Information
•
Textbooks
•
Media
•
Resources edited by
JCE WebWare: Web-Based Learning Aids
William F. Coleman Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02481
Teaching Molecular Symmetry with JCE WebWare Interactive, Web-based teaching tools: that is what JCE WebWare is all about. This month we present two great tools that illustrate and help teach molecular symmetry. They are also examples of two types of Web-based teaching tools you can find at JCE WebWare: digital assets and learning objects. 3D Molecular Symmetry Shockwave is a companion application to 3D Normal Modes Shockwave by the same authors, and published previously in this Journal (1). These applications use the Shockwave Web browser plug-in (2) to provide interactive, Web-based 3D animations of concepts that may be difficult for many students. With 3D Molecular Symmetry Shockwave, instructors and students can choose a molecule, orient it appropriately on the screen, choose any of its symmetry elements, and animate the corresponding symmetry operation in three dimensions. An Animated Interactive Overview of Molecular Symmetry uses Jmol, a Java-based browser applet (3), in an interactive tutorial for teaching molecular symmetry. Students learn molecular symmetry by working through a series of instructional Web pages illustrated and enhanced with interactive Jmol structures. 3D Molecular Symmetry Shockwave is an example of a digital asset: a document, image, video, animation, etc. that can be used—and reused—in many different settings. For example, by including appropriate facts, concepts, principles, etc., you could use this animation in lecture as a demonstration, to enhance a seminar presentation, or as part of a student tutorial exercise or homework assignment. There are many such digital assets available in JCE WebWare; just add your own context to use it your way! By contrast, An Animated Interactive Overview of Molecular Symmetry is an example of a learning object: a selfcontained lesson, with a single learning objective. Learning objects include both digital assets (in this case the Jmol animations) along with facts, concepts, principles, etc. to form complete, self-contained learning units: the digital equivalent perhaps to a chapter subtopic in a textbook. Although they are ready to use as is, you can still modify learning objects as you need. You can explore these and other digital assets and learning objects in the peer-reviewed and open review collections
Edward W. Fedosky University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI 53715
of JCE WebWare at http://www.JCE.DivCHED.org/JCEDLib/ WebWare/. We invite you to submit digital assets and learning objects that you have created for use in your classroom to JCE WebWare, either for our open review collection or to be peer reviewed for formal publication. An Animated Interactive Overview of Molecular Symmetry Marion E. Cass, Department of Chemistry, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057; Henry S. Rzepa, David R. Rzepa, and Charlotte K. Williams, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ United Kingdom Keywords: Inorganic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; First-Year Undergraduate / General; Second-Year Undergraduate; Upper-Division Undergraduate; Internet/Web-Based Learning; Group Theory / Symmetry; Molecular Properties / Structure Requires: Web browser with Java installed
An Animated Interactive Overview of Molecular Symmetry is a series of Web pages designed to help instructors teach molecular symmetry. These pages combine interactive images and instructional text that allow students to examine and explore the operations and elements that give rise to molecular symmetry. The Overview pages first illustrate what is and what is not a symmetry operation, and what constitutes a symmetry element versus a symmetry operation. It also illustrates the complete set of symmetry operations for two molecules and gives a brief flow chart illustrating one method of assigning a molecule to a point group. Subsequent pages include Student Exercises, Extra Problems, Tutorial Exercises, and Animated Vibrational Modes. Molecular animations of symmetry operations illustrate proper rotations, improper rotations, reflections, and an inversion. 3D images of 42 additional molecules are included with interactive tools for student exercises.
JCE WebWare—a dynamic feature column http://www.jce.divched.org/JCEDLib/WebWare/
1742
Journal of Chemical Education
•
Vol. 82 No. 11 November 2005
•
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
Information
•
Textbooks
•
Media
•
Resources
The user can manipulate the interactive 3D animations, viewing the molecule from any molecular orientation. Interactive buttons make it easy for users to change their view of a molecule by varying the color scheme, shading, ignoring or restoring hydrogen atoms, illustrating reflection planes or axes, aligning along certain symmetry axes, etc. International Chemical Identifiers (InChIs) have been included for all molecules in these Web pages to assist searching the Web for these structures. These pages make extensive use of Jmol (1), an open source project ideally suited for the development of teaching materials such as these. The source code for An Animated Interactive Overview of Molecular Symmetry is easily accessible and may be copied and altered to create customized examples and other Web-based animations or illustrations. A description of how these Web pages and animations were produced appears on pp 1737– 1740 in this issue of this Journal. Literature Cited 1. Jmol may be downloaded at http://jmol.sourceforge.net (accessed Sep 2005).
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
•
A screen shot of the first Overview page from An Animated Interactive Overview of Molecular Symmetry.
Vol. 82 No. 11 November 2005
•
Journal of Chemical Education
1743
