| Review: |
The program opens up with an unimaginative list of chapter titles, suggesting this supplement will be uninspiring - and it is - and will only scratch the surface of the mediumís potential - which it does. The worst is yet to come.
Navigational choices involve text buttons for ëcontentsí (chapter topics), a ëglossaryí database, a ënotebookí, a ëpresentation managerí (instructorís version only), a ëtutorialí (studentís version only) and a ëperiodic tableí database.
Clicking on the ëcontentsí button and then on any chapter title usually enables access to videos of chemical reactions, animations at the molecular level, and molecular models using a 3D viewer. The animations should be the most important feature of the medium, but they are the most disappointing part of this teaching resource. There are serious misrepresentations of the molecular world, examples being:
· the sub-micro-world of water molecules and ions in solution, both shown widely separated from each other, and superimposed within the macro world of coloured droplets and beakers (animation CHM3D02),
· planar (!) ammonia molecules that form solid ammonium chloride portrayed as separate (!), white (!) ammonium chloride ion pairs (after all solid ammonium chloride is white isnít it?) (animation CHM3D05),
· hydrochloric acid represented by hydrogen chloride molecules in solution, whilst sodium hydroxide in solution is represented by sodium hydroxide ion pairs (animation CHM3D26)
and many other incorrect images. This aspect will be elaborated upon in a forthcoming article on chemical animations in a UniServe Newsletter.
The glossary involves a clickable alphabet with an alphabetical listing of terms for each letter. Click on a term and you get at best - an unimaginative, one sentence, text-only definition, such as:
· potential difference - ìa difference in electrical potential (electrical pressure) between two pointsî
At worst, you get, annoyingly, another reference -
· inert gases - ìsee noble gasesî
(why not simply add the sentence explanation for noble gases??)
· equilibrium - ìsee chemical equilibriumî
· autoionization - ìsee self-ionisation (autoionization)î
There is no excuse for ësaving memoryí by not duplicating text on a 650Mb CD!!!!!.
The Periodic Table database is unimaginative, with a simple listing of physical properties for each element, and little else, for example -
chlorine - ìnever found in its native stateî yet ìused to sterilise drinking water and as a disinfectant and bleaching agentî, with no mention of hypochloriteís role in its generation.
This was not produced with love for the subject matter, and is another lost opportunity to provide some fascinating characteristics or comments on each element.
In summary Chemistry Interactive is at best a poor quality teaching/learning resource, at worst a potential generator of serious misconceptions, effectively communicated by ëprettyí animations. There are much better CD supplements to general chemistry textbooks at the tertiary level. |
