CHEM 162 C: General Chemistry

Download a PDF of the Course Schedule:

• 2020.03.31 Version: DOCX | PDF
• 2020.04.27 Version: DOCX | PDF
• 2020.05.17 Version: DOCX | PDF

CHEMISTRY 162 C (11923)

Lessons:  Delivered asynchronously via Panopto recordings

Instructor Q&A Sessions:  M, W, F  2:30 – 3:20 pm PDT,  via Zoom (Meeting ID: 364-832-234)

Course Web Site:      https://canvas.uw.edu/ 

Registration Questions/Entry Codes: Chemistry Undergraduate Services | chemugs@uw.edu 

TEACHING TEAM

Course Instructor:   

Prof. Colleen Craig | cfcchem@uw.edu 

Public Office hours, via Zoom (Meeting ID: 718-621-624)

• • • Tues 9:00-10:00 am PDT
    • Tues 6:00-7:00 pm PDT 

NOTE: Both Craig Public Office Hours are on Tuesdays, at times that allow students in different time zones to access at least one office hour during the day. You are welcome to attend both. All Craig office hours will be recorded and available on Canvas.

Private Office Hours: If you would like to discuss something personal/private, please email me to schedule a private appointment. I will send you a private Zoom link. Private Office Hours will not be recorded.

Lab Instructor:                  

Prof. Andrea Carroll | ageddes@uw.edu | Office hours: email for Zoom appointment

Discussion Sections:  

Participation in the live Discussion Session during the scheduled time is required. However, these sessions will be recorded and posted in case you need to miss one, or in case you want to review a particular session. 

All CHEM 162 C Discussion Sections take place on Thursday.

TA Help Sessions on Zoom: 

You may attend any and all TA help sessions listed below! This means that you can get TWELVE hours per week of live help from TAs. The TAs can help you with pre-labs, data analysis, lab write-ups, and course content. TA Help Sessions will not be recorded. 

Schedule and Zoom Meeting Numbers TBD

Questions about the Course? Use Canvas Discussion Board.

With so many students in our classes, it’s simply not feasible for me or the TAs to respond to individual emails about the course content or schedule. If you have a question along these lines, please post it to the Canvas Discussion Board rather than emailing one of us directly. That way you will be accessing the collective knowledge of literally hundreds of people, who are all thinking about the same things as you. You are likely to receive an answer much more quickly than if you only email me or your TA. However, The TAs and I will be actively monitoring the discussion board and will answer questions as we find them. Many of your colleagues will probably have the same question as you, so posting your question on Canvas helps everyone in the class.

How to get me to respond to your email:

I receive a lot of emails. I will do my best to respond within 48 hours to an email you send me, but to maximize your chances of hearing back, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Email me about private matters, such as grades, or requests for private appointments. Questions about course content or the course schedule should be posted to the Canvas Discussion Board.
2. Use cfcchem@uw.edu
3. Indicate your section 
4. Present yourself in a professional manner

• Use an appropriate salutation (“Dear Dr. Craig,” or “Hi Dr. Craig,” etc.) and sign-off (“Best, Leslie Jones” or “Thanks, Jerrod Carmichael” etc.).
• Write in complete sentences.
• Employ proper punctuation and grammar

How to make an appointment to speak with me privately:

If you would like to schedule a time to speak with me privately, I am happy to meet with you! I will schedule student meetings in 15-minute blocks via Zoom. Private Zoom meetings will NOT be recorded. When you contact me to set up a meeting, please follow these steps:

1. Send me an email. I will not remember to put our meeting in my calendar if we only speak in person.
2. Indicate whether you want to schedule a private meeting (if you have questions about grades, DRS accommodations, etc.), or if other students may attend (if you want to discuss course content).
3. Suggest two or three possible days for our meeting, and give me your detailed schedule on those days. I will email you back with a 15-minute block that will work for both of us.
4. Confirm via email that the day and time I suggest will work for you. I will send you a Zoom link once you have confirmed our appointment.
5. If you have to reschedule or cancel a meeting we’ve set, let me know as soon as possible.

