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Welcome to the
Appalachian State Chemistry Fundamentals ProgramDepartment of Chemistry
An Interactive Educational Exercise
Because of special formatting tags needed to display exponents, this site is best viewed with Netscape 3.0 or higher.
If needed, use the link under Useful Materials to
download Netscape
PLEASE READ THIS PAGE COMPLETELY!
About the Chemistry Fundamentals Course
This exercise is designed for anyone who wants an introduction or review of the fundamentals of chemistry that will be used in freshman level chemistry classes.
The goal of this program is to provide
an introduction or a review to incoming freshmen chemistry students
on the basic mathematical skills that are required to be successful
in freshman chemistry. In addition, the materials work to
introduce or review basic skills in the use of a calculator. However, probably the most important
and beneficial sections are those which review basic high school chemistry.
In addition to the introductory level concepts, there are a number of "advanced" sections on the use
of numerical methods in chemistry.
About these materials
The course materials include readings and sample problems on mathematics and
calculator use in chemistry, and provides short readings in basic and advanced
concepts in chemistry, including:
- Nomenclature
- Atomic Structure
- Stoichiometry
- Acid-Base Chemistry
- Kinetics
- Equilibria
- Redox reactions
- Thermodynamics
- Nuclear Chemistry
At The Very Least...
While all the readings and exercises have been prepared to help you over the course of the
entire year, the most important sections are:
- the mathematics/calculator section and
- the chemical nomenclature section (accessible under Basic Concepts
in the sidebar).
Knowledge of the information discussed in these two sections will be imperative to your success in your
chemistry class.
How to use these materials
The basic procedure is as follows:
- Take the pre-test for the sections desired. Pre-tests are accessed from
the left sidebar on the main Appalachian State Chem page (this page).
- If you pass the pre-test, you are done with that section.
- If you do not pass the pre-test, you should read the on-line course
materials on that section, taking care to work all example problems.
- Take the post-test for that section; if you pass, you are done.
If not, review the appropriate on-line material corresponding to the
questions you missed, and then take the post-test again.
- You may repeat this process as often as you need to, taking the
post test as many times as you need to achieve a passing score. But,
please, if you are not doing well on the problems, be sure to review
the background readings and actually work the sample problems yourself
before attempting a new post-test.
Each of these sections has a pretest that gives you eight randomly
generated questions on that topic. If you get seven out of eight of
the pre-test questions correct, that section is considered completed,
and your professor is notified of its completion. You may only take
the pretest once. Because the knowledge of these basic skills in mathematics and use
of a calculator are so important for your success in chemistry and other sciences,
if you score six or less, you are strongly encouraged
to use the review materials to review that topic, working every sample problem
provided.
The readings can be accessed from the sidebar. Mathematics and
calculator basics are accessible by clicking on the "Mathematics" link
on the sidebar. The link labeled "Basic" contains the readings on:
- Chemical Nomenclature
- Atomic Structure
- Stoichiometry
- Acid Base Chemistry
The link labeled "Advanced" contains the readings on:
- Gas Laws
- Thermodynamics
- Kinetics
- Equilibria
- Redox Chemistry
- Nuclear Chemistry
Once you have completed the readings, you can then take a
randomly-generated post-test that gives you 10 questions on that topic.
You must obtain a score of 80% (8 out of 10) to pass the post-test.
You may take the post-test as many times as you need to in order to
obtain a passing score.
You should
understand that the value of the materials is in the review (or in some cases,
introduction) of the basic concepts that you will encounter in freshman
chemistry. Again, the data strongly
suggests that the use of these materials provides students with the
refresher they needed to do well during the year of chemistry.
NOTE: There is substantially more material here than you
are expected to use. We have provided additional readings and concept
areas for those of you who wish to:
- do a more thorough review of chemistry prior to beginning chemistry at ASU
- use these materials during your course of study in chemistry (hopefully as a supplement, not instead of going to class!)
About the Sidebar
On the left-hand side of each page is a sidebar. This sidebar contains
navigational links to the major sections of the course materials.
It also contains a glossary of terms, and useful links. Examples of
the related information links are the names of the major calculator manufacturers.
These sites have materials that will help you to work smarter, not
harder with your calculator. We have also developed a number of
interactive calculators that you can use with or without the course
materials. These calculators, such as the thermodynamics calculator,
are designed to help you understand and solve problems in specific areas.
We hope that you will find these useful!
About the developers
The materials have been developed at the
Shodor Education Foundation, Inc., with funding provided by a grant from the
Department of Chemistry at the
Appalachian State University.
Students who take this course can help improve it.
Please fill out the Student Evaluation Form after
completing the course.
You can monitor
the access statistics for this site.
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The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.