PSI: PersonalizedSystem of Instruction
book reviews Understanding Chemistry, From Atoms to Attitude
T. R. Dickson, John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New Yark, 1W16, 1974. xv
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361 pp. Figs. and tables. 18 $9.95.
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26 cm.
"Understanding Chemistry" is a n addition to the growing number of texts recently published to teach chemistry to non-science students. The author's main objective is to provide a chemical view of the environment. In as much as the author accomplished this objective, the hook should have been entitled "Understanding the Environment, a Chemical Description." The approach to the material is a descriptive non-mathematical account, first of atoms and molecules, then of some relevant aspects of our environment. The text may be accompanied by a 142 page workhook-supplement which contains a glossary of terms, an extensive hibliography, and numerous questions and exereises relating to what students think on current issues involvingchemistry. The material in the text includes 15 chapters covering 350 pages. Seven ehapters cover the description of hasie chemistry. These are: Chemical Elements, Chemical Compounds and Reactions, Nuclear Energy, Gases, Water and Solutions, Organic Chemistry, and Biochemistry. The other eight chapters relate these basics to environmental pollution, health, and natural cycles. The most extensive coverage is given to water and its role, and pollution. This covers 60 pages and three chapters. The coverage of air pollution is shorter, hut adequate. The coverage of topics like medicine, agriculture, and food is rather brief. Each chapter is followed by some questions, directed a t the relevance of the material, and a short reading list. In my opinion the major weakness of the text is that it is short. A tremendous amount of material is included in very little space. The instructor using this text will need to supply considerable detail to
41 Germinal Papers
broaden and clarify the views his students obtain from reading the text. This is not to imply the text is not well written, because it is. The chemical facts are presented in a most concise style. For example, the modern view of the atom requires less than a page of print and a page of three figures. I think many student readers will be overwhelmed by the rate a t which new terms are introduced and explained. To many instructors this would be a hook "about chemistry" rather than a haok of chemistry, but I think students will enjoy the wealth of interesting and often unusual (for chemistry texts) information presented in contrast to the dry equations and problems they expect of chemistry. Some examples of this type of information are as follows: The derivation of the names af the elements; common names and uses of many materials; food composition; fatty acid components of animal and vegetable oils; natural cycles; and industrial processes. The text abounds in figures and tables of this kind of infarmation and most of these are excellent and should keep the student interested in the subject. This excellent feature of the text does limit the space available far the description af these facts or their interpretation. The teat seems to be relatively free of errors. Although the questions in the supplement are excellent and the reading list extensive, I do not helieve I could justify the cast ($3.25) to my students. The best third of the supplement wauld he hetter placed in the text. I would recommend this text to those who teach a course with understanding pollution as its major goal. The instructor must he willing to supplement the hows and whys as his students require them. This text will disappoint the model and mechanism worshiper. Herbert L. Smith Slippery Rock State College Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania 16057
-Reviewed in This Issue T. R. Diekson, Understanding Chemistry, From Atoms to Attitude
J. Gilmour Sherman, PSI: Personalized System of Instruction 41 Germinal Papers
Lorry E. Wilson. Introductory Quantitative Analysis
Douglas A . Skoog and Donald M. West, Analytical Chemistry: An Introduction Second Edition
J. E. Fergusson, Stereochemistry and Bonding in Inorganic Chemistry J. C. Moire and B. Waegell, Structures, Mechanisms and Spectroscopy: 120 Problems, 60 Solutions A . Gorrnon Hills, Acid-Base Balance: Chemistry, Physiology, Pathaphysiology
Stanley K. Freeman, Applications of Laser Raman Spectroscopy New Volumes in Continuing Series
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J . Gilmour Sherman, Georgetown University. W. A. Beniamin. Inc. 2725 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, Calif. 94025, 1974. xiv + 225 pp. Figs. and tables. 