Powerful tutorials are to be found at the Betha Chemistry Tutorial Site at Ohio State University. Their special power is the human voice: http://chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/. The three tutorials using Java applets can be accessed in an audio version (Shockwave) or no-audio version (text). Here you can hear the difference. Try one of the sections on the gas laws--What's behind the ideal gas law?--at http://chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/nealGasLaw/fr2.2.html. The voice-over explains the meaning of the gas law, and an interactive graphic also allows the student to change the gas-law variables and see the result. Compare this with the no-audio version; the power of the voice is evident. By the way, go to http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/ to get a free copy of Shockwave.

Figure 1. Ideal Gas from Ohio State University

George McBane, D. Neal McDonald, Zil Lilas, Midori Kitagawa-DeLeon, and Sherwin J. Singer are the team members for two of the tutorials: Gas Laws at http://chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/nealGasLaw/ and Balancing Chemical Equations at http://chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/nealChemBal/. The team members for the third tutorial, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics at http://chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/qm/, are Neal McDonald, Midori Kitagawa-DeLeon, Anna Timasheva, Heath Hanlin, Zil Lilas, and Sherwin J. Singer. This Introduction will be just right for those lucky students who ask the all-important question: Why? Go to Section #3B, titled Both a particle and a wave??! ( http://chemistry.ohio-state.edu/betha/qm/3bfr.html). Here the student can tune the mass and energy of a quantum particle and see the difference between classical and quantum-mechanical motion. All this is accompanied by a voice-over which encourages the student to explore the subject.

Another site with excellent pedagogical use of the voice is A CHEMISTRY 200 RESOURCE from Mark Bausch at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale ( http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/projects/chem200/audiolinks.html). This site is keyed to Martin Silberberg's textbook, CHEMISTRYThe Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, but the idea could be adapted to any textbook. A voice-over explains selected sample problems throughout the text. For all those students who did not know how to approach a word problem, missed the lecture, or whose notes did not help them remember how to work the problemthis is a great idea. Go to http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/projects/chem200/7.4.ram to hear a calm voice explain how to solve one of the textbook sample problems concerning the Uncertainty Principle. Again, a plug-in is needed: a free copy of RealAudio or RealPlayer is at http://www.real.com/help/index.html.

Part of our responsibility as teachers is to instruct our students in proper pronunciation of the subject matter. In chemistry, this starts with the periodic chart. Did you ever hear your students stumble over the element Y (yttrium)? Go to the Periodic Chart mega-site, WebElements at http://www.webelements.com/ by Mark Winter from the University of Sheffield, England. Select the element Y from the Periodic Chart and you will be taken to http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/media/snds-description /Y.rm. Clicking on one of the sound icons produces a male or female voice pronouncing the word yttrium. Near the bottom of the screen, another sound icon will also reward you with a vocal description of the properties of the element Y.

Figure 2. WebElements from the University of Sheffield

Now let's go to one last site for another use of the voice on the Web. "He was the pre-eminent scientist in a century dominated by science. The touchstones of the erathe Bomb, the Big Bang, quantum physics, and electronicsall bear his imprint." With these words, Time Magazine introduces its selection of Albert Einstein (1879­1955) as the Person of the Century ( http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/poc/home.html). The Time site is a starting place for a wealth of information about Einstein, science, and our world today. Send your students here to find essays about Einstein ranging from Stephen Hawking's essay, A Brief History of Relativity ( http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/a_brief_history_of_rela6a.html), to Roger Rosenblatt's essay, The Age of Einstein ( http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/poc/magazine/the_age_of_einstein8a.html). Engage your students in discussions about the Runners-Up: Franklin Roosevelt, the Statesman; and Mohandas Ghandi, the Soldier of Peace; as well as many other nominees brought to us on the Time Web site. And how can you make Einstein real to your students? Have them listen to his own words in his voice at http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/poc/einstein_audio.html.

World Wide Web Addresses

Betha Chemistry Tutorial Site

1. Gas Laws
2. What's behind the Ideal Gas Law?
3. Balancing Chemical Equations
4. Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

Both a particle and a wave??!
A CHEMISTRY 200 RESOURCE
WebElements
Time Magazine's Person of the Century
A Brief History of Relativity by Stephen Hawking
The Age of Einstein by Roger Rosenblatt
Einstein's Own Words

Free Plug-Ins
RealAudio or RealPlayer
Shockwave

access date for all sites: January 2000