Welcome to the first semester of general chemistry, CHEM 151! This class is an important part of the scientific foundation that you need to be successful in your chosen career area.
I’m Bruce Farris, your professor, and I look forward to working with you this semester! I know this is likely a required class for you, but I’m hopeful you will enjoy it and find it rewarding and useful. If you want to know a little more about who you will be working with behind the screen this semester (or are just bored and looking for something else to read!), you can find a bit more information about me at this link.
Also, note the link above is in blue and underlined. Links are included throughout this course – clicking on them will help navigate the course. For example, here is a link to the first course topic.
In this “Welcome” unit, I want to cover a few basics. I want to describe how the course is organized and structured, give you an overview of what resources and help (if needed) are available to you, and tell you what you have to do to be successful. I also want to give you some hints you might find useful to navigate the course and resources and to study. Finally, I want to provide some answers to questions students often have at the beginning of the semester. I know a lot of this information can be boring and laborious to read, but taking a little time to read it now will save you time and effort later in the semester looking for things, and hopefully help you be more successful!
While I’m at it, one other thing: Most students who are required to take CHEM 151 are also required to take its companion lab course (CHEM 161). If the lab is required for your curriculum or transfer plans it is best that you take the two courses together as they are designed to work well together, and I’d recommend you enroll in it if possible. If it is not possible you can always take the lab in a later semester.
Some previous study of chemistry is highly recommended (and assumed)
It is assumed that students enrolling in CHEM 151 have some background in chemistry in their not too distant past. This usually means a high school course or a college introductory course such as CHEM 125. Will you be expected to remember everything from your high school course or CHEM 125? No. The first unit (first three weeks of the semester) is designed to allow you a review of the chemistry you studied previously. I don’t expect you to remember it all (otherwise we wouldn’t need a review) but it should look familiar once you see it. If it is easy for you, that’s great – we will get to more challenging material soon enough. If you have to work at it, that’s OK — that’s why we have the review.
What if you have never had a chemistry course before or, as we go through the first unit, you realize you have never seen any of this before?
Contact me (sooner rather than later) and I’d be happy to discuss your specific situation with you. As I mentioned above, the course assumes some background knowledge of chemistry — for that reason, the basics covered at the beginning are quickly reviewed, not taught as if you haven’t learned them before. If they were taught thoroughly and you were given the time to learn them from the beginning, you wouldn’t be left with time to learn the material expected for you to move on to the next courses or to transfer. And if you don’t have the basics down by the end of the first unit, the rest of the course will get much tougher.
Can students who have never studied chemistry before be successful in this course? They can, but often are not. The students who have no previous study in chemistry but succeed in this course are the ones who are strong math and science students AND are willing to put in extra hours of study above what they might otherwise do — if this does not describe you, that’s OK — it just means you might be best served in the long run by taking CHEM 125 first (many excellent students do this and are then set up to do well throughout their study of college chemistry).
Again, contact me if you have questions or concerns and I’d be happy to discuss your specific situation with you.
Course Basics – how the course works
How the course is structured
Units
The course has five units. Each unit is listed in the menu at the top of this page. Each unit contains 2-3 topics. For example, Unit 4 will cover the topics of Chemical Equilibrium and Acid-Base Chemistry. There will be a 100 point departmental exam for each unit. The unit exams (and the final exam) will be taken using pencil or pen on paper. You are required to take all of the unit exams and cumulative final exam via a Proctor. Each Unit Exam will have a one hour time limit and available on dates as shown on the course schedule. More information about the exams (including proctoring and other logistics) is given below in the Exams section under “What to do and Study”, or is available in the right sidebar or at this link: CHEM 151 Exam Info.
Topics
Each unit will have 2-3 topics. Each topic will be a different area of general chemistry. As an example, the first topic in Unit 1 is Matter and Measurement.
Each topic will have several objectives. If you are able to do what the objectives say, you will probably be able to do well on the quizzes and exams on that topic.
There will be 15 objectives for our first topic (Matter and Measurement) in Unit 1:
- Differentiate among the three states of matter: gas, liquid, and solid.
- Distinguish among pure substances, compounds, elements, mixtures, heterogeneous, homogeneous and solutions.
- Distinguish between a physical or chemical change.
