The CATALYST Curriculum Project
John W. Moore University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1396
Note:	This issue is out of print.
Both of the programs in this issue have been produced as part of the CATALYST Curriculum project and are labeled as such. CATALYST is an acronym for computers and technology applied to lecture/laboratory yield superior teaching, and the project is bringing together a great many persons who can help make computers and technology make a real difference in the chemistry curriculum. CATALYST aims to implement the ideas espoused in the FIPSE Lectures (J. Chem. Educ., 1989, 66, 3-19.) by incorporating computers and other technology into the chemistry curriculum at whatever places and in whatever ways are maximally effective. It is to be expected that this will require considerable experimentation and a fair amount of backtracking from mistaken pathways, but overall the potential gains in student learning and satisfaction are well worth the expenditure of effort. Initially CATALYST is concentrating on introductory chemistry courses with special emphasis on the laboratory. Development of CATALYST software and curriculum is being carried out at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at The University of Texas at Austin by project fellows from around the country. These fellows then return to their home institutions to continue to develop and adapt the CATALYST materials to their own local situations. CATALYST Fellows to date include: Alton J. Banks, North Carolina State University; Steven Gammon, University of Idaho; John C. Kotz, SUNY Oneonta; Robert C. Rittenhouse, Walla Walla College; David Whisnant, Wofford College; and Paul F. Schatz, UW-Madison. CATALYST has been generously supported by the IBM Corporation by means of donations of equipment to both Texas and Wisconsin as well as to the institutions of CATALYST Fellows. IBM's support has enabled the computer/study rooms at both Wisconsin and Texas to be greatly expanded and has also provided computers, interfaces, probes, and software for development of laboratory experiments that involve the computer intimately in collection and analysis of data. Fellows have been able to obtain computers from IBM on a matching basis with those purchased locally and hence have been able to set up computer rooms in their home institutions. Therefore CATALYST developments will be tested and evaluated at all kinds of institutions across the country. Although they were not labeled as part of CATALYST at the time, many other programs published in JCE: Software have also been used in CATALYST curriculum development: Notebook and Spec20, in Vol. 4B, No. 1; PIRExS, in Vol. 3B, No. 1; The Acid-Base Package, in Vol. 2B, No. 2; and KC? Discoverer, in Vol. 1B, No. 1. All of these have been used with students at Wisconsin and/or Texas as part of the overall CATALYST experiment. During next year and beyond a great many more CATALYST developed and tested programs will be published in JCE: Software. In addition many existing programs are being revised and upgraded from DOS to Windows versions. Next year's issues in Series B will contain several such Windows programs. CATALYST Software Collection Eventually the CATALYST programs will be collected into packages and reissued separately. We anticipate the following CATALYST Collection packages will eventually be available: Volume I: Computer-Mediated Laboratories Volume II: Fundamental Principles and Practices Volume III: Descriptive Chemistry: Properties and Reactions Volume IV: Structure and Bonding in Atoms, Molecules, Solids, and Macromolecules Volume V: Chemical Equilibrium and Thermodynamics Volume VI: Chemical Kinetics and Reactivity Volume VII: Organic and Biochemistry Volume VIII: Industrial and Environmental Chemistry When it is complete, each of these is expected to contain from ten to 40 programs as well as ancillary videodisc (or CD or DVI) materials and written materials. Two major aims of the project are to make the laboratory more central to the curriculum and to reduce the size and length of textbooks while increasing their readability, both of which imply development of new kinds of written materials as well as the more obvious technology-based materials. Anyone who is interested in developing software, video materials, or other technology-based tools for chemistry teaching is invited to participate actively in the CATALYST project. We currently have support for fellows to develop new laboratory materials and to develop videodisc-based materials, and we are very much interested in receiving applications from persons who have ideas along these lines. To become a CATALYST Fellow you must apply to our headquarters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Write to me for application materials and they will be sent to you. We are particularly interested in your plans for projects that would complement what CATALYST is already doing.

First Published: October 1991

Citation: Moore, J. W. The CATALYST Curriculum Project J. Chem. Educ. Software 4B2

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