reviews Comprehensive Chemistry [Multimedia Package] Stanley Smith, Loretta Jones, Ruth Chaboy, and Elizabeth Kean. Falcon Software: Welesley, MA, 1993. $955.00 CD-ROM Comprehensiue Chemistry is a package of programs and visual materials prepared by Stanley Smith (University of Illinois) and, in part, by Loretta Jones (University of Northern Colorado), Ruth Chahay (Carnegie Mellan University), and Elizabeth Kean (University of Nebraska). The package is a massive undertaking. I t comes complete with videoclips, animated drawings, text, and pictures an a compact disk and program disk far use on PC's (IBM or other). I t is available from Falcon Software, Inc. (One Hollis Street, Wellesley, MA 02181) and includes detailed instructions for its installation and use (including networks and a method enabling a n instructor to monitor the students' utilization of it). This review will cover general aspects, outline the organization, comment on specific components, and finally provide a summary far the potential user. The installation and operation far individual users is trivial. This was tested here on two platforms ( a 486 DX2, 66 MHz using IBM OSI2 operating system and a 486, 33 MHz using DOS, each had a CD-ROM player). In the former case, the programs were run from the CD-ROM or aRer transfer to a hard drive (-120 MBytes required). All ran flawlessly. No attempt was made to try the network installation. The topics are all arranged linearly (like a hook) using a menu hierarchy. I t is quite easy to keep track of one's "location" although i t is not possible to go back to a n individual screen without first going to the beginning of the section where it is contained. In general, a concept is introduced, examples are given, and the user is given tasks to accomplish. Concepts and exercises are supplemented by visual examples; there are very few pages with only text. All exercises provide help, a hint, ortheanswer. However, the user is not allowed to proceed unless the correct answer is entered. Some junior chemistry majors here that were asked to provide comments found this frustrating; however, it seems necessary for the novice a t the introductory level. The materials are accessed via a series of contents or index screens arranged in a hierarchical manner from most general to most specific. The keyboard andlor mouse are used to maneuver and to provide answers to the queries. Directions on how to do that are clear and appear on each page. The outline structure permits one to keep perspective hut does not allow a mode where a student could "browse" (like flipping through the pages of the book to see what appears next). This product attempts to provide comprehensive, interactive tutorials for general and organic chemistry and the laboratories that traditionally accompany the lectures. Individual instructors may argue about whether bath subjects are truly, completely covered. The authors have made a great effort a t covering a n extensive breadth of the fundamental concepts. We may all find same of our "favorite" examples or subtopics missing, but overall the coverage is excellent. Details about the contents fallow. T h e Comprehensive Chemistry package includes four major parts that appear on the first page (i.e., main index): (1) "Exploring Chemistry IV,"Interactive V~deoLaboratory; (2) "Introduction to General Chemistry" (3) '"Intraduetion to Organic Chemistry;" (4) "Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Each comes with a hard copy Teacher's Manual (the first three over 100 pages each) and are organized like chapters in a hook, using a series of menus. A brief overview of each and subjective commentary is provided. "Exploring Chemistry IV" contains the fallowing nine topics: chemical reactions, solubility, oxidation and reduction, acids and bases, reaction rates, equilibrium, gases, orbitals and electrons, and transition metal chemistry. Each topic has a number of subtopics, and in turn, each of those contains multiple pages or screens. This is the most visually "stimulating" part, because it contains the video clips, a series ofvideataped segments that have been converted to the CD-ROM format. Unfortunately, a great deal of resolution is lost in the process, but the authors are clever and show us "instant replays" and close-up views. In a few cases, the color of the pictures was "Washed out." The red litmus was quite purple on my screens, but it was still possible tosee changes. The animations are terrific a t demonstrating that chemistry is a subject where things happen! I t is not a passive subject where all one does is algebraic problems. The second main division, "Introduction to General Chemistry," contains nine topics and a game: elements, inorganic nomenclature, formulas and equations, atomic weights, percent composition, ideal gases, pH (acids and bases), metric system, solutions, and Chemaze. Each Dart is m i t e extensive. For examole. "Ideal Gases" contains four sections: atmasoherie oressure., ROV~P'S TAW - ,... p-l'l index. pressurctrmprraturr cxptrrmcnt. and Charles' Law T-l' index. In rum, "Atnlosphenc Prrssure" cuntains I3 pages, Ijovlek Lns. ronrarns 3n addltmnnl five subtopic.; each with mul. tiple screens, and so on. All user input must come from the keyboard in this entire module. This is not a serious shortcoming other than its being different from the other three main programs. There are a few serious problems if the student uses a new computer platform with considerable processing speed (i.e., a 486based PC). It was not possible far this reviewer to play Chemaze; the machine-controlled "sprite" always caught me in a n instant. Fearing that middle age had already taken its toll, a 'consultant" was commissioned. My seven-year-old son did no better. The speed at which the program ran on my computers also was a problem but to a lesser degree in some of the user exercises. For example, one has to he very careful when heating or coaling a vessel in the "pressure-temperature experiment" section. The question asks you to try 50 O C ; it took many tries before I could achieve that because it was so easy to overshoot the