Chemical Education Today edited by
Book & Media Reviews
The Practice of Chemistry by Donald J. Wink, Sharon Fetzer-Gislason, and Sheila D. McNicholas W. H. Freeman: New York, 2003. 640 pp. ISBN 0716748711 (paperback). $60 reviewed by Christine M. Ingersoll
Written in a friendly style with language accessible to the first-year college student, The Practice of Chemistry is well suited for its intended audience of students in a preparatory chemistry course. This paperback textbook is divided into three sections. Part 1, Characterizing Chemical Substances and Reactions, focuses on the basics: vocabulary, the periodic table, molecular and ionic compounds, chemical reactions, and counting chemical substances, introducing mole ratios, and stoichiometry. Part 2, Chemical Quantities, more extensively covers quantitative investigations in chemistry, including experimental measurements, stoichiometry, and the gas laws. Part 3, Chemical Systems, includes topics that may or may not be covered in a preparatory course such as heat in chemical systems, radioactivity, equilibrium, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. Even though the text could possibly be covered in a one-semester course, most instructors would probably focus on mathematical problem solving and understanding chemical concepts, which are presented in the first two sections. Although I found the text to be well organized, I would like to have seen measurements and quantitative properties introduced even sooner in the text, since these are the topics that seem to give students the most trouble. (At many institutions, a preparatory chemistry course is designed for those students with relatively weak mathematics skills who are not yet prepared for a rigorous general chemistry course.) When chemical quantities and counting are introduced in Chapter 4, the explanation of the mole is done as clearly and concisely as I have seen, making several analogies (with the dozen as an example), but definitely not overdoing it. The book offers an array of approaches to teaching chemical concepts and mathematical problem solving. Some may consider the overall presentation to be a bit busy (or maybe even distracting), with its many icons, asides, and brightly colored boxes and headings, but I find it appropriately targeted toward students with varied learning styles. In addition to the typical text, figures, tables, and worked examples found in most chemistry textbooks, the authors of this text add a number of other opportunities to help stu-
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Journal of Chemical Education
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Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
dents learn strategic study habits and know what they need to memorize, and make connections both with other disciplines and with real-world examples. Found in the margins are “key idea”, “remember”, and “connect to section” icons that are self explanatory, along with “meeting the goals” of the section and references to Web resources. There are three ‘extras’ that I found particularly useful. Chapter Practicals use examples to relate the chemistry presented in the classroom to real-world situations. For example, each chapter has a theme, which is discussed at the beginning of the chapter. The theme for Chapter 8, Measurement of Chemical Substances, is medicinal drugs. Practical B in that chapter is “Have you had your ascorbic acid today?” This Practical uses vitamin C and other vitamins to practice calculating molar mass from formulas and converting from mass to moles and molecules. Another attractive pedagogical tool is the use of “How are you doing?” practice problems; these problems do not include step-by-step solutions (although there are several of these type of worked examples throughout the text as well). These examples without step-by-step solutions can help students let go and gain some independence by trying out a problem on their own before looking up the answer. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this text, and what sets it apart from others, is the emphasis on strengthening the mathematics skills needed to solve problems relating to chemistry. The “Making it Work with Math” sections do just that. For instance, when introducing gas laws in Chapter 10, a “Making it Work with Math” segment reviews linear relationships, which is later used in graphical representations of volume versus Kelvin temperature data to demonstrate Charles’s Law. Another “Making it Work with Math” segment in Chapter 15 focuses on exponential and logarithmic functions before introducing pH and pOH calculations. I would hope that this approach would help students make connections and answer the question they often ask, “When will we ever have to use this?”. In summary, I find this to be a well-written, nonintimidating textbook for a course geared toward preparing students for college-level general chemistry. The many approaches used to present similar content give all students the opportunity to learn the material and hopefully keep their attention. I will give this textbook serious consideration for my preparatory chemistry course in the future. Christine M. Ingersoll is in the Chemistry Department, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew Street, Allentown, PA 18104;
[email protected].
Vol. 81 No. 1 January 2004
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www.JCE.DivCHED.org
