Chemistry 111
Foundations of Chemistry
Instructor: Dr. Kenneth O’Connor
Office: S-498; Phone: 304-696-4358
Email: oconnor9@marshall.edu
Prerequisite: Math ACT 21 or an A, B or C in Math 127 or 130.
Fall 2012
Overview: This 3 credit course will provide you with many of the basics of a first semester,
college chemistry course. Topics will include metric units, dimensional analysis, nomenclature,
solution chemistry, atomic structure, stoichiometry, Lewis dot structures, gas laws, hybridization,
balancing equations Additional topics will be covered if time permits. CHM 111 is intended to
prepare students for CHM 211. Exactly how many chapters of the text will be covered is
dependent on how much time we spend on each chapter.
Office Hours: I try to have an open door policy; often between 11am and 12:15pm I will
be available, but sometimes department seminars or faculty meetings will make me
unavailable.
Additional office hours: M, W and F: 10 am - noon, 4-6 pm.
You are welcome to stop by outside of these times and see if I am available or make an
appointment with me.
Required Text: “General Chemistry as a Second language” by David Kline. ISBN: 0-47171662-6. Any edition of this text is acceptable.
Clicker: You can purchase a clicker from the bookstore or you can purchase one from
the on-line store through Turning Technologies, our university-adopted clicker company.
You have the option of buying a license to use clickers for one year for $15 by going to
this company store. This is called the “Response Ware” annual license option. Or you
can buy the clicker from this website or buy one in the bookstore. You need to have
either the wireless application or an actual clicker purchased by the beginning of week 2
or you will not obtain clicker points for the days you do not have a clicker. To access the
on-line store:
Visit: store.turningtechnologies.com (copy and paste this into your browser)
The school code for Marshall is:
mar1
Blackboard: I will be posting some PowerPoints, handouts, etc. on blackboard. I will
provide you with more information about the material I post on-line as it becomes
available.
Your Responsibility: To study this subject as intensely as possible so that you can do well on
the tests. You should spend a sufficient amount of time doing homework problems and
reviewing your notes so that you are convinced that you understand the material. The biggest
mistake is that students think they know the material when in actuality, they DO NOT! You need
to do the homework problems more than once and make sure that you can do them without
looking at the answers. My tests are very comprehensive; this means that if I taught a subject or
concept in class, then it will most likely appear on a test.
Attendance: I strongly encourage you to come to class so that you can understand more fully the
material. It is virtually impossible to do well in this class without coming to class regularly. If
you are absent, obtain the notes from another student. At a minimum, review the PowerPoint
lectures and read the text book on days on which you are absent.
Withdrawals: The last day to withdraw from this class is 11/2/12. For a complete list of dates,
the academic calendar is available at: http://www.marshall.edu/calendar/academic/fall2012.asp .
Study Guides and Practice Tests: In many cases, doing the problems in the book will act as a
study guide/practice test because the book is taught from a problem solving point of view; many
chapters contain 50-100 problems. These problems, in addition to the problems that I review in
class, will provide you with an excellent review for test preparation. It is important that you use
these problems to prepare comprehensively for each test. If you cannot do well on the problems
in the text book, you probably will not do well on the actual test. Many of the test questions are
very similar to the problems we discussed in class, from worksheets and from text book
problems. It is in your best interest to review everything when preparing for a test. This also
means understanding the concepts in each chapter.
Tutoring Center: In addition to help from me, tutors are available to help you with the material
in this class. The tutoring center is available in Laidley Hall. Their website is:
http://www.marshall.edu/uc/ts.shtm. It is always better to obtain a tutor when you are first
having problems rather than wait two days before the test.
Two tutors are attending your class to enable you to become more familiar with the concept of
seeking out a tutor.
Exams: There will be an exam on every chapter we have in class. IF YOU MISS A TEST DUE
TO AN ILLNESS OR A FAMILY SITUATION/EMERGENCY, PLEASE EMAIL ME. I have
160 students to keep track of this semester so please contact me if you miss an exam so we can
discuss how we will handle the missed test. There is also a final exam. The final exam will be
given to all CHM 111 students on Saturday, December 15th at 10am. All students need to
take the final exam at this time.
Missed Exams: I have found it frustrating as an instructor to have a good policy for
missed exams. Many instructors have you take a makeup exam at some point, usually
during finals week. This semester I am going to use the following policy with the
expectation that no one tries to take advantage of this policy.
My Missed Exam Policy: If you are absent on the day of the exam, you need to
obtain an excuse from academic affairs. If you have an excuse from academic
affairs, I will allow you to make up the exam. The exam must be taken within 5
days of the missed exam date. If taking the makeup exam does not happen with this
period of time, the final exam will be used as your makeup exam grade.
If you do not have an excuse from academic affairs, then the final exam will be used
as a makeup exam. If you are not in class on the day we have another exam, you
will receive a zero on that exam.
