CHM-132 What's
It All About ?
This is a second course in Chemistry that serves the needs of students requiring a deeper understanding of chemistry. It is a combination lecture and laboratory course that extends student's background in introductory organic and biological chemstry.
The course pre-requisite is an introcutory course in Chemistry that touches upon scientific measurement and problem solving, atomic structure, chemical bonding basics, chemical stoichiometry, the laws governing gases, solution chemistry, chemical kinetics, chemical equilibria, acidity and basicity, and radioactivity. It is further assumed that the student has firm basic mathematics and introductory algebra skills. Because of the content of the course, this academic offering also serves as a primer in organic chemistry for persons needing a year-long sequence in organic chemistry.
CHM-132 is taught as an honest college sciences class that devotes a good portion of its effort to higher order thinking. Since this course has a pre-requisite, students can expect to receive homework assignments to perform before coming to class on the first day. The first day of class is also devoted to taking an examination refreshing students' knowledge garnered in the required beginning chemistry class. While some memorization is inevitable in many class, the student is expected to be able to use the scientific method to extrapolate and synthesize responses to questions founded in the bedrock of chemical processes. Successfull completion of this course requires that a student employ a variety of skills above and beyond rote memorization.
Topics covered in this class include an introduction to organic chemistry, major organic functional groups ( identification, nomenclature, physical properties, and chemical properties ), biologically important classifications of molecules ( carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids, nucleic acids ), the chemical basis for biological reactions including chemical genetics, major biochemical pathways, biochemical thermodynamics, and nutrition.
The author believes that the traditional lecture is the BEST method of presenting material at a collegiate level. Lectures in the course will be supplimented with multi-media presentations, WEB links, mathematical problem solving, and a host of other methods that the instructor deems efficacious. The instructor will help students "step up to the plate" if you will. But, it is the responsibility of the student to adapt and modify their learning style to ensure their collegiate academic success. More information is provided at the link on academic survival skills.