Hello,

So, I am kind of curious if anyone actually reads this blog! I suppose we’ll see! I thought I would post a short blog post about my preparations for Chem 1210 for the coming AU17 term. The main reason I am posting this is to say – if you see my older posts – they apply to my AU16 course as several things have changed. I also thought this might be a nice place to sort of outline what has changed, to give you sense of what exactly is in flux and why so. I also didn’t want to delete old posts, I think it’s interesting to look back at things I did in the fall, especially as I think about what I should and maybe shouldn’t replicate this summer and this coming autumn.

First things first, I switched to Mastering Chemistry from Sapling. I had used Sapling for 3-4 years. It’s not bad – the problems in Sapling are probably better than in Mastering. However, the system is not very versatile. They have good end-of-chapter style problems, actually I’d say these are great, however they don’t have much that would be good to assign before class. Now for the longest time, I have not had any reason to assign work before class. I feel on one hand, if I say, “read sections 1.4-1.6 before class”, that everyone should read these sections ahead of time, but I’m not sure how many do or really how many are even good at that kind of thing. Now what if I asked to read a few short passages and answer a few questions instead? In a way, I have done this in the past just not electronically. I have said many times, “the practice problems in the textbook, the shaded-box problems, are the most under-rated problems in the book – do these before class!”. But again, is this a task everyone is prepared to do without some coaching or some feedback?

So Mastering Chemistry has a ton of tutorials. The small downside is they are not exactly written from our textbook. Rather, they are written for the 5-10 Pearson general chemistry textbooks. As an aside, there are at least 20 different common general chemistry textbooks used today. They are kind of the like the supermarket of books – they have a ton of useful stuff in them but you have to look really hard to find what you’re looking for!

So where does reading come in, should students read the book? The short answer is, I don’t know… After completing the tutorials, I have to believe some will either feel confident, confident that they were able to answer all the questions without a ton or hopefully any of googling, or some will feel like they had to look each problem up. This is where another strength of Mastering comes into play – they have easy to make quizzes. Hopefully, they are easy to take though that will depend on how well a student knows the material on the tutorials and/or how much extra work you put into studying. The complexity level of these quizzes will fairly basic. Most problems are related to the multiple-choice practice problems in the 13th edition textbook. So I think the simple answer on reading is to do as much or as little as you need to in order to succeed on your assignments.

To bridge the gap from what is done before class to what ultimately students should be able to do on exams, I hope the lectures will help prepare students by focusing on what the key concepts are first, working up from the common mistakes on the quizzes, and leading into the homework problems that are of highest importance to be able to solve for exams. I hope that we can spend at least a half hour, maybe closer to an hour, working homework problems in class. This work will not only save student’s time outside of class, but also allow you to work with your classmates with assistance as needed from me. I think the main method I will use is a 3-4 minute introduction to a set of questions followed by 8-10 minutes of group problem solving, and repeating as much as we can fit into class. This lecture format is a flip from my previous lecture style that I’ve employed for years. I think having a student-centered classroom will directly benefit learning by putting the emphasis on the ability of students to solve the problems instead of simply having them watching me solve the problems!

Another change is the number of midterms we offer – only two this semester. I’ve given five in a semester (even once in a seven week summer term!). I feel exams are one way to motivate students to study. Until recently, I have pretty much thought these are the most natural ways to motivate students to learn. I actually still feel pretty strongly that our exam schedule is the major culprit of complacency – if we insist on not cramming, then why on earth would we offer only one or two midterms in a class? If you are supposed to student every week, why don’t we give an exam once a week? Unfortunately, I no longer am able to hold the number of exams I want and my classes are limited to two midterms and a final during summer terms and three midterms and final during the regular term.

Our exams though each have 4-5 chapters of material on them. If students delay a majority of learning to the few days before an exam, I am sad to say this usually doesn’t work very well! Plenty of research has shown that most effective learning takes place in short, frequent study sessions. Self-assessment is very important – by quizzing yourself or trying to assess the areas you understand well or maybe the areas you need to re-visit. Peer-learning is another helpful tool, sometimes if a student shows a classmate how to do a problem, it will stick better than if I show them the exact same problem. I hope my new course this summer motivates the class to learn in shorter, more frequent sessions, with plenty of assessment designed for the students to interpret, and with plenty of opportunities for peer learning.

