CHEM104 Spring 2007

What's happening this week?

Apr. 23 - Apr. 27

READ Chapter 11; lecture focus on 11.2-11.4 and 11.8

HOMEWORK Recommended:

In Chapter 11: 10,11,13,14,19, 20,21,24,27,

Examlette 4-TBA
"Chemistry: it's a Piece of Cake!"
Ms. Frizzle in The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake

 

Quick Essential Course Info

Your Instructor Your PLI's
Dr. Sharon J. N. Burgmayer [a.k.a. Dr. B.] Tanya Michelle Corder - tcorder@brynmawr.edu
office: 289 Park Hall Becky Rothstein - rrothste@brynmawr.edu
phone: x5106  
e-mail: sburgmay@brynmawr.edu  

Course Structure

The "lecture" portion of General Chemistry 104 will have a different structure from CHEM103. There will be, on average, two lecture periods on Mondaus and Wednesdays and one small group period on Friday each week.

(see Schedule).

Lecture location: Park 180

The two weekly lectures will have the usual 50 minute format and be given by Dr. B. In lecture, new concepts and/or problem-solving approaches will be presented and illustrated.

Small Group location: Park 259 and 200

For the Friday "group work " sessions, the class will be evenly divided into two smaller groups of 4 persons that will meet in small classrooms conducive to discussion and small group work. Dr. B and the PLI leaders will guide these sessions. Once everyone has arrived and gotten "centered", each session will start with a list of questions to consider and often a simple demonstration/experiment that each group will perform.

Course Grade:

The pieces of work that will be graded are four in-class exams, homework, participation in groupwork session, additional questions and/or quizzes based on the groupwork and laboratory work directed by Dr. Lukacs. The way these pieces combine to give your final grade in the course is below:

  • 2 one-hour in-class examlettes 20% (10% each)
  • 2 90 minute in-class exams 28% (14% each)
  • 1 final exam 10%
  • "Beyond Groupwork" and Quizzes 10%
  • Laboratory Grade 32%

(note: the lowest in-class examlette (10%) may be replaced by submission of an Elemental Profile Creative Writing piece.)

To Keep You On Track

Conferences and PLI Check-in  

PLI Check-in. At least every two weeks week you should attend an evening PLI ssesion to "check-in" with your PLI and let her know how you're doing. At these sessions the PLI leaders will ask you for concepts or problems that you find confusing or difficult.

Conferences. Each student will sign up for a short, 15 minute conference meeting with Dr. B. several times during the semester. During these conferences, you will have the chance to ask her questions about the material and she will ask you questions about the assigned homework. A sign-up sheet for conference times will be posted outside Dr. B's office.

Office Hours. Open office times when Dr. B. is available to chat and help you with problems are at the following times:

Tuesday 4 - 5 PM; Thursday 11:30 - 12:30

Homework

Homework will not be collected and graded, but that does not mean it isn't important to do!!! There are ample questions and problems at the end of each chapter to allow you to test your understanding of the material. See the top right corner for "what's happening this week?" to find the recommended question from the end of each chapter. These are the *minimum* problems you should do. Just like elsewhere, "practice makes perfect".

Elemental Profile

Some of you may feel more comfortable and more competent writing prose rather than doing number crunching. We have an option just for you! You may substitute one in-class exam by writing an Elemental Profile. The first day of class you will select a (tasty) element. After that, you may research in any way you wish the chemistry and typical behavior of this element. (An easy start might be to do a search on the Web.) The goal is for you to develop (dare I say it?) a personality of your element that is its profile. Think of the assignment not as a scientific chemical analysis but as a literary character development...the character just happens to be a member of the Periodic Table! In this regard, I would like to see your profile written in a friendly, cozy way...like you're writing a letter home to your family describing a new friend, rather than in the (too often stuffy) stolid scientific style. What does your "friend" like? What does "she" do? What color is she?

Yes, this will result in some shameless anthropomorphizing...but that's a great stress-reliever!

Your Elemental Profile piece may replace the lowest in-class examlette (10%).

About your instructors

Dr. Sharon J. N. Burgmayer, or "Dr. B", is in her eightteenth year of teaching chemistry at Bryn Mawr College. Her hometown is Lima, Ohio, she received a bachelors' degree in Chemistry and French from Heidelberg College (Ohio) and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

  

Her research field is bioinorganic chemistry wherein her focus is the molybdenum enzymes and metalloenzymes with pterin cofactors. Her research group homepage is here.

What does she like to do? Watercolor painting and rollerblading.

Where does she escape to whenever possible? Tucson, Arizona
about your PLI's (more to come!)    
 

Tanya Michelle Corder is a junior chemistry major at BMC.

     
  Rebecca Rothstein is a sophomore currently enrolled in organic chemistry    
return to top    
     

Investigate This .pdf files showing demonstrations. THANKS to Dr. Lukacs for creating these.

Chapter 6: 6.2.pdf — 6.3.pdf — 6.6.pdf —

6.11 and 6.41: done in groupwork

Chapter 7: 7.1.pdf — 7.4.pdf — 7.8.pdf —7.32.pdf —

Chapter 8: 8.1.pdf — 8.37.pdf — 8.42.pdf —

Chapter 9: 9.3.pdf — 9.8.pdf — 9.12.pdf —9.23.pdf —9.30.pdf —9.35.pdf —9.42.pdf —9.48.pdf —9.61.pdf —

Chapter 10: 10.2.pdf — 10.7.pdf — 10.14.pdf —10.31.pdf — 10.38.pdf — 10.44.pdf —10.53.pdf —10.56.pdf —

Chapter 11: 11.25.pdf — 11.64.pdf —