Teaching First Year Chemistry
Dr. Kim Bolton, School of Environmental Sciences
My Background
Soil and Water Chemist
My First Year Experience
Environmental Chemistry I and II
Equivalent to standard two term 1st year chemistry course
Environmental chemistry examples (acid rain, ozone depletion,
photochemical smog, etc.)
Lectures/labs
Course no longer exists
My Background
My First Year Experience
Introductory Chemistry
Equivalent to grade 12 chemistry
Distance education format
No labs
Chemistry Today
Chemistry for non-science students (Hotel and Food
Administration)
No labs
Environmental Chemistry I and II
Text: Introduction to Environmental Chemistry, Nigel Bunce
Objectives
Introduction to chemical principles which govern chemical reactions in
the environment
Introduction to some specific problems in environmental chemistry
Part I
Part II
Stoichiometry
Acids and Bases
Energetics in Chemical
Reactions: Enthalpy
Solubility Equilibria
Gases and the Atmosphere
Acid Rain
Kinetics
Energetics in Chemical
Reactions: Free Energy
Gaseous Equilibria
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Water
Electrochemistry
Metals and Mining
Environmental Chemistry I and II
Ways to engage students
Use of quantitative environmental examples:
Stoichiometry; eg) Calculate the maximum yield of sulphuric acid
produced from 125 tonnes of pyrite.
Thermochemistry; eg) Calculate the mass of methane that must be
burned to heat a typical house in S. Ontario on a winter day when
the total heat requirement is 6.7 x 105 kJ
Photochemistry; eg) The C-Cl bond has bond dissociation energy
330 kJ mol-1, while CFCl3 absorbs radiation having λ < 220 nm. Will
CFCl3 undergo bond cleavage in the lower atmosphere?
Environmental Chemistry I and II
Ways to engage students
Use of quantitative environmental examples:
Kinetics; eg) The degradation of the pesticide fenvalerate in the
envionment is found to be first order with k = 3.9 x 10-7 s-1. An
accidental discharge of 100 kg of fenvalerate into a holding pond
results in a fenvalerate concentration of 1.3 x 10-5 mol L-1. Calculate
the concentration left after one month. How long before the
fenvalerate concentration in the pond reaches 1 μM?
Free Energy; eg) Calculate the equilibrium constant for
3/2 O2(g) ↔ O3(g)
and estimate O3 content in stratosphere. (then compare to actual
content).
Environmental Chemistry I and II
Ways to engage students
Specific Environmental Topics:
Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
Photochemical Smog and Ground Level Ozone
Water Hardness and Water Softening
Laboratory; water hardness by titration with standard EDTA
Biological Oxygen Demand (sewage and industrial waste water)
Phosphate removal from sewage
Acid Mine Drainage
“Stories”
Solubility; eg) Why do walls of the Welland Canal crumble?
(CaSO4•H2O solubility)
Metal toxicity; Copper complexation story
Chemistry Today
Text: Chemistry in Focus, Nivaldo Tro (Brooks/Cole)
First half of course addresses general chemistry principles:
Atoms and Elements
Compounds and Chemical Reactions (a little stoichiometry)
Chemical Bonding (Lewis structures)
Organic Chemistry
Acids and Bases
Second half examine some applications:
Household Chemicals
Biochemistry and Pharmaceuticals
Chemistry of Food
Chemistry of the Environment
Chemistry Today
Way to engage students
Group Project - groups assigned "mystery ingredient list“
Required to produce report
should be informative and should be written for the general public
for a popular science or health magazine.
Chemistry Today
Introductory Chemistry and Chemistry Today
Both Distance Education Courses
Way to engage students
OWL Homework (Cengage)
1st year students
Student preparation quite variable
Strengths
Confidence
Willingness to ask for help
Weaknesses
Math!! (basic algebra; dimensional analysis)
Problem solving skills
Fear (and loathing) of chemistry
General 1st year issues
Maturity
Time management