Humboldt State University ® Department of Chemistry

Richard A. Paselk

Chem 109
General Chemistry

Section 3 (crn 27032); MWF 1500-1550 SCIA 564

Syllabus - Spring 2013

Office: SA560a
Office Hours: MWTr 1000-1050; WF 1100-1150; other times by appointment
Phone: x 5719
Home: 822-1116
e-mail: rap1@humboldt.edu

Course Information & Learning Outcome Goals

Welcome to Chemistry 109, the foundational course for your future in science!

Recommended Learning Strategies–chemistry is a challenging course for most students. To assure your success start planning HOW you will succeed immediately!

Catalog Description:

CHEM 109. General Chemistry (5) FS. Fundamental concepts: stoichiometry, gases, atomic theory, solutions, bonding, acid/base theory, kinetics, equilibrium, thermochemistry, aqueous equilibria. For students in science, engineering, and related majors. Letter grade only. Prereq: math code 40. Weekly: 3 hrs lect, 3 hrs lab, 1 hr disc.

Learning Outcomes:

CHEM 109 addresses the following Department of Chemistry learner outcomes. Successful students will be able to demonstrate:

Chemistry 109 is an Area B Lower Division General Education course. The GE goals for Chem 109 include:

General Information & Learning Resources

My attitude towards texts is that they are references to repeat, expand, clarify (or confuse!), and otherwise aid you in your endeavor to understand chemistry. I do not "require" that you buy a text - you're an adult, you should know what you require to "master" a course. It's your decision. However, I strongly recommend purchasing a book. Zumdahl will be the central text for most of this course. Zumdahl and I may sometimes disagree. In such cases of disagreement between a text and myself, I will give you credit for either interpretation, but you may need to see me if you did not recieve credit on an exam or quiz for a different but "correct" answer.

OWL (Online Web Learning)

I am requiring OWL, an on-line learning and homework system being provided free this semester by the publisher.

Note that OWL participation is required and contributes a significant number of points to your grade. Note that OWL is a learning environment - it is designed to enable you to 'master' chemistry and get full credit for participation. If you are conciencious and work hard on OWL you should get the full 100 points towards your grade.

Instructions for registering with OWL etc. are availble on the course Moodle site (NOTE that Firefox is the preferred browser for Moodle on both Mac and PC!). OWL access codes will be provided free by the publisher as we are participating in a "test" of the new version. You will be asked to fill out an evaluation for the system at the end of the semester as part of this testing.

Discussion/Study Modules

These modules are intended to aid your success in specific topics/quizzes in this course. I have written them over a period of years emphasising step-by-step problem solving strategies.

Lecture Notes

I will post copies of my lecture notes on the course web site after each lecture. (If you want to "look ahead" you can get a good idea of what is next by looking at my archive for the Spring 2011 Chem 109 notes.) These notes are intended to help you amplify and correct your own notes. It is generally a bad idea to use my notes instead of taking your own! Taking notes is an essential learning mode for most students. You should be very critical when using the posted lecture notes - it is incredibly easy to screw up and enter small errors into these notes. If you use the notes and think you've found an error please tell me via e-mail so I may correct them immediately rather than forgetting your comments on the way to my office!

This course will emphasize problem solving. I will attempt to put all of the lecture examples (and links to others) into my web notes to help you out.

Supplemental Instruction course

A supplemental section (Chem 198) is scheduled for our section of Chem 109 this semester. Enrollment occurs after school starts. These course are run by advanced chemistry students as instructors. The supplemental instruction section for our section of Chem 109 is:

• Section 12 (CRN 22870) run by Haley DuBois, MW @ 4pm (1600) in SH 117
• Section 17 (CRN 26452) run by Christopher Towler, TR @ 5pm (1700) in FH 178

The first meetings of these sections will be announced in class and electronically.

Time Commitment:

Most students find chemistry to be a challenging and time consuming experience. An average student should expect to spend two hours out of class for each hour in class for a "C" grade, that is about 14 hours a week in study, homework and lab write-ups.

Calendars

Lecture Schedule: See General Chemistry on my Web Page (http://users.humboldt.edu/rpaselk/)

Laboratory/Discussion Calendar: See General Chemistry on my Web Page (http://users.humboldt.edu/rpaselk/)

Grading Information

Attendance:

Lecture: Attendance/Participation in lecture will be taken via "Clicker" use in class and will contribute up to 40 points to your grade. In addition, you are most strongly urged to attend every lecture and to take thorough notes as historically this approach has led to greater success than missing classes and taking sketchy notes.

Discussion: Attendance is mandatory. Missing three or more discussion sessions will reduce your final grade by one step (e.g. "C" to "C-"). Just showing up for the quiz is NOT counted as attendance for the discussion.

