http://macweb.acs.usm.maine.edu/chemistry/newton/chy251_253/Syllabus.html
You may have heard that O Chem is a bear. It has taken me a long time to admit it, but I must confess, it is indeed a tough course. Why? There are several reasons. First, the content of the subject is massive. Even though this course focuses on how chemists know what they know, it is impossible to gain that focus without committing a large amount of information to memory. Second, I often tell students that learning organic chemistry is like taking Japanese history....in Japanese; not only do you have to learn the content of the course, you also have to learn the language. Organic chemists don't speak English. They speak Ochemese. Their vocabulary is filled with words like nucleophiles, electrophiles, acylation, alkylation, pericyclic, anti-periplanar, enantiomers, and diastereomers. Such strange words are foreign to most students and they don't sink in the first time you encounter them. Or the second time. Only repeated exposure to the terminology of organic chemistry will enable you to learn the content of the discipline. It's like learning to play basketball: you develop the necessary skills by repeated practice. You can't become a good ball player, or a good student of organic chemistry, by talking about it. You have to do it. Then you have to do it again, and again. That's the way it is.
If Organic Chemistry requires more effort than other courses, it also offers a greater return on your investment. According to the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, the two most advanced levels of intellectual development are the concrete operational and the formal operational stages. In chemistry, an individual who is performing at the concrete operational level is able to solve problems similar to examples that have been discussed in class or assigned as homework. They are not, however, able to use their knowledge in an abstract way. A person who has progressed to the formal operational stage can apply their knowledge to problems they have not encountered before. They can think in abstract terms and solve theoretical problems. An individual advances from the concrete operational to the formal operational stage by practice. This is where Organic Chemistry can offer you a greater return on your investment: if you practice enough, you can become formal operational in this discipline. You will be able to solve problems no one else has solved. You will be able to think independently. Nothing is more satisfying than the sense of personal achievement that attends reaching this level of educational sophistication. In pragmatic terms, if you become formal operational in this course, you will get an A. If you become concrete operational, you will earn a C. Which brings me to
This page provides access to the on-line exercises for this course as well as the answer keys for those exercises. You may also obtain a record of your grades via the link at the bottom of the page. - Sample assignment:
This page provides a 5-question sample of a typical on-line assignment. When you click the Answer Form button, a new window containing an Answer Form will open. Click the Load JavaGrins link in this new window to open a JavaGrins chemical structure drawing window. Arrange the JavaGrins drawing window, the Answer Form window, and this window so that you can go back and forth between all three. For questions that require SMILES, click the mouse in the appropriate text field on the Answer Form, then click on the link called Paste: SMILES. For multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, type your answer in the appropriate text field of the Answer Form. If you would like to submit your answers for this exercise, fill in your first and last names and enter 123123456 into the SS# field on the Answer Form. Then click thebutton. After you submit your work, you should receive confirmation that it has been received.
JavaGrins is an intelligent chemical structure drawing program that was developed by Daylight Chemical Information Systems. The program converts bond-line diagrams of chemical structures into text strings called SMILES, which may be entered into a text field in a web page. While several other programs also convert chemical structures into SMILES, JavaGrins creates a unique SMILES. In other words, JavaGrins returns the same SMILES regardless of how the user draws a structure. - For more details: http://ochem.chem.usm.maine.edu/quizlogic2000/Grins/
Dear Ms. Bergfeld,
I am honored that someone would think my website is worthy of mention. I do not place any restrictions on its use, so you are more than welcome to direct the attention of others to it. There are two points I'd should make however. First, while I have tried to edit the content of the site carefully, I am sure there are still numerous errors to be found. Second, the On-Line Exercises require a password; only students in my organic chemistry course may use this part of the site. I would appreciate it if you would send me a copy of the CD that you mention once you have produced it.