52. A four week-long exercise aimed at involving students with the scientific method through the use of a computer-simulated lake study.

133. Bits and pieces, 47. The students approach the simulations as if they were doing actual experiments.

Collaborative work in the laboratory is valued at Wofford College (1-3), as it is at many other institutions. Earlier collaborations at Wofford have allowed students in our physical chemistry classes to share data and to work with students from other institutions on computational chemistry projects. We now wish to report on preliminary efforts in establishing a program involving laboratory collaboration of another sort-between students enrolled in organic chemistry and those studying general chemistry.Organic chemistry and spectroscopic analysis methods have begun to find their way into the general chemistry laboratory. These experiments range from studies of electronegativity influences on chemical shift (4), to solving unknown structures (5-6), to the preparation of aspirin and spectroscopic confirmation of the product's structure and purity by FTIR and FT-NMR (7-8). A number of labs have been developed for organic chemistry classes, which are more discovery-based than traditional synthesis labs. Experiments such as these tend to pique students' interest since they are less like following a "cookbook" (9-16) and don't require three to four hours to reproduce a known result.Recognizing that we are better students of chemistry now that we are educators in the field, and further recognizing that mentorships can be fun and informative for all parties involved (17-18), we began a program involving the use of organic chemistry students as peer-mentors for general chemistry laboratory students. We felt that it was important that the labs we developed as part of this project should all contain an element of discovery. OverviewWe introduce organic chemistry students to interpretation of IR and NMR ( 1 H and 13 C) spectra during the first semester of organic chemistry. We then require these students to interpret spectra of several unknown compounds as an out-of-lab exercise. Throughout the first term, we reinforce spectroscopic interpretation on lecture tests and as a normal analysis of reaction products. The first lab of the second semester for the organic chemistry students involves a dehydration of cyclohexanol. During this lab we require students to obtain IR and NMR ( 1 H and 13 C) spectra of the cyclohexanol and of the cyclohexene formed. This experience allows the organic chemistry students to learn to operate an NMR spectrometer for the first time.During the week in which organic chemistry students are performing the dehydration of cyclohexanol we present an introduction to molecular spectroscopy to the general chemistry students. Although this topic is not typically covered in general chemistry textbooks, we introduce molecular spectroscopy after our textbook chapters on molecular bonding. Providing experimental evidence for molecular structure helps reinforce the abstract subject of molecular bonding. From IR spectroscopy students see evidence of the effect of a double bond on the vibrational spectra, noting that the stronger double bond has a greater vibrational frequency than does a single bond. We present 1 ...

Suggested laboratories for the second semester of a general chemistry course that uses a guided inquiry approach toward descriptive chemistry.

Spreadsheets are high-level programming languages.1 Though not as broadly applicable nor as customizable as traditional languages, they are much more accessible to the average computer user. "Spreadsheets in Physical Chemistry" contains reviewed and classroom-tested Lotus 1-2-3 and SuperCalc IV templates (spreadsheet "programs") and handouts that are designed to be used in physical chemistry courses.These materials and the techniques they embody will also be useful for chemists and students in many other areas.