temperature when heating with the Bunsen burner. This will likely be a frustration for many in its present form. However, there are various other features and examples that work perfectly fine. The third, main module, "Introduction to Oyganic Chemistry," also contains nine topics and a game: alkanes, alkenes and alkynes, substitution reactions, infrared and NMR, arenes, alcohols, aldehydes and ketones, carhoxylie acids, amines, and ChemRain. Each of the functional groups has subtopics on the rules and practice of nomenclature, structure, reactions, and special topics (e.g., R and S names and chirality in the case of alkanes). The infrared and NMR sections give a little theory and show haw to interpret spectra. Students will have to provide their own tableo of rrpriicntnrivr frequrnr~esor shift v d u & when they w r k tor pnhlems, hecause none are prowded. >lost of the Itl prohloms involve the C=O stretch. ChrmRam ~nvolvermatching ~~
~.
~~~
.~~~
~~~
. -.
~~
~~~
Reviewed in This Issue Stanley Smith, Loreffa Jones, Ruth Chaboy, and Elizabeth Kean, Comprehensive Chemistry [Multimedia Package] RoaldHoffmann and Vivian Torrence, Chemistry Imagined: Reflections on Science Monographs
Reviewer Norbert J. Pienta George B. Kauffman Laurie M. Kauffman
A17 A1 8 A18
Volume 72 Number 1 January 1995
A17
reviews organic starting materials with reagents. The slowest speed on the platforms used here is still taa fast for a novice. Furthermore, it does not appear to be completely accurate in what does or does not react. That may be the consequence of taking reactions out of context 1i.e.. , - ~reaction ~ ~ , conditions. etc.1. The.fourth tutorial. "Ormnic Laharatorv." reviews teehnioues in .. . . . ~~~~, ~ ~ ~ ~ ~" ieven pnni: mrlting pumt, mwed melr~ngpolnt, d~stillatwn,frac. rionol d~strlli~tmn. Pxtrnerwn, cxtmction rxpenment, and qunlitativr orgnmr T l > w is the xmsllert of rhc ibur, n ~ s mprwwsmi bur does a thorough coverage of the topics included. There are plenty of activities for the user in the context of the concepts being covered. Each part would he a n appropriate pre-lab exercise for organic experiments in which the techniques are used. In order tojudge the value of a pmieet such as the one reviewed purchaser m i s t ask a t least two, fundamental here, each questions: (11 Who are the users? and (21 Why would they use it? The orice (vide infra) oreeludes the ourchase of it by individual students. Therefore, h e instruetort~lmust decide kow to integrate such a product into the course and when and how to use it. It is fruitful to review some advantages and disadvantages of a project that calls itself comprehensive. Interactive software has advantages over a book because it paints students in the right direction, gives them context-sensitive feedback on solving problems, and lets them assimilate material at a pace they can handle. This project chwses general and fundamental topics that should appear in everyone's euniculum from what traditionally would be two year-long courses. A student could potentially go to thme topics for a n alternative view of how to lmk at that subject when it is being covered in her or his dass. The disadvantage is that the material is organized differently from the bwk being used, and at the intmductory level, the students do not know which topics to review. One way to use this software is to "assign" sections from it along with reading and questions from the book. Comprehensiue Chemistry will he extremely valuable in this regard. I t will help students learn how to solve same afthe problems that also appear in the hook by leading them through the problems step-by-step. In this way it also will instill same self-confidence. In my opinion, Comprehensive Chemistry is not a good reference book in the traditional sense, even in the way same of the commonly used texts might be. I also don't believe that it was intended to be. There is just no simple and consistent way to get a definition, a statement of some chemical law or principle, or a quick summary an a topic out ofthis software. That is not tosay that you could not learn that definition, rule, or ~rincipleby using this software. I believe that the approach used by the authors is a quite effective way to learn the material. However, it is not a summary of everything one should know about these subjects. In various places within this project, the authors use the scientific method to establish a principle or answer a question. This is accomplished by presenting problems in which the student collectsdatain a series of "experiments" and then must draw a conclusion or identify an unknown. It is a very effective method on a computer especially with video visualization. For example, one examines the relationship between pressureP and temperature T by measuringp a t various temperatures and then platting the data. The linear relationship and the concept of absolute zero are quite obvious even if the experiments are not "real." In another case, the saluhility of same salts are reviewed by looking at video clips of the mixing of certain anions and cations. Subsequent ta that, an unknown is assigned (with four salts as possible solutions1The student designs the experiments by mixing the unknown with various known solutions and actually observing the vidmtaped outcomes. That's a very realistic method by which a student not only learns the material but also the pmcess by which shehe got there! The vendor, Falcon Software, claims that 'Were are 180 hours of interactive instruction." That claim is certainly justified, although it didn't take me quite that long. Because Comprehensive Chemistry contains so much material, a list of even minor concerns or shortcomings might get long. I would place all of my reservations in that catemrv " * lexceot oerhaos the oroblems that amse because of the meed of m v mm~uters'ilrmessors):the" are minor. Commehensive ~~
Given the price and a potential purchasers reservations, one may want a complete outline of the programs' content to see which topics are or are not covered. These are not currently provided, hut the vendor or authors might be convinced to do this.