ACCESS AND ACCOMMODATIONS

Your experience in this class is important to us, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. Disability Resources for Students (DRS) offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.  If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary or permanent disability that requires accommodations, you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or visit disability.uw.edu.  If you have already established accommodations with DRS, the information for the Alternative Testing Contract will be submitted to DRS via their online system. Students with accommodations are solely responsible for scheduling the exams with DRS well in advance of the exam dates.  Regarding lab reports and accommodations for “quick turnaround assignments”: because students will have >24 hours after their lab session to upload in-lab reports into Gradescope and a full week for take-home reports, there will not be DRS-related deadline extensions for Chem 162 reports.  

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS POLICY 

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/ ). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/ ).

COURSE MATERIALS & REQUIRED CONNECTIVITY

Except where indicated, all items are required and available from the University Bookstore:

• Chemical Principles, 6th ed., Atkins/Jones/Laverman (custom-split Chem 162 version contains Chapters 4, 6, 7, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 as well as the introductory Fundamentals Section and the student solutions manual for these chapters).
• Study Guide, Chemical Principles, 7th ed., Zumdahl/Kelter (optional).
• UW General Chemistry 162 Laboratory Manual, Autumn 2019-Summer 2020 (Hayden McNeil; hard copy from UW Bookstore (free shipping) or e-book via link available through UW Bookstore)
• Scientific calculator. 
• ALEKS access. Purchase online: www.aleks.com (see ALEKS module for more information).
• Note that you do NOT need goggles and lab coats this quarter. Labs will be run online with your TA and section at the times published in the UW Time Schedule.
• Daily online access to Canvas (canvas.uw.edu) and the Zoom app within Canvas

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students who successfully complete CHEM 162 will be able to

• Explain the properties of chemical molecules using bonding models, including hybridization and molecular orbital theory, with the understanding of their limitations.
• At a beginning level, analyze spectroscopic results to determine the structure of molecules.
• Use isomerism (structural, geometric, and stereo) to explain variation in chemical and physical properties.
• Explain macroscopic properties based on intermolecular forces within the chemical system.
• Describe the structure and properties of the liquid and solid states, as well as phase changes, at the particulate and macroscopic levels.
• Explain the chemical, physical, and thermodynamic properties of solutions at the particulate and macroscopic level.
• Apply bonding models to the structural study of organic molecules and transition metal coordination complexes.
• Illustrate the concepts of kinetics, thermodynamics, and equilibria through application to organic and transition metal chemistry.
• Develop skill in visualizing the particulate level as related to the concepts above.
• Relate empirical observations, particularly in the laboratory portion of the course, to concepts listed above.
• Demonstrate laboratory, data analysis, and scientific writing skills.

COURSE COMPONENTS AND GRADING

The course consists of:

• 3 lessons per week – Panopto Recordings in Canvas
• 1 discussion section per week – with TA via Zoom Meetings in Canvas
• 1 three-hour laboratory session certain weeks of the quarter (5 labs total – Labs will be run online with your TA and section at the times published in the UW Time Schedule. See the 162 Laboratory Resources page of the course website for details.) 
• Daily work in the ALEKS online learning environment
• Online prelab assignments and online submission of post-lab reports, delivered via Canvas
• Online quizzes and exams, delivered via Canvas

The point distribution for the evaluative components of the course is as follows:

(UPDATE 2020.05.18) How course grades are calculated:

• I use the equation of a line between (~95%, 4.0) and (~40%, 0.7) to convert course percentages into GPs.
  
• Then, the average grade tends to fall in the range 2.6-2.9. I do not set the average to fall in this range.
  
• This means your grade in the course does not depend on anyone else's grade! Grades in this class are not zero sum. 

