Page 1 SPRING CHEMISTRY 101 2005 SECTIONS 501-511 Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:35-10:50am Dr. Wendy L. Keeney-Kennicutt ([email protected]) with Judith Kwarteng Amaning, Supplemental Instruction leader Welcome to CHEM 101 – the writing intensive sections! As the science that describes matter, chemistry is vital to our understanding of many fields from biology to the environment to materials science. Rapid new developments in all of these areas virtually guarantee that chemistry will become even more important in the years to come. Knowledge of chemistry is thus an important ingredient in a liberal arts education, and an essential foundation for a technical education. The ability to communicate that knowledge is also critical in this day and age. So writing about chemistry and topics related to this class will be a part of both lecture and lab. Chemistry 101 and 102 are the first-year chemistry sequence in the core curriculum. Because chemistry is so important to many fields, this is a very large course here at Texas A&M. Although this large enrollment does place certain limitations on us, we in the First Year Chemistry Program are committed to providing you an interesting and stimulating course. To this end, the lecture and laboratory are together in one 4-hour course. We have carefully chosen a textbook for its clarity, examples, and problems. We try to make ourselves approachable both in and outside the classroom. There will be teaching assistants available most hours of the day in Room 116 Held to answer both lab and lecture questions. This handout outlines my teaching philosophy and policies for my sections of lecture and the laboratory/recitation. Please read this material carefully to familiarize yourself with the various rules and procedures, especially those which govern examinations and grades. At the end, you will find two calendars which contain (1) exam dates and reading assignments for lecture and (2) the laboratory/recitation section. In order to get the most out of lectures in this course, it is beneficial that you read the assigned material before it is discussed in class. In order to get the most out of laboratory/recitation, come to each lab prepared for the scheduled activities. I will strive to make this course a meaningful and enjoyable experience for you. Please feel free to call upon me whenever I can be of help. I am giving weekly review sessions and I will be available in Room 116 HELD during office hours to answer both laboratory and lecture questions. In addition, the First Year Chemistry Program is on the World Wide Web. It can be accessed through http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/ (more in Section XVI). My notes and other information can be found here. Please do not hesitate to let me know when you need help. I do wish to work with you in order for you to have a stimulating and productive course. Finally, it is important to check your NEO account regularly. I will be sending messages to you. At this time, professor messages are NOT being forwarded to your other e-mail accounts, so please physically check the NEO account. Sincerely, Dr. Wendy L. Keeney-Kennicutt Associate Director and webmaster, First Year Chemistry Program MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY My teaching philosophy is straightforward: I will be teaching you the way I would want to be taught - with enthusiasm, and with a passion for the subject combined with respect and understanding. My aim is to give each of you every opportunity to do your best in learning chemistry despite our large classroom setting. Chemistry is a subject that I have studied, practiced, taught and enjoyed since I was 17 years old - over 37 years. On my part, effective teaching involves time, dedication, patience, understanding, firmness, and a sense of humor. On your part, effective learning involves your participation inside and outside the classroom. My job is to encourage you and give you every opportunity to be successful in this class and leave the class knowing some Chemistry. All of the sciences require more work and studying than most of you are used to, and Chemistry is no exception. I have specifically designed this course so that you can do well, even if you bomb an exam, providing you do all the work I assign, both during class and on your own time. The student evaluations on Pick-A-Prof are valid; I do assign a great deal of work: 2 kinds of homework, 4 writing assignments using Calibrated Peer Review and Turnitin.com, in-class quizzes, and, of course, lab with summaries and abstracts. However, this is not busy work, made to make your life miserable, but it provides you an opportunity to practice your chemistry skills and earn a good grade aside from the 3 exams and comprehensive final that we will have. This additional work (labs, lab quizzes, plus writing, in-class quizzes and homework) will make up a little over 47% of your grade. So you can be a terrible test taker and still do fine, if you do the work and come to class. I know that I'm asking that you do a great deal of work. So, I have incorporated several things to make your life more agreeable. (1) I have dropped 3 labs from the syllabus, so you only have 7 labs, instead of 10. (2) I do think that you are better off taking our exams at the scheduled time. My regular exams are 60% multiple choice and 40% free response and have a review session. However, I know that you are very busy and circumstances can just crop up. To that end, my exam makeup policy is lenient. To take my makeup exam, you must send me an email giving me the reason (I expect the truth) for why you want to take the makeup, instead of the regularly scheduled exam. Reasons include the regularly approved university excuses (illness, a school-related trip, etc.), but also having to go to your sister's wedding, staying up all night with a sick roommate, having your alarm not go off or even just not being prepared. The slightly more difficult makeups are 10 days later, at 4pm on a Friday afternoon and are all free response exams, with no multiple choice. (3) I give weekly review sessions every Sunday. I know that it has been a long time since most of you have studied Chemistry. I also know that Chemistry is probably not your favorite subject. However, with a little help and support, you may surprise yourself as to how well you can do. (4) Our Instructor Assistant, Ms. Elky Almaraz, will be giving a weekly lab review
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