Prelab Studies for General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry S. L. Olmsted and R. D. Olmsted. Jol Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Avenue. N€ Ywk. NY 10158 Hardware: Apple 11. 48 K, 1 disk drive software: DOS 3.3, ~ p p k s o f t Components: 9 disks. 9 backup disks Level and Subject: General chemistry laboratory, nonmajors Cost: $550: extra disks $15 each SUMMARY RATiNGS
Category Ease of use Subject Matter Content Pedagogic Value Student Reaction
Reviewer Reviewer I II Average
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Average
Average
Below Average average Good Average
Revlew 1
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This nackaee .. is intended to orovide "a intensivr review of aeirrted chemical c o ~ crprs highlighting important ideas, terl niques, and ralrulntioni rnrwntrred in tt laboratory . to complement lahorato~ work by focusing attention on those princ ples directly applicable to a given eaper ment." The programs are suitable for students in nonmajors college chemistry course. Su1 plementsry printed material includes pag references to Halum's "Fundamentals < General, Organic, and Bioldgical Chemistr) and its accompanying laboratory manual but the materials are independent enough f< ~
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use with other tents and lah manuals. Each lesson is to he done after reading the appropriate text or laboratory manual material. The software package comes in a 3-ring hinder with s plastic pocket for each of the 9 disks. There are two pages of page references, sixteen pages of program descriptions, and several pages directed "To The Student" and "To The Instructor." The student receives one and one-half pagrs of justification of CAI, information for use of the programs, and summary of the few keys generally used. General instructions are on every disk and thus available to students beginning a lesson. For the instructor, there are instructions for changing the type style on the screen to accommodata the differences between color and monochrome displays, doing the color test, and loading and caring for the diskettes. Only one copy of documentation comes with the program, so it is unavailable for extensive student use. The use of each of the 37 lessons is fairly straightforward on an Apple IIe. No prior computer experience is necessary, although getting the desired lesson from each diskette requires a series of steps. Consider, for example, what is needed t o obtain "Accuracy versus Precision-a Review," which is identified as lesson 2B Part 1 on Disk 1 in the Program Description. After the computer is turned on and diik 1 inserted, the introduetory page and then the copyright page autpmatically appear. Pressing the space .bar brings five options; choosing option (B) "Laharatory Techniques and Operations" hrings three more options; pressing letter (B) "Graduated Glassware" brings five more options, including (A) "Accuracy versus Precision-A Review." Responses are evaluated audibly as well as with text. An option for turning off the sound might be appropriate, since some students might be intimidated by others hearing the buzz for an ineorreet response. SLw disk operations are indicated by messages such as "One moment please." The documentation does indicate two lessons for which pencil, paper, and calculator are needed but does not far two other lessons where a calculator would normally be used (as in converting grams of
an element t o moles.) Na periodic table intornmation is provided. Srudenu grnernlly felt that rhe prompts were clear and that the riehr numbers were given. Of that 20% who tiought there were too few, the percentage increased from A to B to C students. In spite of the analogy that "pressing the space har is like turning a page," students were mast concerned about the general inability t o reverse material within a program. Occasionally, one entire portion of a lesson can he reviewed, hut the onlv standard ootion is to exit (not "finish" a%indirated in the dwun~entatbm,the leson and return w ihc Tahle of (:onrents by pressing rheesrnpr kry.Thr lac kofhnckward movement is usually merely inconvenient; however, many students could not proceed when asked to calculate the equivalent weight of the acid in the titration experiment, hecause the" hadnot seen the normalitvof the base the m e time it appeared. Only hy thrir entermg nn incorrect m5wer rhrw times firr the first trial could the correct \,slur bescrn in the solution that appeared on the screen. Prompts are not always appropriate or consistent: "Press space bar to continue" appeared during a graphics routine, even though that routine had to go to completion. Within a lesson, an underline flashed far inserting the first coefficient into an equation; an asterisk appeared for the second eoefficient. There are two small format changes that I would make. One would he to break up the large amounts of text presented a t one time into smaller portions. The other would he to renhrase all rhetorical ouentions as itatemmtsso that student.; uould nor try to rrcpond when no response iq ~.ailtdfor. Neither my inrentio!8sl meaningless imputs nor the students' unintentional ones caused any program to crash. ,Often the computer does not accept meaningless symbols; when it does, it responds as if they are incorrect. A rangc of 0.02 ml. 1s correctly permitted in readings t ~ r e tHowevcr, . in a m d e q u e s tion, should an inswrr of OW . E&! he accepted
(Continued on page A30)
Reviewer Computer Learning Package Review S. L. Olmstedand R. D. Olmsted, Prelab Studies for General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry
John P. Williams Jerry L. Sarquis Arlyne M. Sarquis
A29
George B. Kauffman George B. Kauffman
A3 1 A3 1
Books Mario Morselli, Amadeo Avogadro: A Scientific Biography Bassam 2.Shakhashiri, Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry, Volume 1 New Volumes in Continuing Series
Volume 62
Number 1 Januarv 1985
679
