CHEM104 Spring 2002 Freshmen Section
Chemistry is a Piece of Cake!
Quick Essential Course Info
Your Instructors
| Dr. Sharon J. N. Burgmayer [a.k.a. Dr. B.] | Dr. Samantha Glazier [a.k.a. Dr. Sam] |
| office: 289 Park Hall | office: 276D Park Hall |
| phone: x5106 | phone: x7457 |
| e-mail: sburgmay@brynmawr.edu | sglazier@brynmawr.edu |
Want to know more about us? Click here
Hell Week pictures: dr.b. as a flowerchild (you gotta see this!)
...and even better: dr. sam as a tree! also, dr. sam leading chem lab exercises! another one...
Course Structure
This section of the "lecture" portion General Chemistry 104 will have a different structure from CHEM103 or 101. There will be two lecture periods and two small group periods each week and these will typically alternate (see attached schedule).
| Lecture | location: Park 180 - Berliner Lecture room |
The two weekly lectures will have the usual 50 minute format and be given by Dr. B. (with a few guest appearances by Dr. Sam!). New concepts and/or problem-solving approaches will be presented and illustrated here.
| Small Group | location: Park 366 and 367 (third floor in Physics realm) |
In between the two lectures each week, the class will be evenly divided into two smaller groups that will meet in small classrooms conducive to discussion and small group (3-4 persons) work. Dr. B and Dr. Sam will guide these sessions starting with a list of questions to consider and/or possibly a simple demonstration/experiment that each group will perform.
| Weekly Conference | location: in office of Dr. B. or Dr. Sam |
Each student will sign up for a short, 15 minute weekly conference meeting. You will alternate between meeting Dr. B. and Dr. Sam each week. During these conferences, questions will go both ways: you will have the chance to ask the instructors questions about the material and they will ask you questions about the selected homework assigned.
Quizzes
Short, 10-15 minute quizzes will be given throughout the semester, approximately every two weeks. Quizzes will be given only during the small group periods. Graded Work The pieces of work that will be graded are three in-class exams, quizzes, participation in the weekly conferences and the laboratory work directed by Dr. Lukacs. (For lab info, see the blue sheet.) The way these pieces combine to give your final grade in the course is below:
COURSE GRADE:
3 one-hour in-class exams 39% (13% each)
1 final exam 14%
Conference Participation & Quizzes 14%
Laboratory Grade 33%
(note: the lowest in-class exam may be replaced by submission of an Elemental Profile Creative Writing piece)
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 youčre writing a letter home to your family describing a new friend, rather than in the (too often stuffy) stolid scientific style. What does your friendč like? What does sheč do? What color is she?
Yes, this will result in some shameless anthropomorphizing...but that's a great stress-reliever!
About your instructors
Dr. Sharon J. N. Burgmayer, or "Dr. B", is in her sixteenth 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 when possible? Tucson, Arizona
Dr. Samantha Glazier (we're going to call her Dr. Sam) is a Keck Teaching Fellow. She just arrived at BMC from Cornell University where she received a Ph. D. in physical chemistry. She come from Washington and she received bachelors degrees in chemistry and women's studies from the Western Washington University.
As these pictures show, Sam likes to be outdoors! She races crew on nationally ranked teams...and also competes in polo from time to time.
