nanoCHAts: Informal conversations about teaching

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Wed, 04/07/2021 - 14:33

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.

Anion Coordination Chemistry (Bowman-James)

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Tue, 03/30/2021 - 14:56
Description

Ligands can bind to anions, just as they do to metal ions, and Bowman-James developed these analogies as well as many examples of selective anion binding ligands.  This short slide decks gives background to her work as well as some relevant introductory material.  

National ACS Award Winners 2021 LO Collection

Submitted by Shirley Lin / United States Naval Academy on Fri, 03/26/2021 - 12:14

This collection of learning objects was created to celebrate the National ACS Award Winners 2021 who are members of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. The list of award winners is shown below. 

reaction of PPh3 with elements--the COVID edition

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Sun, 02/28/2021 - 15:37
Description

This is a research-like laboratory experience based on the one posted by Brad Wile (linked below). My students are mostly juniors and have had 2 semesters of organic. This spring they are taking the inorganic laboratory virtually, so I wanted to give them a more exploratory lab experience. Their job will be to watch the YouTube videos to see the synthesis and isolated products, and then propose characterization methods they want to employ to identify both the identity and purity of the compounds. 

N-stabilized carbenes and applications in the literature

Submitted by Brad Wile / Ohio Northern University on Mon, 09/07/2020 - 20:51
Description

This literature discussion was based on a short, readable piece from the trade magazine Chemical and Engineering News. Since this was written in a more general tone, it served as a reasonable introduction to carbenes for students in my advanced inorganic class. I have been looking to expand the examples of carbenes presented to students beyond those in the text. Simple examples of Fischer, Schrock, and N-heterocyclic carbenes are plentiful, but modern applications haven't been featured in the text that I use.

s-p Mixing and the Order of MOs in Diatomic Molecules

Submitted by Michelle Personick / Wesleyan University on Fri, 06/05/2020 - 20:13
Description

These slides provide an introduction to s-p mixing in diatomic molecular orbital diagrams appropriate for students in a general chemistry course. 

Inorganic Active Learning Lesson Plan Design

Submitted by Meghan Porter / Indiana University on Fri, 05/15/2020 - 09:05
Description

I created this activity as a way to get the class involved in creating new, fun ways to teach course concepts (selfishly- that part is for me) and for students to review concepts prior to the final exam (for them).  Students use a template to create a 15-20 min activity that can be used in groups during class to teach a concept we have learned during the semester.  We then randomly assign the activities and students work in groups to complete them and provide feedback.

The benefits are twofold:

Ionic Liquids in Action

Submitted by Brad Wile / Ohio Northern University on Thu, 03/05/2020 - 11:46
Description

This was a short LO developed to give the students some context for ionic liquids in use. Since this paper is from a chemical engineering perspective, it supported a goal of having the students think about chemistry outside of the typical inorganic journal/research boundaries. This LO was implemented after a discussion of HSAB/ECW, frustrated Lewis pairs, non-aqueous media, and superacids. No explicit discussion of catalysis prior to this class discussion. 

Applications of Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs)

Submitted by Brad Wile / Ohio Northern University on Thu, 03/05/2020 - 11:22
Description

Short prompts for a mini review about recent applications in FLP chemistry. Trends in Chemistry also includes highlights and outstanding questions in the sidebar, which makes this an approachable review for students. 

ChemCrafter

Submitted by Michelle Personick / Wesleyan University on Mon, 03/02/2020 - 16:24
Description

ChemCrafter, from the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation), is a free iPad app that mimics a classic chemistry set. It is set up as a game, with three sections: reactions with water, reactions with acid, and salts. The app shows the progress of the reaction (smoke, color change, etc.) when two elements are mixed in a reaction vessel, and also gives the change in enthalpy of the reaction.