[ale] [OT] Software and file formats for on-line/correspondence chemical education

[Ron Frazier]

I AM glad that I can use a calculator rather than a slide rule!  8-)

Ron

On 1/22/2012 8:51 PM, Sean Kilpatrick wrote:
> This reminds me of a fight my son had with a math prof in an advanced
> calculus class -- diff e if memory serves.  On one test question, my son,
> Douglas, had simply put down the answer, without showing any work.  He was
> downgraded by the grad. asst. grader for failure to show work. So he
> complained about the grade to the prof, saying, in effect, "this is a math
> class! All that should count is the correct answer.  If the answer is
> wrong, then, maybe, I get credit for showing the work.  But the answer was
> obvious. No need to show the work."
> Prof. agreed and fixed the grade.
>
> In mathematics, what counts is the correct answer.  Nobody should care how
> you got the answer -- as long as you didn't cheat.
>
> Now unit conversions get ugly in chemistry and physics.  Especially in the
> "good old days" when all we had were slide rules.  How to keep things
> straight was pounded into us in high school classes -- more than 50 years
> ago. God knows what students are being taught in high school physics and
> chemistry classes today.!  At least they do not have to learn how to use a
> slide rule. :) Or an HP programable calculator!
> Of course, I didn't have to learn about quarks, meons and a bunch of other
> sub-atomic (theoretical) particles in high school either.
>
> Sean
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sunday, January 22, 2012 05:59:34 pm Ron Frazier wrote:
>    
>> The point was to teach the students unit conversions, and how to solve
>> such a problem by completely documenting it and providing appropriate
>> ratios and conversion factors at each step and writing down each step
>> so someone else could follow it, or grade it.  So, we convert trips to
>> miles, miles to feet, feet to inches, inches to bills, etc.  The point
>> was not to solve the problem in 5 minutes in your head, in which case
>> they get a zero for the part where they are required to show their
>> work.
>>
>> Ron
>>
>> On 1/22/2012 5:40 PM, Drifter wrote:
>>      
>>> You've got to be kidding.  It really took more than 90 seconds to
>>> solve this problem?
>>>
>>> If a dollar bill is 6" long, then 2 to the foot.
>>> at 5,280 feet to the mile that is 10,650 bills to the mile. (btm)
>>> tack 5 zeros on to the end gets you to the moon: 1,065,000,000 bills.
>>> double that to get the round trip total: 2,130,000,000 bills.
>>>
>>> My opinion of DeVry students just took a significant hit.
>>>
>>> Sean
>>>
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -------------------------
>>>
>>>        
>>>> On 1/21/12 2:43 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
>>>>          
>>>>> I was once teaching a basic math class at DeVry.  I spent most of a
>>>>> class period and filled up two white boards doing this exact type
>>>>> of conversions.  My hypothetical question to the class was, how
>>>>> many dollar bills (assuming 6" long) would it take to reach end to
>>>>> end to and from the moon if the moon is 100,000 mi. away (I don't
>>>>> really know how far away the moon is).  It was quite interesting,
>>>>> and the example, which I made up on the spur of the moment, turned
>>>>> out to be a bit harder and longer to solve that I thought.
>>>>> However, I think I made my point of how critical it is to keep
>>>>> track of all the units at each point and write your ratios in the
>>>>> right order, so if you need inches / ft., you don't write ft. /
>>>>> inch.  We finally got the answer, using no automated conversions
>>>>> on the calculator at all.  I was rather proud of the example, but
>>>>> I think the students were glad when the bell rang.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>>
>>>>> Ron
>>>>>
>>>>> On 1/21/2012 10:37 AM, Tom Freeman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>
>>>>>            
>>>>>> To continue with a sequence of conversions:
>>>>>>                         _75.2 in_ = _?_ cm_
>>>>>>
>>>>>> convert in ->     cm      1 in       2.54 cm  ===>     191.008 cm
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                         _191.008_cm   = _?_m_
>>>>>>
>>>>>> convert cm ->     m      100 cm         1 m   ===>     1.91008 m
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                         _1.91008_m_  = _?_Km_
>>>>>>
>>>>>> convert m ->     Km      1000 m        1 Km   ===>     0.00191008 Km
>>>>>>              

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
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Ron Frazier

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