When you do not take the exams when scheduled, you will fall behind studying the
material that we are currently studying in class and a snowball effect occurs. You end up
falling farther and farther behind.
If you are sick or someone in your family is sick or your child was sick or your car broke
down, etc., then you need to obtain an excuse from academic affairs in order to qualify to
take a makeup exam. If you do not have an excuse from academic affairs, then you
cannot take a makeup exam, as described above.
I am not in the position to determine whether or not your absence was an acceptable
reason to miss an exam. Academic affairs handles excused absences. If you are sick and
do not obtain an excuse from academic affairs, then the final exam will be used as your
makeup exam grade. There are no exceptions. If you do not know what is required to
obtain an excused absence from academic affairs, then find out now. I am letting you
know now that if you are absent for a test and YOU DO NOT HAVE AN EXCUSED
ABSENCE FROM ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, THEN YOUR MAKEUP TEST GRADE
WILL BE YOUR FINAL EXAM GRADE. NO EXCEPTIONS.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT MY POLICY FOR MAKEUP EXAMS,
PLEASE DISCUSS IT WITH ME BEFORE THE TEST.
If you have an excuse from academic affairs, you need to take the makeup exam per the
guidelines mention above (see “My Missed Exam Policy” in bold print).
I am emphasizing this policy because missing an exam is a very stressful situation for
both of us. Please ask me any questions you may have about this now. If you are going
to be out of town, you can take an exam earlier than that given in class. If you are out of
town, you still need to make up the test within the timeline discussed in bold print above.
If you are away longer than the day on which you have to take the makeup test, then your
final exam will be used as your makeup exam grade, regardless of why you were absent,
EVEN IF IT IS SCHOOL RELATED. YOU HAVE THE OPTION OF TAKING THE
TEST BEFORE YOU GO OUT OF TOWN. There are no exceptions. When exceptions
are made, it ends up in disaster and my responsibility as an instructor is to keep you away
from disasters as much as possible.
Calculation of your grade:
Your exams grades will contribute to 90% of your grade. The other 10% will be obtained
from clicker points. In order to obtain the 10 points that are part of your course grade,
you will need to obtain 70% of “correct clicker question points”. If a student obtains
approximately 70% of the total clicker points possible, the student will obtain 10 out of
10 points attributed to clicker points. My goal is to ensure that if you miss a class and
therefore, do not obtain clicker points during one lecture, it will not in and of itself,
prevent you from obtaining full credit for the clicker points. If you obtain 60% of the
total clicker points, then you will obtain 9 out of 10 possible clicker points.
Your grade is based on the following scale:
90-100% = A 80-89.99% = B
70-79.99% = C
69.9-60% = D
Less than 60%= F
If you are found cheating on a test, you will be given a grade of zero for that test.
Transferring from CHM 211 to CHM 111: If you transferred from CHM 211 into
CHM 111, the determination of your grade will be based on the average of the exams that
you have taken in CHM 111.
Non-graded Homework: Unless I specifically mention it, you should do all of the
problems in each chapter of the book. There may be some sections in a book that I chose
to not cover. Obviously, you will not be responsible for those problems in your text
book. The homework is NOT collected. By homework I am referring to the problems
in each chapter and not specific problems at the end of the chapter. However, I assume
that you will do the homework multiple times to ensure your comprehension of the
material. The answers to the problems are at the end of the textbook. Come see me
if you are having difficulty.
Communication: I check my emails frequently everyday so this is the best way to contact me.
You can leave a message for me on my campus phone and I will call you back.
Cell Phones: Please turn off your cell phone during class. Texting is not permitted during class.
There are no exceptions. My cell phone will be turned off during class. When you are in class,
please give your full attention to this class and resist using your cell phone. Thank you for
complying.
Conflicts of Interest: Often there are several students who have jobs that take control of their
lives. Please try to remember that your responsibility as a student is to attend class and take
exams when they are given. Also, some of you will have several tests in the same week. I urge
you to study chemistry on an almost daily basis and not wait until you have a test to begin
studying; by doing so you will be prepared for all of your tests.
Students with Disabilities: I am willing to work with any student so that you can succeed in this
course. Please also familiarize yourself with the information in this website:
http://www.marshall.edu/disabled
Your Priority: If you are concerned about your GPA, you will make this class a priority. If you
are having a problem with the material, please come and see me. I want you to do well.
However, you need to put the effort into the course. Many of you will need to put in 15 hours a
week for CHM 111. If you can’t devote that much time to this class, please consider taking a
lighter load.
My Final Comment: My goal is to have you pass this class. I do care about your
performance in this class and I do want you to come to me if you need help. This class
does require your patience and dedication. Let’s work together at understanding
chemistry so we can both feel good about this class! Remember, we are on the same
side! I want you to win and be successful! The most difficult part of this class is taking
the initiative to sit down and study. Once you can do that on a repetitive basis, you will
succeed in this class!