- Distinguish among hypothesis, theory, and law.
- Knowing the meaning of the prefixes used in the metric system, convert a value in one metric unit to another.
- Knowing that 2.54 cm = 1 in., 1.06 quarts = 1 liter and 1 lb = 454 grams, convert between English and Metric units.
- Interconvert degrees Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin.
- Using the density formula, solve for density, mass or volume given the other two.
- Differentiate between exact numbers and measurements.
- Define and distinguish between precision and accuracy.
- Determine the correct number of significant figures in a measured or calculated quantity.
- Round off numbers to the correct number of significant figures.
- Express numbers and do calculations in exponential notation.
- Use dimensional analysis to solve unit conversion problems.
- Given the formula, name the elements and the binary compounds and vice versa (refer Nomenclature Handout: Sections I and II)
If you are able to to what the objectives say for all the topics, you will likely do well on the exams, homework and topic assignments, and you will be successful in the course!
What to do and study
Each topic will have several resources for you to read, study, and practice to help you understand the topic and help you achieve the objectives for the topic (again, if you can do the objectives your chances of being successful are good!)
1. Bruce’s notes
The Bruce’s Notes are an expanded version of the lecture notes and handouts that I have used in my face-to-face classes. It will not be a complete, detailed description and explanation of the topic (that will be provided in the online textbook reading). It will provide a good overview and summary of the topic, address issues that are typically difficult for students as well as common mistakes and misconceptions, and will call your attention and provide links to textbook reading and other places you can use to study the material. The notes will also have examples and practice problems with answers that you can try to practice various objectives.
Links to the Bruce’s notes for each topic are listed in the menus at the top and the right sidebar of this page.
2. Textbook Reading
The course textbook for this course is OpenStax Chemistry 2e . We will not be using the entire textbook (it is meant for a two-semester course sequences like CHEM 151 and CHEM 152) and the order of topics in the book are tailored for the largest number of professors that use the book. I will post specific reading assignments from the text in each topic in this course site. These reading assignments/suggestions will be in the “Suggested reading assignment and guide” for each topic in the course I will also post links to the textbook sections for the OpenStax text throughout the Bruce’s notes for the topic, where I will suggest the appropriate textbook reading to help with the concepts in the notes.
3. Online homework problems
There will be a homework assignment on each topic. The online homework for this course is in a homework website similar to this one. For those of you who have taken CHEM 151 previously — we will NOT be using Mastering Chemistry — it is a separate homework site developed at LCC.
For you to get credit in the course for completion of homework assignments, you will need to be logged into your homework site as a user. You will receive an email with instructions to log in and register the first time at your LCC student email account (NOT at D2L email). If you do not receive this email by the end of the first week of the semester, click this link for login instructions.
Due dates for each homework assignment within the homework and a link to the homework are listed in the Online Course Schedule.
The Online Homework Tab in the menu at the top or right of the page links you to a page in this course website that describes the homework website in more detail.
More information about the points available, opportunities for bonus points, and grading of the homework are discussed in the next topic – Course Syllabus Summary (with instructor hints)
A link to the homework website is also located under “useful links” at the right side of every page of this website.
4. Quizzes and Class Participation
There will be a total 100 points in quizzes and class participation throughout the semester. Ten of these 100 points will be an introductory survey to be completed the first week worth 10 points. The remaining 90 points will be in quizzes which will be taken on the course D2L site. They are described in more detail below.
Class Participation – Introductory survey
This assignment is designed to make you learn a little more about how the course is set up, to allow me to learn a little more about those of you taking the class (so as to help me make the class better fit your needs), and to give you the opportunity to ask questions. It requires no prior chemistry knowledge and you will receive full credit for completing it.
There are two ways you can access the instructions to complete this assignment:
- By clicking the link to “quiz and class participation assignments” on the menu at the top of each page on this website, then selecting the assignment from the pull down menu.
- By clicking the link to the assignment in the Online Course Schedule (the course schedule also gives you the due dates for each assignment)
Quizzes
There will be 12 quizzes in this class. Each quiz will be worth 10 points. You will keep your highest nine scores and drop the lowest three, for a total of 90 points available.
A description of what each quiz covers can be found on this website as follows:
- By clicking the link to “quiz and class participation assignments” on the menu at the top of each page on this website, then selecting the specific quiz from the pull down menu.
