Since I did not have the textbook that I assume accompanies the CD, I cannot comment on how well the CD follows the text. To run the CD, you must install it on your computer. I didn’t like that. If the school has not updated my computer in a while, I am usually cramped for space on the hard drive. In the computer labs on campus, students are not allowed to install software. I installed the CD on a 266 MHz K6 computer with 64 MB of RAM and a 6 GB hard drive running Windows 2000. The installation was straightforward. (The README file on the CD indicates that it also installs on Macintosh computer, which was verified on an iMac with OS 9.1 and a Power Macintosh G3 with OS 8.1.) The K6 computer was only capable of 800 × 600 pixel screen size on the monitor. The CD presentation was made for video with a greater number of pixels because the entire presentation could not be viewed on my monitor and I was not able to pan to the regions off the screen.

I must say that I enjoyed the CD. Some sections would ask you to do a calculation and type in the result. I think that this is one of the strengths of computers, that they provide the student with immediate feedback. I instantly knew that I forgot to divide by 2 when I calculated the kinetic energy. Another positive aspect of computers is that they don’t mind going over the same concept over and over again. I usually get frustrated after explaining something for the third time. I also enjoyed viewing the atomic orbitals. This is another big plus for computers, that they can provide images far superior to what I can draw on the board. The students can manipulate the 3D images such as rotating the orbitals for a different view. Other sections plot certain equations, such as the radial functions, and provide immediate visualization of an equation that may not make much sense to the student. I actually found myself “playing” with a few things, so the CD managed to hold my interest.

Before students can attack a problem, they need some picture in their head of where they are going and what they need to do. Dick Zare’s “Commentary” in this Journal² caused me to rethink some of my prejudices about the value of computer use and visualization. Chemistry is a field where visualization is an important part of understanding; most people are visual learners. So perhaps I have been unfair in ignoring a lot of the supplementary material. Prior to reviewing this CD, I already knew how to calculate kinetic energy and I knew what atomic orbitals looked like. What is really important is the impact this CD has on a student. So I enlisted the students in my first-semester physical chemistry class. This can hardly be considered a statistical analysis, but I will present just a few numbers and the general impressions of the students.

There were 16 students in my class and 15 decided to take up my extra credit assignment to provide their impressions of the CD³. There were two biology majors, two forensic science majors, and the remaining students were chemistry majors. There was a pretty wide range of abilities, interest, and work ethic, so I believe this class provided a diverse population. I asked the students to review the first three chapters dealing with classical thermodynamics (since that was all we were covering that semester), but they were free to review the rest of the CD if they wished. Most students really liked the CD, some even commented that they wished they had had the CD at the beginning of the semester. I pointed out that their own physical chemistry textbook came with a CD, but some of them remarked that it wasn’t very good. One student commented that this CD was much better than CDs with his general, organic, and analytical texts. He even suggested that the CD might be used in place of the text. Others enjoyed the CD so much they went on to view the chapters on kinetics and quantum chemistry.

Some students felt that Chapter 1 was a simple review of introductory physics and was not appropriate as students should have had two semesters of physics prior to physical chemistry. Others felt that the treatment of topics was a bit spotty. I, too, felt that some topics were covered well and others were completely ignored. As one student fairly pointed out, this CD was intended as supplementary material. A number of students would have liked more questions, problems, answers, and solutions. Students pointed out that they had trouble figuring out which equation to use and how to put the equation in a form appropriate for solving their problem. These students would like to have problem-solving tutorials. A few students felt that most of the material was too simple and would actually be more appropriate in first-year general chemistry.

Most students liked the general “look and feel” and found navigating pretty intuitive. Everyone said that it was not at all obvious how to activate the sound and a number of students (and I) weren’t even aware that there was a sound component. A number of students said that they would have liked a “Play” button rather than an “Options” button for animating the graphics. A lot of them said that they enjoyed “rolling dice” and watching the histogram take on the shape of a normal distribution.

This CD opened my eyes, and I would encourage my students to use it. It would be nice if it ran off the CD rather than a hard drive, although that might slow it down to the point of being a bit jerky. Some mention should be made about the requirements for running the CD. For example, it should not be run on a computer with a screen resolution of less than 1024 × 768. It is a bit spotty in the topics that it treats, which is appropriate for supplementary material. In light of the observation that some physical chemistry texts are getting too complex, maybe this CD is moving in the right direction⁴. I don’t believe that this CD would be useful in the classroom because I think that the students would get a lot more out of it playing with it on their own. The best praise is the observation that most of the students and I found ourselves running some of the animated graphics over and over out of sheer enjoyment. How often can that be said in physical chemistry?

Notes

1. An advance copy of Physical Chemistry CD was the version reviewed.
2. Zare, Richard N. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 1290–1291.
3. The students who participated in the review were Scott Aust, Cody Craig, Jonathan Downs, Lura Eakin, David Guzman, Chastidy Hammond, Neeta Kongara, Paula McCall, Courtney Poe, Sarah Sarabia, Toni Sellers, Jerry W. Swearingen Jr., Amanda Toman, Michael Towler, and Angel Waddy.
4. Bernal, Pedro J. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 1075–1076.