• It is expected that you will work on the problem set for a given discussion several days in advance of the laboratory period and be prepared to participate in the discussion.
• I am "tuning-up" my on-line learning supplements for Discussion this semester. Study Modules may not be available for all discussions - you will have to check the Lecture Schedule each week to determine the assignments/modules for that week!
  • You are expected to do the "required" exercises in the Module prior to coming to the appropriate discussion!
  • These exercises will substitute for lecture for these discussion topics - your discussion instructor will expect you to have completed these exercises and be ready to ask questions and to work with others on problems presented in discussion.
• Bring a non-programmable scientific calculator to every discussion - there will be a quiz given the last ten minutes of each discussion period.

Lab: Laboratory attendance is mandatory. Missing three or more laboratory sessions will result in an automatic "F" for the course! Each three scores of "0" (Laboratory attendance but no report turned in) and/or 3 "U"s will reduce your final grade by one step (e.g. "C" to "C-").

Unless you are informed otherwise, the written report for each lab exercise will be due at the beginning of the following lab. Late reports will not be accepted, except when they are necessitated by illness or some other unavoidable circumstance. Your lab reports will be graded "S" (satisfactory), "U" (unsatisfactory). Your course grade will be lowered by one or more letter grades for three or more "U" (unsatisfactory) reports. Lab reports will not be graded thoroughly, but will be superficially checked for completeness. It is impossible to overestimate the potential value of the lab and of the preparation of the lab reports in helping you to learn chemistry. The work you put in on the preparation of your lab reports will have a direct effect on your quiz and examination scores.

• Bring a scientific calculator to every laboratory.
• Come prepared to the labs - i.e., know what you are about to do in lab.
• Be punctual. Laboratory instructions and safety information is given at the beginning of lab. You will not be allowed to do lab work if you have missed this information!

Exams: Note the in-class exam dates and be certain you can make them:

Exam I (Weeks 1-6) - Friday, March 1

Exam II (Weeks 7-10) - Friday, April 5

Final Exam (Comprehensive): 1500-1650 Monday 13 May

Quizzes

There will be a quiz at the end of each discussion period.The dates and topics for the quizzes will be available the preceeding week on the Lecture Schedule. Note that only the top 10 quiz scores will be counted for 100 pts total. If you miss a Quiz it will be considered one of your low scores.

The subject areas covered learning modules etc. on each quiz are be posted on the Lab & Discussion Schedule by the Friday before each quiz (if you don't see it email me!).

I do not generally give make-up exams or quizzes, but can often make an accommodation if notified in advance. So if you think you can't make an exam or quiz, please call me in advance. If you can't reach me, leave a message with the Chemistry Department secretary or on my voice mail.

Lecture Points

Grading Rubric

Withdrawal/Drop Policy (from HSU Academic Senate):

You may drop this course for any reason without record up through the fourth week. After the 4th weekand until the 13th week withdrawal requires a "serious and compelling reason (see below) and will be recorded as a "W." After the 13th week only catastrophic withdrawals (see below) will be given - a grade of "WC" will be recorded.

• "Serious and compelling" reason for withdrawal: Examples include psychological problems, loss of care for dependents, inappropriate behavior of someone else in the classroom, and serious reversal in the student's financial situation. Documentation must be provided. (Note: reasons such as doing poorly in a class, taking too many units, being too busy to do the work, not liking the class, not knowing how or when to drop are not considered to be “serious and compelling.”) In considering serious and compelling reasons, faculty and department chairs should give careful consideration to a student’s extenuating circumstances while also following this rigorous definition of “serious and compelling.”
• Catastrophic Withdrawal (WC): Disenrollment from a course or from the campus after the census date due to catastrophic events clearly beyond a student's control, such as severe illness or injury, being called to military service, consequences of the death of a close family member. Formal documentation of the event must be provided, and requests must be approved by the faculty member teaching the course, the department chair, and the appropriate college Dean or designee. If granted, a grade of "WC" appears on the student's transcript. Catastrophic Withdrawals do not count toward the 18-unit limit for withdrawals. This is the only category of disenrollment permitted during the last 20% of instruction (the beginning of the 13th week of classes in the regular semester).

When contemplating a Withdrawal, you should also be aware of the new CSU policies (Executive Order 1037; August 1, 2009) that place significant new restrictions on course repeats and withdrawals for undergraduate students. As a summary:

Incompletes (from CSU Executive Order 1037)

"The “I” symbol shall be used only when the faculty member concludes that a clearly identifiable portion of course requirements cannot be met within the academic term for unforeseen reasons. An Incomplete shall not be assigned when it is necessary for the student to attend a major portion of the class when it is next offered."

"A student may not re-enroll in a course for which he or she has received an “I” until that “I” has been converted to a grade other than “I”; e.g., A-F, IC."

Campus Resources for Students

Students with Disabilities

Student Support organizations

• The Indian Natural Resource, Science and Engineering Program (INRSEP) is a student support program designed for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students pursuing degrees in the natural resource and science disciplines under the College of Natural Resources and Sciences (CNRS) at Humboldt State University (HSU).
  <http://www.humboldt.edu/inrsep/>

HSU Add/Drop Policy

Emergency Evacuation

Academic Honesty

Attendance and Disruptive Behavior

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C109 Laboratory/Discussion

C109 Home

C109 Lecture Notes

© R A Paselk

Last modified 22 January 2012