21.5 X 28 cm. $5.95 paperbound. PSI is also known as the Keller Plan, an instructional strategy which presents to the student a set of behaviorally defined criteria, in subsets, each of which is to he mastered in a carefully designed consecutive order. Subset "B" is not available until subset "A" has first been mastered, as measured by the pertinent criteria. The mode is self-paced, with emphasis upon student decisions to proceed rapidly, slowly, or in spurts. Obviously, there are many variations of this theme; the Keller Plan has been utilized in almost every discipline, a t prahahly every level. The proceedings of the "Symposium on Self-Paced Instruction in Chemistry" held at the Dallas ACS meeting, April 11, 1973 are available from the Chemical Education Publishing Company, 20th and Northampton Sts., Easton, Pa., 18042, $4.50. By and large, those proceedings describe variations or derivatives of either the Keller Plan or other self-pacing strategies. The hook under review here is more generally oriented. Section I is a collection of ten papers originally published elsewhere which deal with the psychological principles on which self-pacing strategies are based. Section II, with 11 papers, is a similar collection but pertains to various disciplines such as engineering, lihrary science, and chemistry (that one from thi.9 Journal, by M. WeiMing Leo, 50, 49 (1973)). Section Ill contains a series of seven papers on problems in the use of the Keller Plan, while the eight contributions in Section IV describe various modifications, including the now well-established Postlethwait system for introductory biology. Section V deals with some of the historical development and theory of the Keller Plan. I found the total collection to be largely interesting, certainly competently done, but unpersuasive. The collection is provocative, especially to those who initially feel opposed to any use of self-pacing for their own students. The Keller Plan and other self-pacing strategies are rooted in learning-reinforcement theary: If a learner is rewarded for a correct response, then the likelihood of that response is increased whenever the stimulus is presented later. Clearly, when we wish to teach laboratory technique, memorization of formulas, and other rate matters, this strategy is to be recommended. Since chemistry consists of more than this, additional strategies of education are also necessary. But there is an even more important objection to he included in deliberations on the use of the Keller Plan. It does work well with highly motivated students (so does almost anything else one can think of). The Keller Plan of itself does not motivate students; the unmotivated tend to drop out. Of all the characteristics that describe a typical freshman college student, the outstanding word is insecurity.
(Continued onpngeA502) 'olume 51. Number 10, October 1974
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book reviews Most beginners have a disappointingly low estimate of their own ability, often much lower than it really is. Such students also are not often highly motivated. So, when they encounter the Keller Plan in one of their freshman courses, and drop out, they tend to see this as "proof" that their low estimate was correct. If this is true, then the Keller Plan should not be used except in those cases where one has a highly motivated class. This is an unfortunate conclusion, since teachers who have tried the Keller Plan have become hetter teachers; it is those behavioral objectives which demand that one knows what one wants and why one wants it that perform this trick. At the minimum then, this hook is recommended to all who wish to improve their ability as teachers, provided that they exercise care, and throw out the bath water while retaining the baby. Jay A. Young
Auburn University Auburn. Alabama 36830 Introductory Quantitative Analysis
Lorry E. Wilson, Ohio University-Lancaster. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., Columbus, Ohio 43216, 1974. viii + 391 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $12.95. This is a brief, orderly presentation for first or second year college students. It contains 300 pages with explanations of, and 50 pages with 22 laboratory exercises for, selected inorganic, classical wet-chemical methods of quantitative analysis and for thepH meter and spectrophotometer. The author faces the problem of what to do far students who are not chemistry majors, hut who need some introduction t o quantitative measurements in chemistry. He presents equilibrium theory and prohlems in the standard, simplified, approrimate way often anticipating paints a t which students have difficulty. The lahoratory directions are given a numbered sequence of steps for clarity. There is good emphasis on significant figures and proper treatment of data. The experiments usually specify reporting t o the nearest 0.01%. A relative precision might be preferred. The author does not seem to expect much depth in this elementary course for he advises students to learn the list of derived p H equations for the various types of solutions. In this he is being realistic as well as pessimistic. Activities are defined in Chap. 1 and then ignored as are the effects on solubility of "hydrolysis" and complexing. Full equations, rather than net ionic equations are often given. Sometimes the author is leading the student to the net ionic equation, sometimes not. One must, however, object to printed expressions like [NaOAc] = 0.10 M Haw will the student ever understand that there is practically no measurable concentration of such species? How will he ever understand a charge balance? Other than this, the chemistry seems correct and very clearly explained for these students. A lapse is the A502
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recurring use of the ward "exact" for measured quantities like solution concentrations. This is an inside hook treating only the techniques of this course. There is little application to real-world problems or mention that these methods were developed by people trying to solve problems. The wise teacher will supply motivating examples and history. The subject is presented briefly and clearly. The hook should be useful far courses needing this approach. William 6 . Guenther The University ot the South