My recitations are also changing to feature quizzes as the primary mode of instruction, through a short quiz first followed by a group quiz afterwards. These quizzes hopefully give students one more way to get some feedback on their learning and another opportunity for peer instruction. There is also a grade for just participating so hopefully even students who may come in struggling can learn from their mistakes and still receive a fair grade.

There will only be 75-100 students in this course, compared the usual 300-350 students. I’m not really sure how all of this would translate into a larger course. I am always interested in new ideas and other ways to improve my courses. Feel free at any point if you are in my summer course to let me know what you think! What would you change? What would you keep the same? Will this all work in a larger class? If you are just a casual reader of this blog, let me know you think (and really, you should probably find a better blog to read!).

I hope you all are having a great first full weekend of the term. Hopefully you have the chance to maybe relax a bit, hit the gym, do some laundry, and of course hopefully you have some fun! I’m sure many of you have done some studying too. I have a few ideas for goals you can set over throughout the semester and how you can use the weekends to help reach these goals.

One goal I wouldn’t recommend setting is that you simply read the chapter we covered in one sitting from start to finish or that you do every single homework problem in the book using the internet as a resource. This isn’t Harry Potter, it’s way to boring and probably too complicated for that to make much sense. And the goal of doing homework should practicing solving those problems, not just getting the answer. So try to do most of your homework problems without any outside resources.

Goal 1: Make sure you understand the sample exercise problems from the sections covered in the past week. So this would be all of the chapter 1 sample exercises. If you are stuck on these, use those examples to help guide some reading of the chapter so you can understand those problems. Keep your focus on understanding, not necessarily memorizing.

Goal 2: Be able to solve the practice exercise problems. Most sample exercises in the 13th edition text are followed up with two questions, one is multiple choice and the other is short answer. The short answer questions are all answered in the back of the book. I will work on posting answers on Carmen to the multiple choice problems next week and I will get those up sooner for all other covered chapters so you can check those answers if you wish.

Goal 3: Be able to solve most of the problems from the end-of-chapter problems. I would focus most of your attention on the items highlighted in lecture, so for chapter 1 that would be sig figs, unit conversions, and dimensional analysis. If you get stuck on a problem, use that to either go re-read something if the issue seems to be understanding the content or try a simpler problem if you are stuck on applying what you know.

Since most of you have had some high school chemistry, I think doing a light skimming and then trying goal 3 is a great way to see how much work you truly need to do in a particular chapter. Just remember, all of the covered content from a chapter and just about any kind of question that can be answered using that info will be fair game for exams in the course.

One last reminder is to spend a few moments skimming and looking at topics in chapter 2. Chapter 2 starts off with some historical aspects of how modern atomic theory was developed. I think we all know that modern atomic theory is that atoms are arranged where each atom contains a positively charged nucleus containing protons and neutrons with very light, negatively-charged electrons spinning around the nucleus in what is described as electron clouds. We then move on to isotopes, atomic weights, the periodic table, and molecules/compounds. We finish the chapter with an introduction to several different types of compounds and systematic ways name them through nomenclature rules. We will begin chapter 2 following a couple sig fig examples Monday morning.

A reminder for the upcoming week: The first homework assignment required for credit will open Monday at about 9:00 am and it you must complete the assignment by 11:55 pm this Thursday evening. Keep in mind you only get 2 hours to complete the assignment and the timer begins the moment you start the assignment (and the timer continues even if you log out of Sapling). Make sure your browser works (especially for Safari and IE users) before hand. Recitations this week will discuss topics from chapter 1, so you might benefit from seeing recitation this week prior to do the assignment. The first assignment covers chapter 1 and you can see the HW schedule in the study guide post or on Carmen under pages. You also have your first pre-lab due this week before you go to your lab this week. Make sure you are all set on the lab policies. Email your lab TA and/or visit the Learning Resource Center in CE170 for help if needed. Finally, make sure you complete the Carmen quizzes on academic misconduct and lab safety by their deadlines.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Dr. Kroner

So we are close to our first lecture! You can look up the lecture schedule in the blog post on study habits or under Pages in Carmen. The reading sections listed for tomorrow are sections 1.1-1.5. I recommend skimming the covered section prior to each lecture. Look at the vocabulary words, check out some of the figures, and try the sample exercises in the section. After class or whenever you are ready, you can more thoroughly read the sections and try the practice exercise. As needed, work more end-of-chapter problems with the goal of being able to solve about 90% of those types of problems the first time you try them without any outside resources other than a periodic table and the small amount of information you get for exams (this info is posted on the study habit blog).

