Notice to Instructors

 Starting July 12, 2012, the ChemReview lessons will be available through the website of the college division of W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. Until that date, the ChemReview books and downloads will continue to be available on this website.

 Information is provided below on topics including new content for both Preparatory Chemistry and college General Chemistry, availability for 2012 summer courses and 2012 AP Summer Packets, and 2012 Fall ordering.

 First: Thank You

When we began this project began seven years ago, we intended to post a few instructor-designed worksheets that students had found especially helpful in learning to solve calculations.  Over time, the 15 worksheets morphed into 1,250 pages of general chemistry and 600 pages of prep chem materials.

 Our goal became to design homework that would move learning the math of chemistry to study time, to allow more demonstrations, discussions, and guided inquiry during lecture time. We believe that active learning, guided by skilled instructors, is essential in developing students’ conceptual understanding and motivating them to engage in science.

 We were also aware that in the past decade, state K–12 standards in mathematics have led, for a variety of reasons, to decreased attention in K-12 math classes to the computation skills needed in chemistry. With more responsibility for teaching the practical math—fractions, exponential notation, logarithms, and equations—transferred to chemistry instructors, we hoped that our tutorials could help our colleagues by providing homework that reviewed and reinforced needed math skills.

 As authors, we cannot imagine anything in our work lives more gratifying than helping students learn science and assisting the instructors who guide them.  The ChemReview website now averages more than 25,000 visits a month. The notes we have received over the years from students and instructors have warmed our hearts. We have especially appreciated the improvement in student scores on the ACS and AP exams reported by instructors experimenting with these lessons.

But, we have not always handled the mechanics of this effort well.  Frequently we have been reminded of how difficult it can be to edit our own content.  And, although instructors have reported the highest levels of student success when using the printed books rather than online lessons, we learned that publishing is complex. After seven years and a five-figure net loss to our family budgets from printing and other costs, our more-than-supportive spouses have asked that we put a reasonable limit on our time and their funding of the authors’ crusade to help more students succeed in STEM majors.

During the past year, W. W. Norton has made a considerable investment in the ChemReview lessons. As a result of critical reviews by dozens of teaching faculty, the lessons forthcoming in July will be at a professional publishing standard that we, on our own, were not able to achieve.

We could never have come this far without the comments, corrections, and encouragement of the instructors and students who have experimented with the beta-versions during the past seven years. Thank you.

 Content Upgrades

 The current online lessons cover most of the mathematical topics of college-level general chemistry. However, they cover fundamental topics at a pace that is slow and methodical. In the new editions, the content has been divided to two parts.

·        A book and ebook for Preparatory Chemistry and GOB chemistry, with topics and a pace appropriate for a course to prepare students for college general chemistry.  WWNorton will publish the First Edition of this text.   

 ·        A book and ebook for college General Chemistry, which includes General Chemistry calculations and reviews fundamentals from introductory chemistry at a faster pace.

Additional information on these two texts is below.

 Summer Courses and AP Summer Packets

 ·        Books for purchase and downloads of the current lessons will be available on this website until July 12.

·        After July 12, the versions available will be the updated Norton editions and will need to be ordered via the publisher.

 Copyright

 Instructors may direct students to the free downloads on the ChemReview website until July 6. Beginning with the Fall 2012 school term, use of the lessons will be governed by the rules for the educational use of copyrighted materials. Lessons for class and student use should be obtained through the Norton website.

 Fall 2012: Ordering Procedures, ISBNs, and Pricing

 Information will be posted on the Norton website shortly.  For immediate information or questions, contact Erik Fahlgren, science editor: efahlgren@wwnorton.com

 For Preparatory and GOB, and High School Honors Chemistry

 We recommend that you order after July 12 to secure the Norton edition of Calculations in Chemistry: An Introduction. This single volume, with 22 chapters, is designed for use in a one-semester college course in GOB or preparatory chemistry, or a one-year high school course in college preparatory chemistry. The table of contents may be viewed here.

 This 550-page text will be available as a paperback, as a paperback with selected chapters, and as an ebook.

 For Use in General Chemistry or AP Chemistry

 For general chemistry, the full 39 chapters (1,250 pages) of lessons are available as three paperbacks (Chapters 1–16, 17–27, and 28–39) or as a 39-chapter ebook.  The table of contents for these lessons is here. They will continue to be available on this website until July 12.  These General Chemistry lessons for 2012-13 are a “preliminary edition:”  a beta-version that has not been fully reviewed.  It is available through the Norton “Custom Print” website.

These general/AP lessons are similar to the current online lessons, but the review of fundamentals has been accelerated, and the topic order and detail has been modified to be a better match for most general chemistry sequences.

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