Professional Development Assignments

There will be six three Professional Development assignments, delivered via Canvas. These are intended to help you develop as a scholar and budding professional in your field. The tasks on these assignments may be related to:

• • • helping you develop metacognition skills 
    • bringing your attention to undergraduate research opportunities, and to help develop application materials for such positions
    • introducing you to seminars and refereed-journal articles, standard methods by which scientists communicate their research findings 

Details will be posted as the quarter goes on. These will be graded on participation and good faith effort only. Each assignment is worth 1% of your overall grade, so the Professional Development Assignments category represents 6% 3% of your course grade.

Concept Tests embedded in Panopto (UPDATED 6:15 pm PDT, 2020.05.08)

Starting with Lesson 1.3, students will earn 1 participation point for every Concept Test embedded in the Panopto videos. To earn these points, you must watch the videos and answer the Concepts Tests by 2:30 8:30 pm PDT on the day the Lesson assignment is due. Your Concept Tests points will not immediately show up in the gradebook...we will need to run a report and upload them into Canvas manually. We aim to have them posted within a few days of each Lesson assignment.

At the end of the quarter, anyone with at least 80% 70% of the Concept Test points will be awarded full credit for this category. So, don't worry if you miss completing a few here and there.

You do not have to get the Concept Tests correct to earn credit. They will be graded on participation  only. However, note that there is no way for me to make the Panopto quizzes ungraded...so it will look like you are being graded when you complete them in Panopto, But, we will just track whether you completed the CT at all when we award points, no matter what answer you chose. 

The Concept Test portion of the course is worth 4% of your course grade. To make "room" for the Concept Tests, I have decreased the number of Professional Development assignments to three (overall now 3% of your grade), and dropped Discussion Section participation to 4% (from 5%). 

Discussion Section Participation

Discussion section will be conducted via Zoom during the regularly-scheduled discussion section time. To earn your participation credit, you must arrive on time and participate in good faith during the Discussion Section, not simply be in attendance. The two lowest Discussion Section scores will be dropped, allowing you to miss two without penalty. The Discussion Section Participation category represents 5% 4% of your course grade.

ALEKS

Your ALEKS grade is constructed from your objective scores and the percent of the pie you complete by the end of the quarter. The more of the pie you complete, the higher your ALEKS score will be, but you do not have to complete the entire pie to earn credit for ALEKS. Similarly, you do not have to complete all the topics in an Objective to earn credit. Whatever percentage of topics you complete by the due date will be your score for that Objective. The Objective and Pie Mastery portions of your ALEKS grade are weighted equally. They each represent 7.5% of your overall course grade, so altogether the ALEKS category represents 15% of your course grade.

Laboratory

The Laboratory portion of this course will be conducted via Zoom during the regularly-schedule lab session. More details about lab can be found on the 162 Lab Canvas page. The Laboratory category represents 15% of your course grade.

Quizzes

Quizzes will be delivered via Canvas every other Wednesday (starting in Week 2) during the regularly-scheduled class session. Each quiz will focus on the most recent set of lectures, but chemistry is a cumulative subject by nature, so I will assume that you have a firm understanding of material from earlier in the quarter and from previous courses when I write the quiz questions. There will be five quizzes total.

(UPDATE 2020.05.18) Determining which quiz to drop

At the end of the quarter, I will replace every student's lowest quiz grade with the global average of Quizzes 1-5 (if it is higher). Then, I will drop the lowest of the five resulting scores for each student. This is in recognition of the the growing pains we have all experienced during the rapid shift to remote learning this quarter (including myself).

For example: Let's say a student's quiz scores were 90%, 85%, 55%, 70%, and 80%, and that the global average for all Quizzes 1-5 was 75%. Then, I would replace this student's third quiz score (55%) with 75%, and then drop the lowest of the resulting five scores. Therefore, the quiz scores I would count for this student would be: 90%, 85%, 75%, 80%.  

No student's score will be hurt by this process. You can only gain, or stay the same if your quiz scores are already higher than average. 

The Quiz category represents 44% of your course grade. 

Final Exam

The Final Exam will be delivered via Canvas during the regularly-scheduled final exam session for this course. The Final Exam is cumulative. I will provide details about the percentage by points of each course unit on the final towards the end of the quarter. The Final Exam represents 15% of your course grade.

