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Hypermedia and Chemistry
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Alton J. Banks
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8204 |
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This issue is out of print. |
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I remember the first time I saw KC? Discoverer (1) demonstrated on a PC. Here was a tool to permit students to rapidly access information about the elements in an almost painless fashion. Here was a tool to permit a teacher to ask all manner of what-if questions of his/her students without fear of eliciting groans and unwelcome glances. In short, here was the tool to permit students to explore the joys of the periodic table, to examine the richness of the chemistry contained therein, and to ask all kinds of questions, and all were accessed with the ease of a few straightforward keystrokes. Aw (Ann) Feng did a wonderful job with the PC version of KC? Discoverer. What more could one ask? Well, I did have this one slight problem! I had access to a Macintosh, but not to a PC. Feeling that there might be others in a similar situation, I pursued the idea of creating the Macintosh equivalent of KC? Fortunately, I knew Michael Farris, director of Media Services at Southwest Texas State University. Farris was familiar with HyperCard, and, following the description of my dilemma, he set about the task of creating such a program. The program in this issue is the result of his creativity and perseverance. When Farris asked for my feelings about what this program should be, I found myself describing two sides of a coin. On the one side, I wanted a tool to use in class. Having connected the Macintosh to an LCD panel (2), I wanted to be able to discuss with my students the periodic table--on the fly. In short, I wanted to be able to peek into the world of descriptive chemistry in a way that might encourage students to ask some what-if questions on their own. I wanted to be able to connect the symbolic world of numbers and words that we use to describe the elements with the reality of the information on The Periodic Table Videodisc (3). The program therefore had to communicate with a videodisc player. On the other side of the coin I wanted a tool to permit students having been intrigued by some combination of curiosity on their parts and cajoling on my part to explore independently. I think that Farris has done a good job in capturing this dual purpose. Farris has, in this program, attempted to capture the flexibility and spontaneity of hypermedia. You will discover that while viewing the screens (cards) on which properties of the elements are listed, you can easily move to a glossary containing the definitions for terms you might wish to explore. You, as a teacher, will be able to create lists of things that you might like to explore in class and to use these lists as points of departure for your lecture discussion. I think that you will find accessing The Periodic Table Videodisc is straightforward. Indeed you will find that you may use the built-in index of events on the videodisc, or with the remote controller feature you may wish to access certain frames on the videodisc in a way that others may not have foreseen. I hope that you will find this HyperCard stack to be as much fun to use as I have. I think that you will find it useful as a catalyst for many discussions. As issue editor of this volume of JCE: Software, I find myself in the position of having watched this piece of software from its inception to its birth. Obviously I heartily recommend it to you. Michael Farris has done a great job of producing a delightful piece of software. There is in every piece of software some feature that might have worked better or have been elaborated differently. I hope that you will convey these ideas to the Editor of JCE: Software. Literature Cited |
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Last Updated: April 26, 2001 Created: December 3, 1996 |
Created by: J. L. Holmes Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu |
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| © 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved. | |