Norbert J. Pienta
~~~~~~
-
~
~~~. . .
Tne Unwers ry of Norin Carol na at Chape M lr Cnapel rl NC 27599
.
Chemistry Imagined: Reflections on Science Roald Hoffrnann and Vivian Torrence. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, DC, and London, England, 1993. Figs., diagrams, photographs, and 30 color plates. 168 pp. 20.0 x 25.2 cm. $19.95. In this u n q u r nmalgnm d a r t , srlcncc, and lrterarurr. 1981 Sobe1 lnurr3tr cl~erntst;and prrscnter of the P I E l r l e ~ , ~ i l ocourse. n "The M'urld of Chrmutr,:" Ranld Hoffmann. and nrtid \',wan Florig h r r e n c e have collaborated to produce a coherent set of images (30 full-page, full-color collages created during the period 1989-1991 by Torrence) and matching essays-factual or scientific, philosophical or historical-or poems (Hoffmann's contributions range in length from two to five pages and include 57 line drawings) evoked hy these images. Although such a venture is unusual today, the histancal precedent for this activity can be found in Andrea Alciato's Emblematn Flumen Abundans, a collection of symbolic pictures and explications. Published in Renaissance Italy (1531), this Latin work was followed by hundreds of so-called '"emblem books." Evolving from Hoffmann and hrrence's meeting in 1986 a t the Djerassi Foundation, "Chemistry Imagined has as its subject "the maeic of chemistrv-its historical mots. the richness of activities of ma&m chemistry, the waysof knowkg of this central science." However, it is not only a trade book but also a travelingexhibition, which, since its opening in November 1991 a t the Des Moines Art Center, has appeared a t the Purdue University Galleries, Indiana University's Fine Acts Gallery, Augusta College, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Douglas Drake Gallery, the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Through its pairing of different media, the bwk presents an insightful and innovative lmk a t the creativity of chemistry and reveals that chemistry, like art, is a creative process, a fact well known to scientists but not sufliciently appreciated by the general public, far whom the volume is intended. Collaee. the medium introduced in the 1910's by Picasso and Braque andadopted by Torrence, breaks up the common path of thinking as a logical, commonsense process and demands that we seek new, unexpected relationships and use our intuitive as well as logical faculties, much as both artists and scientists do. lbrrence and Hoffmann thus demonstrate that although the arts and sciences appear to live largely in different worlds, there is chemistry in art and art in chemistry. Torrence's provocative images and Hoffmann's perceptions of ancient and modern chemistry combine to produce a multifaceted humanistic vision of the spirit, wander, and essence of chemistry that makes a n inexpensive, ideal, and beautiful gift for scientists, artists, students, and the general public As a n example of popular science a t its best, it is a welcome addition to the arsenal of weapons to combat chemophobia and antiscientific attitudes so prevalent in today's society.
George B. Kauffman and Laurie M. Kauffman California State Universitv. Fresno Fresno, CA 93740
Monographs Environmental Science and Technology. Toxic Substances in the Environment 6. Magnus Francis. Jerald L. Schnoorand AlexanderZehnder, Series Editors. Wiley: New York, NY, 1994. xviii + 360 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.4 x 24.4 cm. $49.95.
A18
Journal of Chemical Education