Grade Distribution

The final mean GPA in Chemistry 1x2 generally falls within the range 2.6-2.9. It is the Chemistry Department’s policy not to make grade changes of 0.1 after final class grades are submitted to the UW Registrar.

Monitor your Scores

Your scores for Participation, Lab, and Exams  will be recorded using the Canvas Gradebook. Your ALEKS scores can be monitored through the Gradebook and Reports tabs on ALEKS. Your overall ALEKS grade will be imported to the Canvas Gradebook at the end of the quarter.

ACADEMIC ETHICS

Original work performed in good faith is assumed on all assignments and course components.

The Student Conduct Code (see http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/SGP/SPCH209.html#7) prohibits several forms of academic misconduct (see section 7: Prohibited Conduct), including:

• Cheating
• Falsification
• Plagiarism
• Unauthorized collaboration
• Engaging in behavior specifically prohibited by an instructor
• Recording and/or dissemination of instructional content without express permission of the instructor

Your submissions for online assignments and exams should be your own, individual work unless you are explicitly told otherwise. You will sign and submit an honor code statement for this course, and for all quizzes/exams in this course.

For exams and/or quizzes, you may not seek out or accept any input from other individuals, and you may not communicate with other members of the class or provide assistance to other students during or after the assignments unless an instructor explicitly allows for that collaboration.

It is presumed that the data you submit in the lab reports is what was provided to you by the instructor. All data analysis and written/typed calculations and responses that you submit should be yours alone. We often find examples of plagiarism in which lab reports are copied from someone else, or from an earlier quarter. ​ In short, if you have not done something yourself, do not attempt to pass it off as original work. If you have questions about what might cross the line, please do not hesitate to ask your lab or class instructor prior to submitting your work. 

Failure to adhere to this code of ethics will result in referral for possible disciplinary action as described in the Student Conduct Code.

CLASS SESSIONS

Lesson Content

Formal lesson content will be delivered via Panopto recordings. These videos will have embedded concept tests to help you engage with the material. However, they will not be graded...they are including solely for your benefit.

A schedule for the chapters to be covered each week is available in the Canvas calendar for this course. You are responsible for material covered in class AND in the textbook (whether or not it was covered in the lesson videos). The Lessons will cover only highlights of the textbook material.

PDFs of the lesson notes I will present in each class are available on the Course Topics module. All lessons will be recorded using the Panopto lecture capture system. 

Craig Q&A Sessions

During the regularly-scheduled class time, I will hold "Craig Q&A" sessions via Zoom. I will respond to the evolving needs/preferences of the class in terms of how these sessions are structured. Craig Q&A's will be recorded and posted on the Zoom page on Canvas.  

Attendance at the Instructor Q&A sessions is encouraged, but not required. If you don’t plan to pay attention during a Q&A session, don’t come. These sessions will all be recorded and made available on Zoom, so you can watch them at your leisure.

DISCUSSION SECTION

The weekly Discussion Section will be facilitated by your TA via Zoom. The primary activities during Discussion Section will include:

• TA fielding questions about lab, quizzes, general course content, etc.
• working with your remote colleagues on worksheet problems relevant to current course topics.

The worksheet problems are intended to help you synthesize the material covered in the previous week’s lectures, therefore, they will be quite challenging. A blank version of the worksheet will be available at least a week in advance of a particular Discussion Section. You can find them in the relevant Unit page in the Course Topics module. The worksheet key will be available on Thursday evening each week.

Participation during the regularly-scheduled Discussion Section is required, but these sessions will also be recorded and posted on Canvas in case you have to miss one. To earn participation credit, arrive to discussion section on time and collaborate in good faith with your colleagues. If you arrive late, or if you engage in activities unrelated to the course, you will not be awarded participation credit for that day. 

You may miss up to two Discussion Sections without penalty.

