SURVEY
OF CHEMISTRY I
CHEM
1151
FALL
2006
Instructor Dr Anne GAQUERE
Office
2-119 TLC
Phone
678-839-6026
email: agaquere@westga.edu
Class time M, W:
Office hours M,
W:
T,
Th:
Textbook -
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry, Platinum Edition, by Timberlake,
2004, with its solutions manual.
-
Workshop book
Purpose
This is the first course in a
two-semester sequence covering the elementary principles of general, organic
and biochemistry for allied health professions and non-science major students.
This course includes general chemistry as well as an introduction to organic
chemistry, with an emphasis on human physiology. The chapters to be covered are
chapter 1 through chapter 13.
General policy
Under the studio format, the
class meets for 2 hours and 15 minutes 2 days per week and workshops will meet
an additional 2 hours per week. Laboratory activities will include hands-on
experiments and internet activities.
Everything that has been taught
since the beginning of the class is supposed to be known at any point of time. There
will be 4 examinations during the semester plus the final one, which is an
American Chemical Society standardized examination. Unannounced in class
quizzes will be given, the lowest quiz will be dropped. No make-up quizzes will
be given. If you miss an examination, the grade obtained on the final
examination will replace the missing grade, if you miss two examinations, the
grade obtained on the final examination will replace both of them…
Also,
the use of cell phones or laptops is prohibited during the sessions at any time.
If a student is using a cell phone, laptop, desktop at an inappropriate time,
text messenger, etc…, he will be expelled from the room and receive a zero for
the activity of the session.
Learning outcomes
Students who complete this course
are expected to develop:
·
an understanding of the basic concepts covered
in the text content,
·
an awareness of the role of general chemistry in
everyday life,
·
a basic comprehension of some applications of
chemistry to human physiology,
·
the ability to
communicate scientific ideas.
Study Skills
The
best way to make sure that you have thoroughly understood the material covered in
class is to read the text, work through the appropriate problems, and
participate in workshop, on a REGULAR
BASIS. Keep track of the end of chapter problems that give you the most
difficulty, and try similar problems for additional practice and review. Keep
up with the class, and ask questions frequently in workshop and during the
office hours.
In-Class Assignments
These assignments consist of all
activities that take place during the course of each session. They include online
exercises, study cases, all computer and laboratory activities. All of the
results from these activities will be submitted to the instructor at the end
of the current session (unless otherwise stated),
late reports will never be taken into consideration. There will be no makeup
sessions. Attendance to the class meetings is required and will be
recorded. You may earn a zero out of one hundred on the activity of the day you
missed without a valid excuse (medical certificate…) or are expelled for
disruptive behavior. Finally wearing safety goggles is required while
performing experiments (more details about safety in the lab will be given
later), not wearing them will result in being expelled from the room as well as
receiving a zero for the experiment, without any appeal.
Schedule for the examinations
Examination 1: Wednesday, September 6th, Ch 1,
2, 3, part of 7.
Examination 2: Wednesday, October 4th, Ch 4, 5,
6.
Examination 3: Wednesday, November 1st, Ch 7,
8, 9, 10 (up to pH).
Examination 4: Monday, November 27th, Ch 10,
11, 12, 13.
Final Examination: Wednesday, December 6th,
You will be given one hour to
complete the exam and no exam will be dropped. The exam dates will not be
postponed, please make every attempt to be present at these times since no
makeup exam will be given. Please arrive on time, as no extra time will be
given if you arrive late. If you arrive consistently late to class, points will
be deducted from your final point total (instructor points).
If there is a conflict with the
final examination time, you must provide me the written authorization from the
Dean of Arts & Sciences to move your final examination time. This note
should be delivered to me at least two weeks prior to the scheduled final
examination time. You are required to take the final examination to be eligible
to pass the course. Each examination will be closed book. After each
examination, you should go over your paper and understand what you missed.
Policy on cheating- Academic misconduct
Cheating on a lab report or a
quiz or any assignment for the first time will result in a score of zero for
that particular paper. If the student is caught cheating a second time, his
grade for the entire course will be an F.
Furthermore, if a student is
caught cheating on an examination, he will automatically receive
a grade F for the entire course. Any infraction will be taken before the
disciplinary committee and played out to the fullest extent. Cheating will
never be tolerated.
Unless a special medical condition
(medical certificate required), no student will be allowed to leave the room
during an exam. Leaving the room means to be finished with the exam, completed
or not.