Sewanee. Tennessee 37375
Analytical Chemistry: An Introduction. Second Edition
Douglas A. Skoog, Stanford University and Donald M West, San Jose State University. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc. 383 Madison Ave., New York, 10017. 1974. ix + 598 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 x 23.5 cm. $13.00. This book is a shortened version of Skaog and West's "Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry," 2nd edition, 1969, and an up-dated edition of the 1965 "Analytical Chemistry: An Introduction" by the same authors. In addition to 17 chapters covering the standard topics of the field, the present book also contains nine appendices dealing with relevant mathematical manipulations and data tabulations. The authors have attempted to include the mast important topics for a shortened course, leaving some of the more detailed and advanced material to the "Fundamentals" book. In this manner they have achieved their objective of presenting a useful and attractive book for many analytical courses taught a t the sophomore level. The 1974 edition is visually more attractive than the 1965 version, as well as some 75 pages longer, thanks to the inelusion of newer material on potentiometry, separations, and other topics. These changes definitely increase the usefulness of the baok for both the student and the instructor and are ta he welcomed. An assessment of the relative merits of the present book and the longer "Fundamentals" baok (2nd Ed.) is more difficult. One can see, of course, the advantages of lower cost for the "Introduction" hook but there is much t o he said for the more complete "Fundamentals" book, even if all the chapters are not used for a given course. The present book does contain some updated material not present in the 1969 edition of the "Fundamentals" book. Most readers will be aware of the fact that Skoog and West also have a more advanced hook "Principles of Instrumental Analysis" (1971). The authors, thus, have succeeded in preparing a complete textbook sequence for the undergraduate analytical curriculum. Whether one chooses to begin with the present baok or the "Fundamentals" book is largely a matter of personal taste and of specific course aims. One can hardly go wrong with Skoog and West! G . A. Rechnitz
State University ot New York at Buffalo Buffalo. New York 14214
Stereochemistry and Bonding in Inorganic Chemistry
J. E. Fergusson. University of Canterbury, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1974. ix 309 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 x 23.5 cm. $15.95.
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Fergusson's hook is a unique treatment of stereoehemistry in the field of inorganic chemistry. The author systematically approaches a very broad and diverse subject and does a remarkable job of defining some ways that chemists talk about inorganic stereochemistry. The volume presents a valuable collection af structural data and is the first such compilation available to inorganic chemists. The text is divided into two sections: Part I is a survey of theoretical stereochemistry and Part II is a systematic look a t the stereoehemistry of all of the elements. The hook is not intended to be exhaustive in its coverage as indeed it is not. It does present a reasonably comprehensive guide t o current data. Experimental results which are presented in numerous tables throughout the text are emphasized in discussions of structure. Although eavalent bonding is the primary concern, some mention of ionic and solid crystalline lattice effects is made when appropriate. In an effort to give some perspective to the reader, Chapter 1 includes a hrief but well done historical introduction. An outline of atomic orbitals and symmetry is presented in Chapter 2. The author assumes that the reader is familiar with the methods of group theory in his treatments of hybridization in Chapter 3 and molecular orbitals in Chapter 5. Valence bond theory is adequately surveyed in Chapters 3 and 4; the treatment would be comprehensible for seniors with a firm background in physical chemistry and group theory. The molecular orbital presentation of Chapter 5 begins fairly simply and is even incomplete for diatomic molecules; the discussion then skips to a treatment of polyatomics that is much too complex. Frustrations exist in Chapter 5 for the reader because of the superficial treatment of such topics as the derivation of polyatomic equations and correlation diagrams. Part I1 includes chapters on the stereochemistry of the first short period, the phlock elements, the transition metals, and the lanthanides and actinides. Many numerical tables give the reader a good a p preciation for the kinds of information available. Data that illustrate trends as well as data that are relatively inconclusive are presented. The author applies this available information to interpret struet u r d behavior of compounds; he seeme to have a good feel for qualifying statements when data are not truly conclusive. No specific references are cited in any of the tables or anywhere else in the book for the vast amount of recent structural data available in the literature. This policy is a weak point of the volume, especially since many topics of discussion are actively being pursued by researchers and may he of further interest to the reader. A hrief bibliography a t the end of most chapters (the exception is the chapter on the lanthanides and actinides) includes textbooks (Continued anpage A504