If you are new to the class, check out the class blog at u.osu.edu/kroner.3 where you can find several posts and other FAQs I’ve answered. Feel free to comment on posts and I’ll answer them ASAP. You can email me questions as well. You can also view this information whenever you need it – all of these posts will remain throughout the term.

In class tomorrow, we will jump right into a discussion of chapter 1 tomorrow in class following a very minimal discussion about the course. Sections 1-3 of the chapter are not very heavily problem-drive – mostly just definitions of things like chemistry, compounds, molecules, substances, mixtures, etc. But sections 1.4-1.6 are very much based on problems. The primary mode of lecture is discussion (just us talking) or chalkboard driven (usually me bringing up problems and then I show how the content and ideas we are developing are used to solve them). I use very few powerpoint slides, which when used are almost always images from the textbook or common images you can easily revisit later. So you don’t need to look for any kind of powerpoint slides before class. Just bring a pen/pencil and something to write on. You do not need your lab manual or notebook for lecture and I wouldn’t recommend bringing the textbook with you.

FAQs: 

What should I do if the bookstore is out books? A: I’ve gotten a few emails about the bookstore being out of books. I’d probably recommend find a better bookstore if the one you are using is out of books! There are not many campus bookstores left though, so you might have to look online. SBX is one of the other campus bookstores, there also may be some type of bookstore in Enarson (though I’m not sure if they sell many textbooks there anymore). The textbook can be purchased directly from the publisher (Pearson). “You can google Pearson Chemistry Central Science 13th” and look for a Pearson.com website. The textbook with Mastering Chemistry is about $222 there. There is no way just to buy the book with Mastering Chem (we don’t need the Mastering Chem in my class), but you can at least try to sell the code as some of the lecture sections use it or you can hang onto it in case you need it next semester in Chem 1220 – just don’t lose the code or throw it away! It costs about $70 to buy access if you need it, so $50-70 is a fair price to try to sell your code for if want to sell it. Amazon sells this same package but for $232.I think their shipping is free though and I’m not sure about Pearson’s shipping costs. Amazon shipments usually arrive in two days. You can opt for earlier editions though I only recommend going back to the 12th edition as the 11th and earlier editions have some more drastic differences. Buying used books might not be so easy right now, but you can still look for them and supplement with the library’s copies and/or off friends until your book arrives. If you don’t have your lab items, just go to your first lab without them. If you fear you may not have them in time for week 2, ask or email your lab TA about what to do (I suspect you can get copies of the first experiment but your TA will let you know how to get those if you need them).

What do I do if I miss lab? A: If you miss for first 2 hour and 55 minute lab session, then you should send an email to genchem@osu.edu if you wish to keep your seat in the class. We give unclaimed lab seats away starting next week! Remember your 55 minute “lab” session on your schedule is really recitation, so you don’t need to worry about emailing anyone if you miss your first recitation. The first recitation activity with answers is posted under Pages in Carmen (and all future activities will appear in the same location). You can also find the activities in the Files section.

How to I stop getting notifications by email and/or how do I turn them on? A: When I make announcements through the blog like this one, you either get a notification or you don’t depending on your own notification settings. If you enter our course page, look on the very left side and click on notifications. You can select whatever types of notifications you want there. By default, you probably see that announcement updates are set to notify you immediately when posts are made. If you want to change your settings, feel free. However, I will not generally be sending any direct emails to you this semester so be sure to check the announcements section and/or set your notifications appropriately so you don’t miss anything. You can also set your notifications accordingly for any devices you use too, as well you can set notifications for just about any thing that is added to Carmen to our course.

So my goal was to put together a blog and podcast over the topics that you should be aware from high school chemistry prior to taking Chem 1210. I’ll start by listing a set of vocabulary words and topics, hopefully you will recall many of these from high school:

Elements, atoms, compounds, molecules, dimensional analysis, significant figures, nuclear atom, proton, neutron, electron, atomic weight, molecular weight, the mole, atomic mass unit scale, chemical reactions, balancing reactions, stoichiometry, limiting vs. excess reactants, percent yield, aqueous reactions, acids and bases, acid-base reactions, oxidation vs. reduction, redox reactions, heat capacity, enthalpy changes of reaction, electron configurations, periodic trends, ionization energy, electron affinity, atomic and ionic radii, Lewis structures, electronegativity, bond polarity, covalent vs. ionic bonding, molecular shape, molecular polarity, ideal gas law, intermolecular forces, dispersion forces, dipole-dipole forces, hydrogen bonding.

