Chemicol Educotion: Software Abstract REDOX: A Tutorial on REDuction/OXidation Equations Volume IIIA, Number 1 Derek A. Davenport,
Purdue University Paul Groves
South Pasadena High School Pasadena, CA Dale L. Jensen North Medford Senior High School Medford. OR
This suite of programs provides a computer-hased tutorial on the subjects of oxidation numbers and balancing redox equations. There are three tutorials and three quizzes. The tutorials nrovide an introduction to oxidation numbers. present rules for assigning oxidation numbers, and present a chanee-in-oxidation-numbermethod for balancine redox rea c t i o k The quizzes allow students to test their mastery in assigning oxidation numbers and balancing redox reactions. Access to the tutorials and quizzes is provided through a menu that marks each one when it has been completed. The tutorials are presented as a series of "pages". Some pages present animated sequences to help visualize some of the concepts presented. These animations can be repeated as many times as desired. ~ l ; equizzesallow students todetermine whether thesubjert has been sut'ficiently understood; they do not keep re-
498
Journal of Chemical Education
cords of the individual student scores. Questions are selected at random from a large database. The first quiz has three levels of increasing difficulty; once a certain number of consecutive correct answers are eiven the student nroceeds t o the next level. The second qu;z allows the student to choose the difficultv of the auestion-the more difficult the ouestion the higher the score for a correct answer. The goaiis to score as many points as possible in a given amount of time. The name and score of the highest scoring student are recorded. In the final quiz, the student is presented with a redox reaction and asked to provide the correct coefficients to balance it. If an incorrect answer is given, the proper answer is displayed.
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