ONLINE LEARNING (ALEKS)

This course uses the internet-based learning program ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces). In ALEKS, you will complete learning objectives rather than traditional homework assignments. An ALEKS Objective contains topics relevant to the lecture discussions. ALEKS will present you with a series of problems that explore a particular topic. The problems will have enough variability that you will only be able to get them consistently correct by understanding the core principle or skill defining the topic. Once you consistently answer the problems for a given topic correctly, ALEKS will conclude that you have learned the topic, and you will then be allowed to choose another topic to learn (refer to the ALEKS Orientation posted on the course website for more details). Your daily/weekly work on ALEKS will be on your own schedule outside of class, although there are specific deadlines by which you must complete various Objectives. The registration code for your ALEKS course can be downloaded from Canvas. Make sure that you register for the ALEKS course specific to your section of 1x2.

The registration code for your ALEKS course can be downloaded from the ALEKS module. 

Your first task in ALEKS will be to complete an Initial Knowledge Check. This is ALEKS’s way of assessing your current knowledge of math and chemistry, so that it can guide you appropriately. The Knowledge Check will contain 25-30 questions and shouldn’t take more than 40-60 minutes to complete. You will probably be asked a few questions that you don’t know how to answer. Don’t worry…the ALEKS system is only determining your knowledge baseline so that it can be tailored to address your specific needs. When you use ALEKS, you will complete the learning tasks you need and not those somebody else needs. After you complete the Initial Knowledge Check, ALEKS will provide one-on-one instruction intended specifically for you. ALEKS will also give you a new Knowledge Check after you complete each Objective, so that it can track your evolving knowledge state as you move through the material, and continue to tailor its approach to your unique learning path.

You, alone, are responsible for monitoring the due date and time for all ALEKS Objectives. Note that it is not possible to open up an ALEKS Objective 3 or 4 hours before it’s due and be able to complete it. ALEKS will not let you access the problems corresponding to the more advanced topics in an Objective until you have mastered the basics, so you will need to spend time nearly every day on ALEKS to complete the Objectives. The schedule of Objectives and their due dates is available on the Canvas course site.

QUIZZES

There are five quizzes in this course, delivered via Canvas every other Wednesday (starting in Week 2). The lowest score among the five quizzes will be dropped. The dates for the quizzes will be provided in the course schedule on Canvas. Quizzes will be delivered during the regularly-scheduled class time.

Each quiz will focus on the most recent set of lessons, but chemistry knowledge is cumulative by nature, so the quiz questions will often depend on knowledge from earlier chapters and courses. Information about quiz length and coverage will be posted in the Quizzes module as each quiz date nears.

Quiz keys will be available on Canvas in the evening of the quiz, after all students have completed it.

FINAL EXAM

The final exam will be delivered via Canvas during the regularly-scheduled final exam session for this course. The final exam will be cumulative over the quarter. Information about quiz length and coverage will be posted as the final exam date nears.

The final exam key will not be posted on Canvas. However, you may contact Dr. Craig after the quarter to review your final and the key.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

1. Participate in ALL available sessions, pay close attention, and take notes. 
2. Learning chemistry is a sequential process. You must understand today’s material before you can understand tomorrow's. As with all courses at UW, your instructors and TAs will assume that you are studying at least two hours for each hour of lecture and one hour for every hour of lab. Find a place that allows for periods of uninterrupted study. Skim through chapter or sections to be covered in the next lecture.
3. Make daily, weekly, and quarterly learning plans and follow those plans.
4. Working in shorter, more frequent sessions in ALEKS will be more efficient than long, marathon sessions.
5. Practice! Work on suggested end-of-the-chapter problems as well as topics in ALEKS - focus on understanding the concepts and general processes, not just memorizing how to solve a specific problem.
6. UW's CLUE is now online! They can help you with Chemistry questions, and they will be uploading discussion and exam review material to their website. You can find them at: http://webster.uaa.washington.edu/asp/website/ 
7. Talk chemistry with fellow Chem 162 students. You will not only learn more, but you will probably also enjoy the course more. This is a much bigger challenge with remote learning, but also so much more important when there are not in-person sessions. Use the discussion board, chats, etc. to create study groups for talking about the course content.