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| Chem 109 | ||
| Spring 2008 | Syllabus | Office: SA560a |
| Office Hours: T 1000-1150, W 1600-1650, Th 1000-1050, F 1400-1450; other times by appointment | Phone: x 5719 Home: 822-1116 |
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| e-mail: rap1@humboldt.edu |
Lecture Schedule: See General Chemistry on my Web Page (http://www.humboldt.edu/~rap1)
Laboratory Schedule: See General Chemistry on my Web Page (http://www.humboldt.edu/~rap1)
Discussion Schedule: See General Chemistry on my Web Page (http://www.humboldt.edu/~rap1)
Required Materials:
Prerequisites: The prerequisite for this course is code 3 on the HSU math placement exam, code 40 on the ELM placement exam or a grade of “C-“ or better in Math 44. If you have any doubts about your preparedness for Chem 109, please see the instructor as soon as possible.
General: Chem 109 is the first half of an integrated, two-semester course, General Chemistry. It provides an introduction to chemical principles and concepts and serves as prerequisite to the second half, Chem 110. It also serves as prerequisite to most other HSU chemistry courses, such as Chem 328. (A grade of "C-" or better in Chem 109 is required for all subsequent chemistry courses.) Most upper division chemistry courses require Chem 110. Chem 109 cannot be taken Credit/No Credit!
Chemistry 109 is an Area B General Education course. The general education goals for this course include:
The text is your principal source of information; read it regularly and carefully. Unless you are informed otherwise, you will be held responsible for all text material, whether or not it is covered in the lecture. The questions and problems at the ends of the chapters are important! Chemistry cannot be learned by merely reading or listening to lectures - you must actively practice it. Although none of the end-of-chapter questions and problems will be assigned as "turn in" homework, they should be taken seriously- weekly quizzes may be directly based on them. In addition Chem 109 exams tend to be heavily problem based, so your success in Chem 109 will probably depend on how much time you spend on homework problems and questions. (In fact, you should expect to spend at least ten to twenty hours per week outside of class studying for this course. If you are not prepared to make this commitment of time, you should consider dropping the course.) As you do the problems you must think about the principles involved. The goal is to understand what you are doing! Exams will present you with questions and problems you may have never seen before. If you understand the principles and can solve the problems in the text and lab manual rather than memorize a pathway to a solution, you will have no trouble with exams and quizzes.
Attendance:
Lecture: Attendance in lecture will not be taken, nor will it be used by the instructor to influence your grade in any way. HOWEVER, you are most strongly urged to attend every lecture and to take thorough notes. Historically this approach has worked better than missing classes and taking sketchy notes.
Discussion: Attendance is mandatory. Missing three or more discussion sessions will result in an automatic "F" for the course! 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 attempting an on-line learning supplement for Discussion this semester. Discussion Modules will NOT be available for all discussions - you will have to check the Discussion Schedule each week to determine the assignments for that week!
- You are expected to do the "required" exercises in the Module prior to coming to the appropriate discussion!
- A Report will be collected at the beginning of these Discussion periods.
- 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 on the pre-quiz problems 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! Failure to turn in a lab report or 2 "U"s will count as a missed lab. 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) or "U" (unsatisfactory). Your course grade will be lowered by one letter grade for three or more "U" (unsatisfactory) reports. Lab reports will not be graded thoroughly, but will be superficially checked for completeness.
- 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: Midterm exams will be given during lecture hours. Note the in-class exam dates and be certain you can make them:
Exam I - Friday, February 29
Exam II - Exam II: Friday, April 11
Final Exam (Comprehensive): Monday, May 12 @ 1020-1230
If you are unable to attend an exam due to an illness or emergency, please notify me prior to the exam via telephone or email. If you miss an exam due to an emergency, the remaining exams will be weighted more heavily. Exams will generally not be given early or late. If you are involved in an intercollegiate sport or academic activity and will be away on an exam date, please bring a copy of your schedule and meet with me before the second week of class to discuss possible accommodations. Students with documented disabilities also need to meet with me before the second week of class to discuss possible accommodations.
The Humboldt State University code of academic honesty will be strictly enforced.
Quizzes:The quizzes will be given during the second laboratory section each week as can be found in the Tentative Discussion/Laboratory Schedule. The problems on these quizzes will be taken from the problems that are assigned in the Tentative Lecture Schedule labeled Homework Problems. The quiz questions may be modified slightly (i.e., numbers are changed) or the questions may be taken verbatim from the assigned problems. Only your highest ten quiz scores will be counted toward your total points. A missed quiz will be given a score of zero. If you end up with fewer than ten quizzes due to excused absences, see your instructor!
Problem Sets: The discussion manual contains a number of problem sets. Although these are not to be turned in as homework, it is expected that you spend a considerable amount of time and effort on them. The time during the semester when you should be working on each problem set is shown on the Tentative Discussion Schedule. The manual also contains the answers, but not the worked out solutions to these problems sets. If you have trouble working these out, consult with me or your lab instructor during free time in the lab or during my office hours or your discussion instructors office hours.
Homework: Problems from each chapter are assigned as shown on the Tentative Lecture Schedule. These assigned problems will not be collected or graded. However, the quizzes each week will be directly based on that week's assigned problems. Answers can be found in the text or in the Partial Solutions Manual. Checking your answers will help you determine whether or not you understand the material. The assigned problems should be completed about the same time as the chapter is finished in lecture.
You should allow for at least 15-20 hours per week in order to complete the readings and assigned homework problems, which include recommended problems from the text. Generally, the more time you spend practicing chemistry, the better your grade will be.
Grading: You must pass both lab/discussion (graded pass/fail, see above) and lecture portions of the class independently in order to receive a passing grade in the course.
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Supplemental Course: Chem 199, a 1 unit supplemental course is offered to help students succeed in Chem 109. Registration info etc. is presented below with the instructor's names:
Drop Policy: The last day to withdraw from this course without the instructor’s and Department Chair’s signatures and with no notation of withdrawal is Monday, 18 February. I will give you until I return the first hour exam to drop this class with a "W." After that time, failure or other academic problems, as well as time management (work, kids, etc., but see below) will not be considered to be among the category of "serious and compelling reasons" needed to drop this course. Serious and compelling reasons are considered to be problems outside of the student's control and which could not be anticipated, such as serious illness or hospitalization. If you do have a problem, please notify me as soon as possible if you think it may require your dropping the class.
Incompletes: Incompletes are generally reserved for students who are unable to complete the class for serious and compelling reasons which occur after the last drop period.
On-line Notes: The notes I post are the notes I use in class. I post them to help you to check your own notes etc. THEY ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR TAKING YOUR OWN NOTES! Most students find note taking an important learning experience. If you use my on-line notes you should be critical when using them - its incredibly easy to screw up and enter small errors (watch your text as well!). 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! I will attempt to put all of the lecture examples into my web notes to help you out.
If you have a documented learning disability and would like to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. Our campus Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) can assist you with the accommodation process and can be reached at (707) 826-5392 (TDD). The SDRC is located in House 71 (Little Apartments) off Library Circle.
If you have a physical situation which might interfere with lab work please contact me as soon as possible. Many accommodations require lead time for implementation, so don't delay! We will work with the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) to determine optimal accommodations/working conditions.
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© R A Paselk
Last modified 7 April 2008