Workshop Chemistry
There
will be “workshops” conducted in CHEM 1151. In workshops, the large class is
broken down into smaller groups. In addition to regularly scheduled lecture and
laboratory sessions, it is required to attend a workshop that meets once a week
outside of class to discuss chemistry problems and improve your understanding of
the material.
Workshops
are something like study groups, with three prominent differences.
1. Each
week’s workshop will go over a set of assigned questions. Please obtain your
workbook by purchasing a voucher at the bookstore. Present this voucher at the chemistry office
to obtain the workbook, which contains material for each workshop, week by
week.
2. Each
workshop will be led by an upper-level student leader who has had the course
previously and who has been trained for undertaking this responsibility. The leader
will act more as a facilitator than as a tutor. The purpose of workshops is to
provide practice and build confidence in your own ability to do chemistry
problem-solving.
3. Homework
will be due in workshop and checked for completion.
Each workshop will be scheduled
for a two-hour block of time. Why should you want to commit to two more hours
spent on chemistry each week in addition to your time in lecture and lab? Here
are some good reasons.
·
To be successful in chemistry, you should plan,
on average, to spend at least six hours a week outside of class/lab meetings
studying chemistry. The workshop can be two of them.
·
Working with other students and with a leader
can be more productive than doing all your studying
alone. In the structured workshop setting other students can help you see
something you missed and as you explain an idea to someone else it becomes
clear in your own mind. Workshops at other institutions have found that
students participating average significantly better on chemistry tests than those
not attending workshops.
·
It can directly affect your grade. A 15%
contribution to your overall course average is to come from workshops and thus
reduce how heavily your test scores will count.
SEMESTER
GRADES
Your
grade will be calculated based on the following formula:
Note: All exam, quiz and lab activity
grades will be based on your ability to DEMONSTRATE full understanding of the
material (with full credit given only if you SHOW ALL YOUR WORK, not just for
obtaining the correct answer).
|
Course % |
Letter Grade |
|
90% - 100% |
A |
|
80% - 89% |
B |
|
70% - 79% |
C |
|
60% - 69% |
D |
|
0% - 59% |
F |
Workshop Grades: You are not judged on
actual right answers, but the effort you put in. The workshop portion of your grade, will be based on:
1. Attendance.
Don’t arrive late; don’t leave early.
2.
Participation in group efforts to solve problems.
3.
Preparation. Practice problems should have been solved,
or at least attempted, before the relevant workshop.
4.
Attitude.
Food or
beverages are strictly forbidden in this classroom. If a student brings in food
or beverage, the item will be thrown away and the student will receive a zero
for the activity of the day.
The use
of cell phones is prohibited at any time during class time. If you bring a
laptop in class, you are allowed to use it only to take notes and nothing else.
Lateness
will be penalized by deduction from the grade for the activity of the day (10
points for the 1st time, 20 points for the 2nd one…).
Once
lab has started (Once any student has started handling chemicals, not
necessarily you), safety glasses are required to be worn at all times. If you
do not wear your safety glasses (even for a couple of minutes, even if you are
not handling chemicals but others are) in order to protect your eyes, you will
be expelled from the lab without any appeal and you will receive a grade of
zero for the experiment. I will strictly enforce this policy all year long.
If
you leave before the end of the lab, you must have all the data proving that
you have actually performed the experiment and you must ask me if it is OK for
you to leave. I will check from time to time if you have really done everything
you are supposed to do during the session (and nothing else), if you are unable
to show me the products you are working with, this will be considered as a
failure of respecting this policy.
Any
failure of respecting this policy will result in you being expelled of the classroom
for the day, as well as a grade of zero for the experiment.
You
are expected to wear your goggles at all time, write down the notes from the
board on your notebook, cooperate, have a good attitude and leave a clean
station. Doing so will not improve your grade, but not doing so will lower it.
Instructor points
This
list is not exhaustive, but it will help you get a good idea of what instructor
points means. Some points are more important than the other ones and in some
cases missing one of them can actually reduce your instructor points to zero.
It includes:
*
Do you respect the safety rules?
* Perform the experiment
or study the in-class assignment
* Work within
the time assigned
*
Behavior during class (disruptive behavior…)
*
On time or late for class?
*
Turn in your homework late?
*
Is your homework ready when you step in the lab?
*
Do I have to tell you to wear your goggles repeatedly?
*
Are you doing what you are supposed to do and only what you are supposed to?
*
How do you behave with me, the teaching assistant and the other students?
*
Disturbing the class by arriving late, talking, using cell phones, laptops
(other than for taking notes), will
result in a score of zero for the instructor points.
Bringing food or beverages.