I have three unaccounted for 60 min classes left in the semester (starting this Friday) and I'd like to give a BRIEF (I hate having a mere 1/2 credit course to cover inorganic!) introduction to solid state chemistry. My students have done structure and a brief intro to properties and bonding in solids in their intro classes, but I'd like to give them a taste of what's out there at a higher level and how it might be applicable, preferably with a paper discussion that ties into energy (solar? batteries?) on the last of the three days. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

My students are performing the classic synthesis and use of Wilkinson's catalyst lab. So far, all the groups have been able to prepare and characterize the catalyst; however, when they attempt to convert the aldehyde (heptaldehyde) into an alkane, it doesn't work. I've consulted every single write-up of this lab (taken from Microscale Inorganic Chemistry by Szafran and Pike) and the students follow the experiment to the letter, but no yellow crystals. Can anyone offer suggestions? Many thanks.

I am curious as to how others deal with glassware, etc. for student labs.  For our intro chem courses, we have lockers for each student.  Inside each locker is the glassware, etc. that each student needs for the semester.  She checks into the locker at the start of the semester, makes sure the equipment is there, and then checks out of it at the end.  We've thought about going to a system where we just provide the equipment needed for each exercise on a common side bench, but so far haven't been able to break away from the locker idea.  I'd like to hear how other places do this.

Hi,

We are in the process of designing a new science building at SUNY New Paltz and we will have space for a new  laboratory that will mainly be dedicated to general chemistry.  I'm looking for advice on what works the best for desgining such a laboratory.  Our main parameters are:

We are know working on basic chemical nomenclature of ionic and diatomic molecular compounds (we are in Chapter 2 of Chang) in our first semester General Chemistry course. I am looking for a good, low prep time resource for using an in-class activity to aid in the learning process. I'd like to utilize this either tomorrow (Friday) or next Wednesday (after the Labor Day holiday). I apologize for the short notice.

Things I have found online but am uncertain about are:

Hi everyone, A beginning of the year question for everyone: I don't know why, but I get frustrated grading problem sets when I get students answers to problem sets on all different kinds of paper, formatted in all different kinds of ways, unstapled, etc. Does anyone have any good tips for taming the chaos of problem sets and making them easier to grade?

The journal Academic Commons published our description of the VIPEr project as a case study for their special issue Innovative Practices for Challenging Times. Your comments are most welcome here! If you haven't already, you can create an account in order to post, using the "Register" link at the top right.