This course will cover the topics of a full year, two semester General Chemistry course. We will use a free on-line textbook, Concept Development Studies in Chemistry, available via Rice’s Connexions project. The fundamental concepts in the course will be introduced via the Concept Development Approach developed at Rice University. In this approach, we will develop the concepts you need to know from experimental observations and scientific reasoning rather than simply telling you the concepts and then asking you to simply memorize or apply them. So why use this approach? One reason is that most of us are inductive learners, meaning that we like to make specific observations and then generalize from there. Many of the most significant concepts in Chemistry are counter-intuitive. When we see where those concepts come from, we can more readily accept them, explain them, and apply them. A second reason is that scientific reasoning in general and Chemistry reasoning in particular are inductive processes. This Concept Development approach illustrates those reasoning processes. A third reason is that this is simply more interesting! The structure and reactions of matter are fascinating puzzles to be solved by observation and reasoning. It is more fun intellectually when we can solve those puzzles together, rather than simply have the answers to the riddles revealed at the outset. Recommended Background: The class can be taken by someone with no prior experience in chemistry. However, some prior familiarity with the basics of chemistry is desirable as we will cover some elements only briefly. For example, a prior high school chemistry class would be helpful. Suggested Readings: Readings will be assigned from the on-line textbook “Concept Development Studies in Chemistry”, available via Rice’s Connexions project. In addition, we will suggest readings from any of the standard textbooks in General Chemistry. A particularly good free on-line resource is Dickerson, Gray, and Haight, "Chemical Principles, 3rd Edition". Links to these two texts will be available in the Introduction module.
JM
I got the general knowledge on basics of chemistry and the application on additional to the vapour liquid equilibrium and the phase changes.
EE
The calculations questions need practice questions within the material rather than just in the assessment components otherwise excellent.
M
This course is the best course I have ever had online in General Chemistry, the only drawback is without credit and I cannot get a certificate for completing it.
DS
I enjoyed every minute of this course and I have learnt so much. Thank you Coursera for this opportunity. I'll definitely recommend this course to my friends and colleagues.
DM
The course was very helpful to understand the concepts in chemistry and their applications. All the lectures were amazing. Thank you.
MM
This is an outstanding course. The concepts are explained clearly, and the problem sets tie everything together.
EA
Thanks for this training general chemistery concept I requierd mor courses semiller to advance exciperiance .
SI
This course has been quite amazing. I hope to apply it in my further knowledge of concept in chemistry.
TM
Lectures are great and material is comprehensive. The only problem is there is a multiplicity of errors in the questions.
MM
I enjoyed the course very much and learn many concepts throught th evideo lectures and evaluated my self through quizes. I like the way of teaching by the faculty.
CS
Excellent course, pleasant to listen to. Definitely improved my understanding of chemistry.
BM
DEMANDI would inform you that i wish to receive my certificate according to general chemistry :concept development and application, then your feed back will rejoice more thank you.
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DEMAND
I would inform you that i wish to receive my certificate according to general chemistry :concept development and application, then your feed back will rejoice more thank you.
If I'd had access to this material when I first failed freshman chemistry 40 years ago, I probably wouldn't have failed. Kudos to Dean Hutchinson for bringing us his innovative approach.
Lectures are great and material is comprehensive. The only problem is there is a multiplicity of errors in the questions.
I am using this as a review of General Chemistry to prepare for the MCAT and it is so helpful! The approach when I took it during class was very rote-memorization-heavy and I was worse off for it. Prof. Hutchinson lays things out in a very logical way and all the learning is based on key questions that a curious learner would likely find themselves asking; all the "why" questions you might have while learning Gen Chem are answered and not brushed off with a "just memorize it." It does probably help some that I was exposed to this material once already but I am retaining so much more than when I took this course in college or even than when I was going through the ExamKrackers MCAT Chemistry book. So much gratitude!
This course and the accompanying textbook explain chemistry in a very simple, ground up way that I was able to easily understand.
This course should be a 5 Star course. It is challenging and requires effort. The lectures are well done but not up to the level of the quizzes. The book looks like an abandoned project. The errors and missed references to tables and equations from part one of the book to the other are too many.