The more of these words you recognize, obviously the better! All of these terms though are defined within our textbook and we will discuss and use these terms often in class. You can often go more deep into a topic and understand it better the second or third time you see it, so hopefully seeing this list and thinking about these words is a good chance to maybe give a second chance of thinking about these terms and our lectures will be yet another opportunity.

You can read or listen to more about these terms, though I went into more depth than I was thinking I would. It’s about 45 minutes or 7 pages… Use as little or as much of this content to help you prepare for this course.

My recommendation to those who have heard very few of these terms or have very little memory of these topics is to make sure to read ahead of topics to be discussed in lecture (see the lecture schedule posted on Carmen), make sure to come to every lecture, and frequently re-read the sections covered and work as many problems as it takes to understand them.

Be on the look out for a survey in the next week or so to come by email so I can get a chance to get some feedback on this blog and the podcasts. I’d like to know some ways you think this feature can help you throughout the course – so think about what things I can write or make podcasts about to help you succeed in this course.

So the podcast was so long I had to use another means of uploading it!

Podcast on review topics

Here is a text version if you would rather read more about these review topics:

Review topics-blog

And finally, here is another document on some topics for review before taking Chem 1210:

Key concepts of chemistry from high school chemistry

Simple answer: No, you do not need the “online access” for my course. This online access is for Mastering Chemistry, which is an online HW system. We will be using  a different online HW system – which is Sapling Learning.

I mentioned this in the first blog post, but you can buy access to Sapling Learning from the bookstore. However, there will be a big markup (it’s about $50) in the cost compared to buying the Sapling Learning access online (about $30) after setting up your link using the online HW link from the main page on our Carmen page. If you must buy your books from the bookstore perhaps because of a scholarship you are on, then you can at least use your scholarship funds to buy this access at the bookstore.

The topic of online access and the textbook keeps coming up, so I’m sure it’s confusing a lot of you! When you go to the bookstore website, they will list all sorts of books are “required” for all of your courses. Now, as you go throughout your time, you will learn some of these items include bundles which might include extraneous and sometimes useless add-ons. These add-ons are often not truly required, though they sometimes get included when they help drive the total cost down compared to all the items purchased separately. You will also learn in your time here that you do not always have to buy “required” books in the first place! You can always share books with your roommates, you can find textbooks at the library (18th ave library for our course), or you can simply just not read anything at all for the class (you know, for your other classes).

There is an online book available through openstax (they make all kinds of high school and introductory college books). Here is the link to their chemistry text: https://openstax.org/details/chemistry. It’s not the exact same text but it is a free alternative if you want to try it out and/or supplement your readings.

OK, let’s summarize from that first blog post the things you MUST have:

• Everyone needs a lab manual and a copyset lab notebook – no shortcuts around this! The manual must be bought at campus bookstores. The bookstore’s copyset notebook is only about $2-3 more than a similar notebook on Amazon, so you can buy it anywhere but it’s not a bad deal at our bookstores
• You must buy Sapling Learning access though you get two weeks of free access before you are required to pay. It’s $30 if you buy online and about $50 if you buy access at the bookstore. Note: the textbook bundled online access is not access for Sapling Learning
• Calculator: Only TI-30Xa and TI-30XIIs are allowed on exams in all general chemistry courses at Ohio State! See: https://undergrad-ed.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/calculators/

Carmen will open later today at around 1:30 pm. Once you are in Carmen, you might want to start clicking every single link, but be cautious! Do not start any lab assignment like pre or post lab assignments. These are timed, one-chance only assignments!

You can navigate to our online homework site. Right when you login to our class page you will see a home page with a most of the really useful links. You will see links to the syllabi, academic misconduct quiz (you can do this quiz as soon as you want, you get unlimited attempts and you just need to at least once get a perfect score as only your highest score counts). There are links for the lab safety information and quiz which can also be done at your convenience. There is a link to the online homework, where you can be led to Sapling Learning to setup your account. I would recommend using your OSU email address and password for simplicity. Once your account is setup, you can then just directly go to saplinglearning.com to get into your account or you can simply use the same “Load your online homework in a new window” link. You have free access for the first two weeks but at the end of that period you must have paid for account ($30). Send any questions on registering to the support email address provided for Sapling Learning. Only practice assignments are available right now in Sapling. For at least the first assignment due for credit in week 2, the assignment will open Monday morning after lecture prior to the Thursday evening due date. I might open these up sooner for future assignments, but often you will need to attend class that Monday morning to see all of the content covered on the homework set.

