Conceptual Questions and Challenge Problems

Many readers are trying to modify the way they teach and in so doing are trying to write new types of questions and problems. The Journal has a new online resource, the JCE Internet Conceptual Questions and Challenge Problems Web site, http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCEWWW/Resources/CQandChP/index.html .

The site is a source of questions and problems that can be used in teaching and assessing conceptual understanding and problem solving in chemistry. Here you can find a library of free-response and multiple-choice conceptual questions and challenge problems, tips for writing these questions and problems, and a discussion of types of concept questions. This site is intended to be a means of sharing conceptual questions and challenge problems among chemical educators. It will be as inclusive as possible, and to achieve this readers need to share their questions and alert the authors to references or Web sites.

The screen captures shown below should provide a feeling for what you will find when you visit the site. The authors, William R. Robinson and Susan C. Nurrenbern, welcome additions to the library of conceptual questions or other comments or suggestions. Contact them by email, fax, or regular mail. William R. Robinson and Susan C. Nurrenbern, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1393. Bill: phone: 765/494-5453; fax: 765/494-0239; email: wrrobin@purdue.edu. Sue: phone: 765/494-0823; fax: 765/494-0239; email: nurrenbe@purdue.edu. fax: 765/494-0239.

1998 Ford Foundation Fellowships

The National Research Council has announced the recipients of the 1998 fellowships for minority scholars. Three categories of fellowships were awarded: 50 to beginning graduate students, 33 to students writing their dissertations, and 28 to recent Ph.D. recipients. There were about 1,000 applicants. For information about the next competition contact the Fellowship Office of the National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418, via email at infofell@nas.edu, or at http://fellowships.nas.edu.

1998 Pre-Doctoral Fellows

Rafael Alcala, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chemical Engineering

Diego J. Díaz, Cornell University, Analytical Chemistry

Kanya Lynn Henderson, Colorado State University, Biochemistry

Félix Mario Rivas, State University of New York, Buffalo, Organic Chemistry

1998 Dissertation Fellows

Kristala Lanett Jones, Arizona State University, Chemical Engineering

1998 Postdoctoral Fellows

Edgardo Tabión Farinas, Yale University, Interdisciplinary Chemistry

Data Base of Online Courses

TeleEducation NB, a province-wide distributed distance learning network in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, has implemented an international online course database of more than 9,000 courses. The database includes public and private courses at all levels from more than 15 countries and includes only those courses that can be completed fully online.

Courses vary from graduate-level engineering offerings to simple "How to" courses. The database provides access to courses and programs leading to accredited degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Professional development and personal interest courses are also included.

Students can access course information by browsing subject areas or by searching specific fields. Hotlinks connect students directly to the delivering institutions. In the past year, there has been an exponential rise in the number of courses being offered online, from fewer than 2,000 in January 1998 to more than 10,000 in December 1998. It is expected that there will be more than 40,000 online courses by the year 2000. The TeleCampus Online Course Database provides students with a means of finding information on courses that meet their needs. The database can be accessed from TeleCampus at http://telecampus.edu.

Change in the Introductory Chemistry Course,
an Online Course

An online conference, Proposals for Change in the Introductory Chemistry Course, will take place from March 29 to April 10, 1999. The conference will be chaired by James N. Spencer, Chemistry Department, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604; j_spencer@acad.fandm.edu. While both process and content need to be considered in making changes, this conference will be limited to a discussion of content. It will take the approach that if we begin to examine the current content and how and why certain topics came to be considered as essential for the course, we may be able to approach a common curriculum so that the process of how to best to implement it may then be developed.

Stephen J. Hawkes of Oregon State University compiled suggestions for the content of general chemistry and served as leader of the Zero Base Course discussion group for the Task Force on the General Chemistry Curriculum. The goal of the zero base approach is a detailed curriculum in which topics are developed so that students understand the phenomena considered necessary for the course. This analysis requires that the principles that should be in the course be identified, that those not necessary be removed, and perhaps additional principles be added. This online conference will list more than 100 proposals compiled from many viewpoints. Proposals are worded as debatable propositions to engender serious discussion. After discussion, amendment, deletion, extension, and some consensus, the proposals will be distributed to the chemistry community in various forms. Future discussions are also planned. The CONFCHEM World Wide Web site has the URL http://www.chem.vt.edu/confchem/.

The March and April session is free to all Internet users. To subscribe to the CONFCHEM Listserv send the message:

SUBSCRIBE CONFCHEM your-first-and-last-name
to
LISTSERV@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU

X-ray Structure Solution Manual

Allen Hunter announces the release of the second edition of his lab manual for introductory diffraction methods courses. It was written as a step-by-step guide to solving routine crystal structures for crystallographic novices and is entitled "Allen Hunter's Youngstown State University X-ray Structure Analysis Lab Manual: A Beginner's Introduction". The manual has been developed in an undergraduate course that enrolls a broad mixture of chemists, engineers, geologists, and biologists. It is optimized for use with the SHELXTL suite of programs but should prove useful to those using other structure solution packages as well. This edition has been reviewed at twelve sites and will be available for general use in January 1999. The lab manual is available without charge as a .pdf file to academic users, provided that each copy is registered and users inform the author about how it is used in their teaching. Those interested in obtaining a copy should contact the author at adhunter@cc.ysu.edu.

Proposal Deadlines

National Science Foundation
Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

• Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) June 7, 1999
• NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP)
• Preliminary proposals, Track 1 May 1, 1999
• Formal proposals, Track 1 September 1, 1999

For further information about NSF DUE programs consult the DUE Web site at http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/EHR/DUE/start.htm or contact the DUE Information Center; phone: 703/306-1666; email: undergrad@nsf.gov.

The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

• Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program:
  November 16, 1998
• Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program:
  July 1, 1999
• New Faculty Awards Program: May 14, 1999
• Faculty Start-up Grants for Undergraduate Institutions: May 14, 1999
• Scholar/Fellow Program for Undergraduate Institutions: July 1, 1999
• Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences: July 15, 1999
• Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry: February 26, 1999

Further information may be obtained from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., 555 Madison Avenue, Suite 1305, New York, NY 10022; phone: 212/753-1760; email: admin@dreyfus.org; www: http://www.dreyfus.org/

Research Corporation

• Cottrell College Science Awards: May 15 and November 15
• Cottrell Scholars: First regular business day in September
• Partners in Science: December 1 (the final year for this program is summer 1999)
• Research Opportunity Awards: May 1 and October 1
• Research Innovation Awards: May 1

Further information may be obtained from Research Corporation, 101 North Wilmot Road, Suite 250, Tucson, AZ 85711-3332; phone: 520/571-1111; fax: 520/571-1119; email: awards@rescorp.org; www:http://www.rescorp.org