Having said that, I have never learned so much about a topic. I attempted the problems in the book before I took the quiz. That makes a huge difference. A week covers 2-3 chapters in the book. I started to doing the each chapter's problems before moving on in the week. This made taking the quizzes a lot easier.
Overall I am very happy for having taken this course.
Very helpful course! Used it for MCAT prep. Professor is very interesting and the method he has developed is brillliant!!! Though there are some mistakes in quizes,and it became quite boring when the amount of math and equations had increased,I still loved it. Highly recommend this course to the ones who wants to UNDERSTAND the chemistry. It will be even better if you have some background from math and physics , can count logarithms and interpret the graphs well. Good luck! Thanks again to the Professor and the University!!!
Most excellent course. Professor Hutchinson's presentation of chemistry made the learning experience valuable and enjoyable. The course is planned well and delivered in a most professional way. It's apparent that a lot of work went into creating this course. The use of the split screen is a good technique that fully engages the learner, and following the concept development concept throughout the lectures provides a solid foundation for moving from one concept to another.
The minor negatives are the pdf file of the CDS material didn't always present correctly (especially tables, a common problem converting Word to pdf) and some of the chapter numbers didn't match ... but these are minor glitches and did not detract from the course itself.
I can't say enough good things about this course. I kept thinking how great it would be to attend Rice University and attend Professor Hutchinson's classes. It's quite evident that he loves teaching and it shows in his lectures. I look forward to any future courses offered by Professor Hutchinson and Rice University.
I thank the organizers for this well-structured Chemistry course. I was sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of information given but I guess this is due to the condensation process that had to be carried out in order to impart the contents in 11 weeks. Otherwise I would have appreciated to have more exercises resolved during the lessons and to get a sheet with all the formula used during the course...Thank you again.
I really enjoyed the Concept Development approach to the material. I wish more science courses were taught with this approach! Inductive learning is so much more intuitive. Dr. Hutchinson is an incredibly knowledgable, personable, and engaging professor. The videos are clear, succinct, and he reviews material from the previous video at the beginning of each new video so the course felt very well organized.
I enjoyed every minute of this course and I have learnt so much. Thank you Coursera for this opportunity. I'll definitely recommend this course to my friends and colleagues.
This is my first experience of Coursera, although a have done many other MOOCs. This is an excellent course. I studied chemistry many years ago and was looking for a course to revise some of the topics. The subject matter is at just the right level: challenging but not intimidating. The lectures are well structured and presented, and the background reading material (provided free of charge) is excellent.
A brilliant first impression, both of Coursera and the host University (Rice).
This course is very effective ,i am very happy as my subjects are regained by attending this exams.It helped very well.concept isvery clear and explanation is easy way .this course explain the student to learn chemistry concepts development study approach methods .i learned the moleculer theory and atomic structure,chemical reaction and chemical equalibrium.
I took this class as a chemistry review for my MCAT and really liked the concept development approach. As an undergraduate, I learned a lot of these concepts by memorization but never made the connections or the thorough understanding as I did after taking this course. Thanks!
I enjoyed the course very much and learn many concepts throught th evideo lectures and evaluated my self through quizes. I like the way of teaching by the faculty.
This course is the best course of general chemistry. The lectures were a little tough, however, I think I got intuitive understanding on chemistry. I deeply thank Prof. Hutchinson for his passionate Lectures. (If some minor misprints in quizzes are corrected, this course is worth more than five stars!)
Excellent choice of general chem topics. I used this course to review certain topics on the MCAT. The Acid-Base & equilibrium sections were very helpful. Prof. Hutchinson is a very engaging instructor. Aside from his detailed lectures, his notes were very clear and easy to follow.
Although I have studied chemistry in Hungary, but from this point of view of chemistry teaching was interesting. The demostration of perfomarnces was colorful, itemized and the two art of chemistry teaching could learn from each other.
I am enjoying the course. I appreciate the method the professor is using for the lectures. I am taking the course for the challenge of learning something new as I have not studied chemistry since my first year of college in 1958.
i enjoyed much and learns a lot on Chemistry. Thank You very much prof Hutchinson!