- By clicking the links to each quiz in the Online Course Schedule (the course schedule also gives you the due dates for each assignment)
While the quiz descriptions are in this website, the quizzes are on D2L. To access each quiz, you can do the following:
- Go to the course D2L site
- Click on “Assessments”
- Click on “Quizzes” in the pull-down menu
- Click on the quiz number (1,2,etc)
- Read the instructions
- Click on “Start Quiz”. Make sure you have read through the material and prepare before starting, you only get 30 minutes and 2 attempts.
5. Exams
Each of the five unit exams will be a 100 point departmental exam. The final exam will be a 200 point comprehensive exam (covering the entire course) at the end of the semester. All unit exams and the final exam will be closed-book, proctored and taken using pencil or pen on paper, either at an LCC Testing Center or with an off-campus (non-LCC) proctor.
Testing at an LCC Campus
Online students can choose from four LCC Testing Centers for their proctored online course exams. The Downtown Testing Center (GB 2228), West Campus, LCC East and the Livingston County Center in Howell all administer exams for online courses. Please check out the testing hours and contact information for each location. Testing hours vary by location. You must make an appointment to test at the Livingston County Center by calling 517-545-3522. All other LCC testing sites are walk-in centers.
Testing with an Off-campus (non-LCC) Proctor
If you are a distance learner who is unable to test at an LCC testing center, you must request to take your proctored tests at an approved off-campus location, typically at another college testing center closer to you. Test proctoring fees may apply at non-LCC testing sites.
Testing at a non-LCC site must be approved by Testing Services. Requests to test at a non-LCC testing site must be submitted at least 5 days in advance of your test open date to ensure test availability offsite. You can search for a proctor location using the NCTA website or by using our previously-approved proctor map. If you need assistance in locating a testing site in your area you may also call the Testing Support Office at 517-267-5503.
Proctors cannot be an acquaintance, friend, relative, direct supervisor, and/or co-worker. Guidelines for choosing a proctor can be found on our website.
You will have one hour to complete each unit exam and two hours for the final exam. All exams will be closed book but you will be provided with a periodic table for each exam. The periodic tables will also include other materials pertinent to the exam. These periodic tables are also provided in your course D2L site, under the content menu in each Unit folder (there are different Tables for the different units).
You will be allowed a 3″ by 5″ index card (both sides handwritten) that you can write info on to refer to during the exam. for the final exam only.
Each exam will be available for a three day period. The actual dates are on the on the course schedule. Make sure you check the testing hours for each site.
What is on this site and what is on D2L
This course is divided between two websites: this one and LCC’s course management system (Desire2Learn or D2L). You will need to access and use both sites. Almost everything required for this course is available on this website: https://fe2.openlcc.net/chem151/
This site
This site is housed on LCC’s Open Learning Lab. I keep almost all of the learning and study material here for several reasons:
- It allows you to access course material without having to log in
- It is easier to view in smartphones and tablets
- it allows me to integrate practice questions, textbook reading, and my course materials in ways to help students learn
- It will be available to you after the semester ends (if you need to take CHEM 152, you may find it useful to have to review)
This site will include announcements: I will put announcements and reminders for this course at this link on the course website
What is on D2L
Grades
The College requires any material that can be linked to your grades to be housed on D2L. For that reason, your grades will be housed on D2L and will not be available from this site.
Quizzes
The 12 course quizzes, as described above.
Announcements and Communication
I will put all the same announcements and reminders that I put on this course website on D2L as well, so if you prefer to keep up with them through D2L you can. Also, you can email me either through regular email to farrisb@lcc.edu or through D2L email, and I will reply to the address you send it from.
Additional Resources to help you succeed
- Each Unit has additional study resources including equation summaries, additional practice quizzes, resource sheets, practice exams and more. They are available in the drop down menu under each unit at the menu at the top of each page on this site.
- Free online tutoring for all LCC students is offered by LCC’s Learning Commons. Use this link to request online tutoring: Tutoring Appointment Request – Online Form.
- Finally, here is a link to the current semester Chemistry Tutoring Schedule
What’s next?
In this intro section you will also find a discussion of and answers to common questions about the course and syllabus.
