CO) in the lab and I have found an overall reaction for this experiment. I am thinking about the actual mechanism for this neat reaction. The first step you add hydrated rhodium(III) chloride to DMF and heat it until it changes into a yellow color. At this point, [Rh(CO)2Cl2]- is being generated in solution? I know the CO is coming from DMF. 

SNC

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the process of choosing a textbook and lab manual for the two-semester freshman general chemistry course we will be teaching next Fall. For textbooks, I have personally used Chang, McMurry and Silberberg during my student/teaching assistant days. I have my preferences, however, since I am a new professor, I was wondering if I could get feedback from others that have been teaching this course on what you might think is the best (does not have to be one of the three listed above).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Has anyone tried using the inorganic Oxford Chemistry Primers for teaching a semester long, intermediate-level course?  I've been using Glen Rogers' book, but there are a lot of things that needed updating and the latest version didn't address many of them.  I really like his organization and depth of coverage and I haven't found anything else that is similar.  I thought a combination of the Primers might do it.  Any comments?

I've been teaching upper-level advanced inorganic and just wanted to alert the Shriver & Atkins users that the Tanabe-Sugano diagrams for the d² and d⁸ electronic configurations are incorrect. It's subtle, but a nuisance nonetheless.