This is the second semester of a two-semester course sequence in freshman chemistry for science majors. Although you have already been told most of the following points, I think that they are important enough to be re-emphasized.

A serious student will read the textbook and work problems at the end of each chapter – spending at least ten hours per week on these. Problem solving is a very important part of learning in any science course. If a student intends to pass this course, (s)he will spend a lot of time solving problems at the end of each chapter. The serious student will work all of these with the goal of trying to understand the intent of each problem. We will work problems in class. The student should be prepared to work problems on the board. Participation by working problems on the board will be noted and can help you when final grades are to be given. When the student finds that (s)he cannot work certain problems or understand certain concepts, the student is urged to contact me during office hours or if that is not possible to call and schedule an appointment to meet with me. I feel that the instructor's duty is to assist the student in the learning process, and thus the student will be required to have shown that (s)he has tried to understand the concepts first before coming to me for assistance. The student is not expected to have wasted hours on a problem, however, before coming to me for assistance. You should purchase a spiral bound notebook and work all problems in it. Then when you come to me (or to the tutors) for help, we can see where you are having problems. There are large demands upon my time from duties other than teaching this course. If you need help, please try to restrict your requests for help to my office hours, but definitely do not ask for help on Tuesdays and Thursdays since I need to reserve these days for my other duties (preparation for classes, writing exams and quizzes, research, writing papers, etc.).
The most successful students will make use of many learning aids. This person will discuss difficulties with fellow students, will read the text and other books, will work problems at the end of the chapter and be active in class- asking and answering questions. The student must take responsibility for the learning process and work at finding every possible way to learn the concepts. The lecture is nothing more than a learning aid and does not control how much you learn – you do. Instead, it is the instructor's duty to clarify concepts that students do not understand and to provide a fair way to evaluate the student's progress. The course is outlined in the lecture syllabus. Anything in those chapters may be on the tests.

Homework Graded homework assignments have been created which can be accessed from the Internet using a link on the General Chemistry web page or at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/chemistry/genchem.html or directly from http://genchem.cos.gmu.edu. There are algorithmic questions in the homework which change each time the problem is shown and the problems are sorted by level of difficulty. You may leave the homework and return at a later time; be sure to save your work before exiting the program. Upon your return to a particular homework set, only the unfinished problems will remain.

In-class quizzes will be given very often - in fact you should assume there will be some sort of in-class quiz every period. Students must purchase the i>clickers (personal response devices) from the bookstore and bring it to every class to record the individual answers to the quizzes. The i>clicker automatically records your answers to each quiz. If you do not have an i>clicker, you will not be able to complete the quiz and will receive a zero for that quiz. Quizzes will contain material covered in class as well as from the assigned reading for that day. It will be very important for you to read the assigned material for that class period.

Once you obtain your i>clicker you need to register it. On the back of your i>clicker find your unique registration number (at the bottom). This registration number must be assigned to your name on the class roll sheet. If this is not completed, you will not get credit for your answers. To register, go to the class in Blackboard. Near the syllabus you will find a link that will navigate to an Iclicker registration. Enter the iclicker number. Grading for quizzes will be done as follows: 3 points for each correct answer, and 2 points participation will be given for each answer -whether it is correct or incorrect. No points will be given if a question is not answered. Because the i>clicker is also a measure of lecture attendance, there will be no make ups and written answers will not be accepted.

Midterm examinations will be computerized with 80 minutes allotted for an examination having about 20 problems. You may bring a non programmable calculator to the examination- no programmable calculators allowed!; There is a practice website that has problems that will be on the examination (http://genchem.cos.gmu.edu/PracExam).

Final Examination: The final examination is cumulative and will be a nationally standardized examination produced by the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS study guides can be purchased from the bookstore. If you have one from Chem 211, it will work for Chem 212.

No programmable calculators (e.g. TI-82, 83, etc.) are allowed for this examination either.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS:  To be successful, the single most important thing a student can do is to come to the course with a firm commitment to learn the material.  You may feel the course content is hard, but you can be successful if you do the right things. Devote at least 6 hrs./per class period toward the studying of the lecture content.  If you are not willing to make that kind of commitment, it is best that you drop the class.  Students without that commitment fail the class and often receive a grade of 25% on the final - on a multiple choice test (this is evidence that they learned nothing).  Besides a strong commitment toward learning the course material, another important thing a student can do is to make sure you are able to spend quality time with the material.  Find a quiet place to work.  Make sure you are not distracted during your chemistry studying time.  Struggle with the homework before you ask for help.  Without this process, you won’t really learn the material well enough to master the content.  If you have taken this class before, you need to make sure you have changed how you do things or the result will be exactly the same – not good for you and discouraging for us too. 

Class Format:

• Lectures are prerecorded and posted in Bb.  The videos should be listened to, notes taken and the content studied prior to our face-to-face meeting.  You are expected to be familiar with the material before class. During class you will take i>clicker quizzes, work on problem sets and present them.  We are excited about this format since it will give the class significant time to work together on concepts and problem solving skills.  Until this semester, it was impossible to spend much time working together on these things.  For the videos, the system can tell if you have watched all or part of each. If you have not finished it, you will receive an "in progress" notation in your grade book. In progress work won't be counted towards your final course grade. You can stop at some spot and resume at the same spot to finish the video, but all of it must be viewed.
• On the first day of class we will ask you to fill out a note card and return it.  We will use this to randomly call on students and record participation points.  These points will be used at the end of the semester when deciding on final grades.
• Group work: After the second class, you should sit in the same seat until we re-assign seats, which will happen after the first exam. You will work in groups of 3 to 4 students. Timed group work sessions will be followed by graded i>clicker quizzes.  Students should promptly stop talking and listen to the instructor and LA for instructions at the end of each group work session.
• I>clicker quizzes are to be taken in silence (closed book), i.e. no talking with your classmates.

GRADING: A student who finds it necessary to miss an examination must notify me as soon as possible before or immediately after the examination and bring in documented proof of the problem. Otherwise the student will receive a zero for the missed examination. Non-programmable calculators are allowed for examinations. Use of a large, programmable calculator (such as a TI-82), smart watch, or cell phone will be considered an honor code violation. 

For a complete description of GMU Honor Code, follow this link:
http://oai.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Honor-Code-Final-2015-16.pdf

Grading

Lecture Syllabus