Developing an approach for teaching and learning about Lewis structures

ABSTRACT

This study explores first-year university students’ reasoning as they learn to draw Lewis structures. We also present a theoretical account of the formal procedure commonly taught for drawing these structures. Students’ discussions during problem-solving activities were video recorded and detailed analyses of the discussions were made through the use of practical epistemology analysis (PEA). Our results show that the formal procedure was central for drawing Lewis structures, but its use varied depending on situational aspects. Commonly, the use of individual steps of the formal procedure was contingent on experiences of chemical structures, and other information such as the characteristics of the problem given. The analysis revealed a number of patterns in how students constructed, checked and modified the structure in relation to the formal procedure and the situational aspects. We suggest that explicitly teaching the formal procedure as a process of constructing, checking and modifying might be helpful for students learning to draw Lewis structures. By doing so, the students may learn to check the accuracy of the generated structure not only in relation to the octet rule and formal charge, but also to other experiences that are not explicitly included in the formal procedure.     

Flipping the Business Information Literacy Classroom: Redesign,Implementation, and Assessment of a Case Study

A team of librarians at Purdue University transformed a business information literacy course from a traditional lecture, 40-student class into multiple sections of a flipped, 70-student classroom to meet the request that the successful course be required for all 500 undergraduate students. Scaling up required the adoption of flipped learning techniques for better utilization of library teaching resources. This case study provides key insights for others implementing credit classes or integrating similar content into one-shots or embedded work. It also describes the assessed results determined through student feedback (focus groups) and student performance (pre/post-tests).     

Discovering Music: Small-Scale,Web-Scale,Facets, and Beyond

In this presentation, two music librarians addressed the issues related to the discovery of library music resources. Rebecca Belford talked about the Music Library Association’s “Music Discovery Requirements” (MLA MDR) document, and how it applies to some contexts. Tracey Snyder then described the incorporation of MLA MDR into the development of a specific discovery interface. The presenters identified some of the challenges characteristic of music resources and ways in which those challenges may be met, reasoning that a tool capable of handling music will be capable of handling most things in a general collection.     

BRAIN ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSLATION BETWEEN GRAPHICAL AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATIONS OF FUNCTIONS IN GENERALLY GIFTED AND EXCELLING IN MATHEMATICS ADOLESCENTS

In this study, we examine the impact and the interplay of general giftedness (G) and excellence in mathematics (EM) on high school students’ mathematical performance associated with translations from graphical to symbolic representations of functions, as reflected in cortical electrical activity (by means of ERP—event-related potentials—methodology). We report on findings of comparative data analysis based on 75 right-handed male high school students (16?–?18 years old) divided into four research groups designed by a combination of EM and G factors. Effects of EM factor appeared at the behavioral and electrophysiological levels. The fifth group of participants included 9 students with extraordinary mathematical abilities (S-MG: super mathematically gifted). We found that in EM participants, the G factor has no impact on the performance associated with translation between representations of the functions. The highest overall electrical activity is found in excelling in mathematics students who are not identified as generally gifted (NG-EM students). This increased electrical activity can be an indicator of increased cognitive load in this group of students. We identified accumulative and unique characteristics of S-MG at the behavioral and electrophysiological levels. We explain the findings by the nature of the tasks used in the study. We argue that a combination of the ERP techniques along with more traditional educational research methods enables obtaining reliable measures on the mental processing involved in learning mathematics and mathematical problem solving.     

数独世界冠军专栏

正三届数独世界冠军托马斯·辛德(Thomas Snyder)为《大学生》读者们专门设计数独题。辛德曾三次获得数独世界冠军,五次夺得美国数独冠军,他的专业是化学,本科毕业于加州理工学院,在哈佛大学取得博士学位,现是斯坦福大学生物工程学助理研究员。辛德爱好数独,用艺术手法设计数独题。请看题:     

Technology

Thomas S. Snyder, General Editor, THE AIRFORCE COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND: PROVIDING THE REIGNS OF COMMAND, 1938-1981, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY (Scott Airforce Base, Illinois: AFCC Office of History, 1981---no price given, paper)

F.W. Lancaster, LIBRARIES AND LIBRARIANS IN AN AGE OF ELECTRONICS (Information Resources Press, 1700 North Moore Street, Arlington, VA 22209---$24.60)

COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Proceedings of the Fourth National Conference on Communications Technology in Education and Training (Information Dynamics, Inc., 111 Claybrook Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20902---price not given)

Alternate Media Center (New York University School of the Arts, 725 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003)

Martin C.J. Elton, TELECONFERENCING: NEW MEDIA FOR BUSINESS MEETINGS (American Management Associations, 135 West 50th Street, New York, N.Y. 10020---$10.00, paper)

VIDEO DATA BOOK: THE ANNUAL COMPILATION OF KEY STATISTICS OF THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY (Television Digest, 1836 Jefferson Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036---$125.00, $95.00 to subscribers to TV Digest oublications, paper)

Herbert B. Michaelson, HOW TO WRITE AND PUBLISH ENGINEERING PAPERS AND REPORTS (ISI Press, 3501 Market Street, Yniveristy City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104---$17.95/$11.95)     

Invitation to transcendence: The book of revelation

The author of Revelation, acting as a rhetorical change‐agent, created an experience of transcendence for his readers during the course of the book by discerning in history a divine plan and showing the proper place of his readers in that plan. His invitation to experience transcendence strategically compensated for an apparent gap in the early Christian worldview.     

数独世界冠军专栏

正三届数独世界冠军托马斯·辛德(Thomas Snyder)为《大学生》读者们专门设计数独题。辛德曾三次获得数独世界冠军,五次夺得美国数独冠军,他的专业是化学,本科毕业于加州理工学院,在哈佛大学取得博士学位,现是斯坦福大学生物工程学助理研究员。辛德爱好数独,用艺术手法设计数独题。请看题:     

数独世界冠军专栏

正三届数独世界冠军托马斯·辛德(Thomas Snyder)为《大学生》读者们专门设计数独题。辛德曾三次获得数独世界冠军,五次夺得美国数独冠军,他的专业是化学,本科毕业于加州理工学院,在哈佛大学取得博士学位,现是斯坦福大学生物工程学助理研究员。     

Historiography of biomedicine: "bio," "medicine," and in between

History of biomedicine is a hybrid domain, intersecting with many other scholarly disciplines. From the 1970s, historians who investigated recent developments in medicine increasingly shared the approaches, presuppositions, and methods of inquiry of historians and sociologists of science and technology. One reason is that the increasing reliance of medicine on technologies, instruments, and drugs makes the demarcation between "medicine," "science," and "industry" more difficult. Another is the "practice turn" in the history of science, which gave greater attention to the ways scientists and physicians work. The impressive achievements of historians who applied these new approaches came, however, at a cost. The neglect of an earlier generation of historians of medicine may have limited more recent ambitions for understanding health and disease in society. Closer links with historians of science and technology and sociologists of science may have blurred the specificity of medicine as a domain grounded in the distinction between the normal and the pathological and lessened scholars' interest in "the clinic" as a unique site of the production of knowledge.