I think this post would be a great location to post any questions you might have about the Carmen page though you are always welcome to email me questions!

Hello everyone,

The “Chemistry: Central Sci w Access Custom, edition 15” listed on the Barnes and Noble OSU website book is truly 13th edition textbook in a bundle with access to Mastering Chemistry. We will not need Mastering Chemistry this semester in my course (this is a different online HW platform than we’ll be using), though you should keep that code somewhere memorable should you need to use Mastering Chemistry in Chem 1220 or if you switch lecture sections. You could also sell your access code – anyone who needs just the Mastering Access code would pay about $70 for that access. I believe this bundle comes with a soft cover textbook. I think they call this book “edition 15” because the bundle was put together in 2015… Please note that if you are able to shop around, you can get the hard cover book much cheaper elsewhere and possibly find it without the Mastering Chemistry to save additional money. As noted earlier in the first blog post, the 12th edition is an acceptable alternative too.

It is imperative to employ strong study habits to succeed in this course. Anyone wishing to earn a grade of A or A- must strive to score 90% or better on average on all assignments and exams in the course. Homework strategies are obviously incredibly important towards achieving this goal.

To get a sense of due dates, online homework guidelines, and the information you will be provided on exams, see these files:

Lecture Homework Exam schedule – Kroner AU16

Online homework guidelines

Sample exam information supplied with midterms and final

Additional information supplied on midterms when needed

To hear more about study habits and online homework guidelines, check out the podcast for this post:

If you would prefer to read about study habits, please check out this file:

Study tips

A few last suggestions for your study habits are to consider:

• After reading and reviewing some simple problems, make sure to do lots of practice without using your book, internet, TAs, classmates, etc. to make sure you can solve problems on your own.
• When stuck, try to assess if you are missing content knowledge (if so, try to read more about you are missing) or if you are stuck on how to apply what you already know (if so, maybe try a simpler problem first).
• Aim to solve homework and/or practice exam problems correctly about 90%+ of the time the first time you attempt a problem without any outside resources other than the supplied information given here as given on exams.
• Use the weekly online homework sets as an assessment of your current content and application ability. Do not use the weekly online homework sets as your only homework you do in this course, rather make sure to first read and work some problems, such as the sample and practice “shaded box” examples in the text of each covered chapter.
• Take advantage of the Chemistry department’s Learning Resource Center in 170 CE for help from our Chemistry TAs and my office hours (see syllabus for hours) as much as needed. But do not overly rely on this room either and make sure to still do plenty of practice without any outside assistance.
• Check out resources at the Dennis Learning Center if you have concerns about studying, test-taking anxiety, or other academic matters.

The syllabus is now available:

Chem 1210 Syllabus – Dr. Kroner – Autumn 2016

Please read it over if you wish. I have prepared a podcast reviewing the syllabus page-by-page:

A few summaries from this podcast about the syllabus:

• You can attend office hours anytime you wish – no appointment is needed.
• E-mail is the best way to get ahold of me outside office hours.
• This class has about 350 total students, so effective lines of communication must be made. Between this blog, my email, and office hours, I hope you can find a way or several ways to get information when you need it. There is also a Learning Resource Center, which is where all of our 150+ general chemistry TAs hold their office hours. You can see any TA anytime you wish during the open hours of 8am-5pm Monday-Friday. The center is least attended early morning and later afternoons.
• You must attend your first lab session if you want to keep your seat in the course. You can save your seat by immediately emailing the address on the bottom of page one if you must miss the first lab session. Labs will meet starting Tuesday morning of the first week!
• Labs are all in Celeste Lab. Chem 1210 labs are on the second and third floors.
• Exams comprise over 2/3 of your final grade. Think of study plans that allow you to score high on exams. More on study ideas later.
• Recitations are the 55 minute “lab” meeting on your schedule. These will be problem-solving sessions with a group of about 25 students and a teaching assistant in a small classroom. You only need to bring a calculator and a pen/pencil to these sessions. You can miss up to three of the 13 graded sessions with no penalty. Recitations will begin to be held beginning Tuesday morning of the first week of class.
• Labs are the 2 hour-55 minute “lab” meeting on your schedule. You will meet with the same small group of 25 students as recitation in a laboratory. The first lab (called Lab zero) should get you squared away on all the lab policies and procedures. You can show up to the first lab with nothing but a pen (pen is required in lab), but your lab manual and notebook would be helpful if you had them already. You will receive a lab syllabus and (if needed) a copy of lab zero if you don’t have your lab manual yet at the first lab meeting in the first week of class.
• Letter grades in the course (and all general chemistry courses at OSU) are set based upon the overall course average for the sake of making all of our chemistry classes consistent in how grades are set. One guarantee is made though that anyone scoring 90% or better overall in the course will receive at least an A- grade. The overall course average will be set in the C+ range despite wherever this average score is. Whether our average is set to a high C+ or a low C+ score will ultimately be determined based upon how well our course does on the ACS standardized first semester final exam compared the other Chem 1210 sections. Our grades though will be set independent of the other lecture sections of this course.
• Academic misconduct is taken very seriously at Ohio State. Any case of suspected violations of the student code of conduct must be referred to the Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM). To help avoid these situations, there is a page in the syllabus on some common scenarios to be aware of and an associated quiz is required to be taken and completed with a 100% on Carmen by Friday, Sept 2 or else you will not be able to pass this course. You can attempt this quiz as many times as you wish and only your highest score counts.
• Exams are multiple-choice and they will be held in lecture on Fridays as noted in the syllabus. Wednesdays prior to lecture will be reviews of the material for the exam. A lecture-by-lecture coverage schedule, exam coverage schedule, and homework schedule plus homework grading guidelines and homework strategies will be the topic of the next blog/podcast post.
• High school chemistry (or a related course) is a prerequisite for this course. I will post a blog/podcast on review topics. Hopefully these topics sound familiar and you can build upon them in this course. If you find these topics to be unfamiliar, you might want to reconsider finding an intervention, like the Sapling Precourse, and you might consider frequently coming to office hours.

Please feel free to comment with any questions you might have about this post or the syllabus. Continue emailing me any general questions you might have too!

Hi guys,

You might be wondering what items you need to buy for Chemistry 1210. Here is a brief list:

• Textbook
• Lab manual
• Lab notebook
• Calculator
• Online homework access

If you wish, just listen to the following podcast to hear more about the items you need for this class. You can instead read the text below too if you prefer reading this message.

Textbook: Chemistry: A Central Science 13th edit by Brown, Lemay, et al. A used 12th edition is a great money saver, the 11th edit or older might be slightly trickier to use. Look for books now if you can on Amazon or other online retailers. One thing to watch out for either online or in our bookstores is often you will find soft cover books for a small discount. These discounts usually aren’t worth it in the end because you will not get as much back for you book if you plan on selling them. You will get more use from this book if you take Chem 1220, so keep ahold of it until then! Online books are available too and these can be good deals if you enjoy that type of format. The book can cost anywhere from $25-300 depending on which edition, if it’s used or new, hardcopy or digital, etc.

Lab manual: You need to buy a very specific lab manual for Ohio State’s own general chemistry course specifically for the AU2016 semester. You can usually only find these at campus location bookstores. Be cautious that last year’s lab manual would be unacceptable this year. The lab manual costs about $50 at the OSU Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Lab notebook: A wire-bound, copy-set notebook is required for use in the lab (so you can make copies of your lab data that your Teaching Assistant can keep on file). Any type of notebook with about 100 or more pages is perfect. There is a specific notebook made for just OSU available at the bookstores that most people end up using, which costs about $25.

Calculator: We allow only two calculators for exams, the TI-30Xa or the TI-30XIIs. The latter, the TI-30XIIs is better in my opinion. You can buy this calculator at Walmart, Target, Meijer, etc. for about $10-14 or the bookstore for about $25. See the following link for more info on this policy.

Online Homework: We will use Sapling Learning for our online homework. This service costs about $30 if you wait until the course website opens and later follow the links from there to setup your account. You can buy access from the bookstore too, but it will cost about $50 there.

Other items: I primarily lecture by writing on the chalkboard, so you’ll need something to write on for lecture. The bookstores often bundle items like periodic tables, safety goggles, and/or a study guide with the textbook. While these items could be helpful, none of them are required. In fact, we ask that you don’t bring any goggles to lab other than the type we will give you for free on the first day of class.

I hope to have future blogs and podcasts updated before classes start throughout the next two weeks on topics such as:

• The syllabus
• Some chemistry review topics
• Tips for success
• Frequently asked questions, if there are any!

Thanks for reading this blog! This blog and the associated podcast are new to my course this year. Hopefully you find the audio or the print versions helpful means of disseminating information. Leave comments below if you wish and feel free to email throughout the course whenever you have questions.