Chemistry
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General Chemistry, 9th Edition
ISBN-10: 0618857486 ISBN-13: 9780618857487
1152 Pages Casebound
© 2009 Published
Reviewers Quotes
"Complex, realistic, conceptual, open-ended, vague and motivated! Concept Explorations can be used to enhance student conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities. They emphasize the multiple representations of processes (words, sketches, graphs, chemical equations) and encourage active participation of students. I think Concept Explorations perfectly match the author's goals. Concept Explorations are very suitable for small groups of students to solve together--would certainly promote the discussion! So I would definitely use them interactively in a recitation/study group format."
"The authors have focused on a major problem that many textbooks seem either to ignore or at a minimum fail to recognize and address. Students often master the process of problem solving without understanding the underlying concept that the problem attempts to address. The authors have taken a giant step in addressing this shortcoming."
"I think these [Concept Explorations] are very beneficial for a few reasons. They go beyond the typical end-of-chapter problems. They are more in-depth and allow connections to be made to concepts in other sections of the chapter. The questions will allow the students to be less focused on trying to remember how the numbers are to be applied to the formulas and more focused on understanding and applying the concept. I think it is advantageous that the problems are in a multi-step format. The students will feel a greater sense of accomplishment as they progress through the problem."
"These [Strategy Problems] meet the worthy goals of the author. They are well written, adequate in number and rigor, and do not just parrot earlier exercises. I was initially afraid these would be as difficult as some of the 'comprehensive' exercises found in texts, but this was not the case. The only thing that makes them 'difficult' is the lack of an algorithm to follow. Should help push some students toward broader thinking."
"Great idea. It is too easy to develop a false sense of security applying a standard model to homework problems without understanding chemistry. The [Strategy] problems in both chapters I reviewed appeared adequate with the right balance of challenge and ability to solve the problem using available information."
"I do think the 'Strategy Problems' are excellent. I will regularly strongly recommend that all chemistry majors and Honors students concentrate on studying the Exercises in the chapter itself where strategies are expected to be modeled after the fashion of the Examples where strategies are delineated. Then, at least for the Honors students, I will particularly assign some of the new 'Strategy Problems'; for some of the 'regular' chemistry majors, I'll need to stick to less challenging problems. I may well go through some of the 'Strategy Problems' in my lecture."
"Excellent examples again. [The Strategy Problems] definitely increase the rigor. And I believe matching problems are overrated anyway--they're a good teaching tool as a first step but too many students regard them as the only step! Thus, the unmatched aspect is wonderful."
"Yes, these [Self-Assessment] questions appear to be well-thought out, and are very useful for the students to quickly assess their understanding of the core concepts. I will strongly urge the students to do so."
"I think the four multiple choice [Self-Assessment] questions provide an efficient summary of the material discussed in the chapter. Many of these require synthesis of a couple of concepts or operational skills. The multiple choice questions are thought-provoking and require some effort to be answered by the student. This is a good section."
"I like the self-assessment questions, and I think the author should consider expanding on these in the future. For example, one or a few of these could be addressed to each chapter section."
"I cannot say enough good things about the change from the operational skills to the new learning objectives. I very much prefer them to the operational skills. The learning objectives are more direct, more defined, and less ambiguous. There is no question of what it is important for the students to know. The students will certainly connect to these learning objectives because it will allow for greater self-assessment of their grasp of the material. The learning objectives will help me to focus my lectures and I will use the objectives in planning and preparing my lectures. I would also use them in a review session for an exam because I think they more than cover what the students must master in terms of operational and conceptual skills."
"I don't usually find [Learning Objectives] very helpful, however, this list is much better than the typical one found at the end of the chapter. I think the referencing of the examples makes this section more helpful then most. Also it includes action words - like write, calculate, and define - concerning they type of things they should be able to do with the information. I think the author has met the goal."
"The learning objectives highlight the main concepts of the chapter section by section. It is a wonderful tool and hope it will be included in the lecture power point also. It certainly covers both the conceptual and operational skills the students must master."
"These [Boxed-Essay Questions] are good: I agree that questions must be asked about these boxed essays in order for students (and instructors) to feel they are important."
"I think that the essays are always interesting but have never required them as reading in my courses as there has not been a simple way to 'encourage' my students to read them. These types of follow-up questions are an excellent idea. I would definitely assign these question to my students."
"I believe that the applications of chemistry to the real-world are vital to the students because they provide a mechanism for students to make connections as to why they are taught specific subject matter. I believe that assigning the essay questions is a great way to incorporate alternative assessment into the curriculum."
"The Boxed essay [questions], based on 'A Chemist Looks at...' essays, are a nice idea and will encourage students to understand these essays (which are generally very nice). They also provide the unusual advantage of making the student write in a coherent fashion (complete sentences), which is unfortunately lacking in our Introductory Chemistry courses. As a result, many of our students don't write well, which is a deficiency that often lasts until they have to write a thesis. I've thought of introducing something similar into my own course, but there never seemed to be enough time, and it was hard to integrate them into the text. I would definitely use them on an experimental basis to start and see how they work for the students."
"I very much like the emphasis upon giving students a solid conceptual foundation. It seems that most texts use 'conceptual emphasis' as a euphemism for minimizing the mathematical aspects. These chapters sacrifice nothing mathematically, but offer students a thorough physical understanding as well; a solid basis to reason from."
"I like the text and notice improvements over the 8th which I used about a year ago."
"I taught from the 3rd edition of Ebbing (!). When I looked at these chapters it reminded me that we had liked this book very much, and had just moved away from it. I'm glad to see that you are incorporating new technology and formats for this book."
"The new emphasis within each chapter example to use Strategy-Solution-Answer Check is admirable."
"Your book is well presented and the explanations of the topics are exemplary. I like how the examples in the chapters correlate to the learning objectives and the problems at the end of the chapters are parallel to these examples. I also appreciate how the examples are clearly introduced with the use of titles given to each example. I like how the authors have enhanced the textbook by adding consistency in the chapter examples."
"I really liked these chapters. Assuming the rest of the book is the same quality, I envy students who are going to use this text."
"The Gecko toes story is a good selection, which is current and was on the news just few years ago. Addition of such worthwhile news items that could help to popularize chemistry to the general public justifies periodic revision of text books."
"I think the authors have come up with innovative ways to improve the quality of the book and increase the students' benefits from it."
"Over all, I think the authors are to be congratulated on a splendid effort to reach the students on a practical level while keeping the fundamental content of General Chemistry intact. I applaud their approach."