Developing a New sophomore-level Inorganic Course Glen E. Rodgers Allegheny College, Meadville. PA 16335
In recent years there has been considerable discussion about the nature of the inorganic courses in the undergraduate curriculum (1,2) and the subject areas that should be taught in these courses (3, 7). Most inoreanic chemistrv teachers t r y&d should seem to agree that more d e s ~ r i ~ t i v e ~ h e m i scan he taught (7-14), but how much and what descriptive chemistry is appropriate for either a sophomore or junior-senior level course? The answer is ~articularlvelusive for those faculty who were exposed to v& little descriptive chemistry during their formal education and now are expected to andlor want to teach it. What material must be included? What material will students find stimulatin~?What lecture demonstrations are appropriate? What laboiatory exercises should be chosen to complement best (or even to pave the way for) the lecture component of the course? One way t o find the answers to some of these questions is to ask the undergraduate students themselves. his method was the basis of the second half of a junior-senior level inoreanic course recentlv" taueht here a t Alleehenv - .Colleee. - .(The First half of the course involved an introduction to coordination and solid state chemistrv.) For this seement of the course. each student chose (on a fir&ome, firstyserve basis) a main group of the periodic table. He or she then researched the group by using a variety of reference materials, many of which were located in the teacher's office. The goal of this research was for the student to become an expert in the chosen group
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Resented, in part, at the 32rd Annual Conference of U?s Pennsylvania Association of College Chemistry Teachers, Wilkes College, April 1983.
990
Journal of Chemical Education
Table 1. Deadllnes for Class Presentatlons Deadline TWOweeks into
Activity Select Main Group of lhe Periodic Table
course
2) Discuss possible topics 3) Prasem "Tentative Preliminary Outline"
One class period
Turn in "Preliminary Outline"
before lecture Day of lecture
Turn in "Final Outline" and Three Exam Questions with Answers (outline and questions photocopiedfor dislributionto the class)
and then (1)present a 70-min lecture on the group, (2) survey the available lecture demonstrations for that group and perform one or two during the lecture, and (3)s w e y the available laboratory exercises, carry out two of them, and report on them in detail in a written laboratorv reoort. The ultimate eoal of all this work was to give these junior and senior chemikry majors the opportunity to recommend what aspects of main-group descriptive inorganic chemistry should be included in a new sophomore inorganic course recently approved by the faculty of Allegheny College. Class Presentatlons The objectives of the class presentations were as follows: 1J t o r m p h a s i m the important nsprcts of the chosen group, 21 to clarify unclear areas in the texthook 1151 rendrn~and 31 uo hring the chcmen g n u p "alive" for the class.
The third ohiective was hilled as the most im~ortant.Students were asked tb relate the group to everyday lGe, to explain how knowledee of this m o u h~ e l.~ us s to understand how and whv things work. 1twasBSalso suggested that strong attempt he made to relate this erouD chemistrv to the concepts of chemistrv learned in oth;?r chemistry co&es. As indicated in Tahle 1, there was a series of deadlines that had to he met as student; prepared for their lectures. These deadlines presented the students and the teacher with a number of opportunities t o talk chemistry, and this was of benefit to us all. The fact that the majority of the reference materials were lorated in the teacher's office also increased the oumher and quality of student-teacher (and studentstudent) discussions concerning the various groups. Students would peruse these references, consult with the teacher, and generally spend some time thinking and talking chemistry. As the deadlines approached, the in-office activity and diacussions intensified. In . ~ r e.o a r i n efor their lerturrs. students were encouraged to use audio-visual aids where appropriate, to inteerate their lecture demonstrations closelv with the material being presented, and to assume that the other students had done the assigned readine. from the text and then integrate the readings with their lec
