General Chemistry I
Lecture and Laboratory

General Chemistry I at the State University of New York Onondaga Community College (SUNY-OCC) was taught in a split fashion in which lecture and laboratory were separate courses. There were three variations to the General Chemistry courses provided at the college: Introductory Chemistry (CHE 121), Basic Chemistry for Health Science I (CHE 151), and General Chemistry I (CHE 171). This applied to both the lecture and laboratory courses.

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During my first semester (Spring 2023) as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences at SUNY-OCC, I was tasked with teaching two CHE 121 laboratory sections and one CHE 171 lecture section. This was my first time teaching collegiate chemistry outside of my experience tutoring General Chemistry I and II at SUNY-ESF as an undergraduate student. This was also my first time teaching a chemistry laboratory course at the collegiate level.

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The Introductory Chemistry course (CHE 121) was designed as an introductory chemistry course for students who did not have a chemistry background in college or in high school, as well as non-science majors. It provided basic chemistry background for students who were to continue onto General Chemistry I (CHE 171). The laboratory section (CHE 121L) accompanied the CHE 121 lecture. The laboratory illustrated experiments that emphasized concepts, principles, and techniques covered in the CHE 121 lecture. These topics included: 

• Significant Figures

• Mass, Volume, and Density Measurements

• Graphing and Analysis of Data

• Separation of the Components in a Mixture with Sublimation and Dissolution

• Double Replacement Reactions and Solubility of Substances

• Determination of the Empirical Formula of a Compound

• Mole Ratios and Reaction Stoichiometry

• Acid Base Titration via the Standardization of Sodium Hydroxide

• Molecular Geometry

• Ideal Gas Laws

• Relationship Between Acids, Bases, and pH

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For my first two CHE 121L courses, I worked with several demographics of students. This included students  that were underclassmen working on their Associate degrees from SUNY-OCC and students that were planning to transfer to a four year college instead of receiving an Associate degree. I also worked with upperclassmen from SUNY-ESF using the CHE 121L course to fulfill their chemistry laboratory requirement at SUNY-ESF.  Additionally, one of my CHE 121L sections consisted mostly of "P-TECH" students. P-TECH, or Pathways in Technology Early College High School, was a program that provided high school students with the opportunity to work toward their high school diploma and Associate degree simultaneously. High school students in my CHE 121L section had a specialization in science and engineering, with several of them having aspirations to pursue Electrical Engineering at Syracuse University at the end of their program at SUNY-OCC. The laboratory class sizes were mixed, with one section containing six students and the other thirteen students.

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The General Chemistry I Lecture Course (CHE 171) was designed as a collegiate-level chemistry course (akin to those taken at other colleges for Bachelor of Science degrees) and required students to have either Regent's high school chemistry or the CHE 121 Introduction to Chemistry course background prior to enrollment. This course introduced students to topics such as atomic structure, chemical bonding, stoichiometry, kinetic molecular theory and the states of matter, thermochemistry, molecular geometry, and gas laws. This included materials covering the following content: 

• Classification and Properties of Matter

• Significant Figures and Uncertainty in Measurement

• Dimensional Analysis

• Atomic Theory of Matter and Atomic Structure

• Atomic Weight and Atomic Mass Numbers

• The Periodic Table

• Electronegativity

• Molecules and Molecular Compounds

• Ions and Ionic Compounds

• Chemical Equations and Types of Reactions

• Molecular Weights, Avogadro's Number, and the Mole

• Empirical and Molecular Formulas

• Balancing Chemical Equations and Limiting Reactants in Reactions

• Acids, Bases, and Aqueous Solutions

• Precipitation, Neutralization, and Oxidation-Reduction Reactions

• Concentrations of Solutions and Solution Stoichiometry

• Thermochemistry Regarding Energy and Enthalpy (Including Enthalpies of Reaction, Enthalpies of Formation, and Bond Enthalpies)

• Hess's Law

• The Wave Behavior of Light and Matter

• Line Spectra and the Bohr Model

• Quantum Mechanics and Atomic Orbitals

• Electron Configurations

• Trends in the Period Table (Effective Nuclear Charge, Atom and Ion Size, Ionization Energy, Electron Affinity)

• Lewis Symbols, the Octet Rule, and Lewis Structures

• Ionic and Covalent Bonding

• Bond Polarity and Electronegativity

• Resonance Structures

• Exceptions to the Octet Rule

• Strength and Length of Covalent Bonds

• Molecular Shapes and Molecular Polarity

• The VSEPR Model

• Covalent Bonding and Orbital Overlap

• Hybrid Orbitals and Multiple Bonds

• Characteristics of Gases and the Gas Laws

• The Ideal-Gas Equation

• Gas Mixtures and Partial Pressures

• The Kinetic-Molecular Theory of Gases

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For my first semester of the CHE 171 course, I worked mostly with underclassmen pursuing degrees at SUNY-OCC or looking to transfer into various higher education programs, such as four year colleges and education tracks in medical fields. For some students, this was their first collegiate science class. The course consisted of twenty-six students. 

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For these courses, there was a set of lecture notes and laboratories that were utilized across each of the course sections that I received as guidance for teaching the material. This was to ensure each section of the lecture and laboratory learned the same chemistry content needed to move forward in their degree programs. Lecture students also purchased or received a copy of these lecture notes to fill in throughout the semester. Laboratory sheets were available for students to print and read prior to attending the laboratory sessions. Ideally, the lecture and laboratory topics were designed to overlap, however it was sometimes difficult to align lecture content and laboratory content, requiring additional teaching of topics in the laboratory sections. 

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Overall, my teaching collegiate chemistry at SUNY-OCC was an exciting and challenging endeavor. I was honored to receive the opportunity to teach science at the college level and am excited for my reappointment to teach additional classes in the upcoming semesters. There were many things that I did well and many things that I needed to improve upon in future iterations of teaching these courses. Summaries and reflections of each semester of teaching can be found below.