4 Discussion Board Activities

Discussion Board Standards

It is expected that students will complete the assigned textbook readings prior to posting responses to the discussion board. Student interaction is encouraged. The goal of these online discussions is to simulate the sort of group discussion that can occur in traditional classroom settings. Therefore, students must post comments to at least two classmates. In addition, the instructor may post her reaction to student comments.

Note: The calendar indicates the start and end dates for discussion of particular questions. Students will have a limited period of time to submit their contribution to the discussion board. This will be referred to as the discussion window. When this window closes, students will no longer receive credit for adding their contributions to the discussion.

Assessment

The instructor will assess the quality of student contributions towards group discussion and determine a grade for each unit/chapter.

1. Student discussion must be relevant to the specific question being discussed.
2. Students should demonstrate their understanding of the issues, theories, and problems from their textbook readings and homework. Good student commentary will make reference to specific textbook readings and make use of the terminology introduced in the chapter.
3. Students should respond to the discussion questions with an attitude of proper objectivity and a willingness to discuss matters with others who do not share their viewpoint. Criticism of theories or ideas is appropriate; however, the tone of this criticism should remain scholarly rather than personal.
4. Students are encouraged to make use of examples and counter-examples, compare and contrast theories, make reference to past learning, indicate problems or difficulties they have with the theories, and draw out the relevant implications of the discussion.
5. Students may also raise questions they have about the readings and discuss possible answers provided these questions are relevant to the topic of the discussion.

EVERY STUDENT MUST POST AN ANSWER BY STARTING A NEW THREAD. These posts must address all parts of the question, be as long as indicated in the directions for each forum, and be clear and accurate, as well as original. Any copying and pasting of material written by others into the discussion forum is plagiarism. Plagiarism will result in a zero for the assignment; no exceptions.

STUDENTS MUST REPLY TO AT LEAST TWO POSTINGS BY CLASSMATES IN ORDER TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT. Replies such as “Good posting” or “I agree” will not be considered for full credit—replies must be substantive, detailed and complete. ANY POSTINGS WHICH ARE NOT IN ACADEMIC WRITTEN FORM, AS IN TEXT-MESSAGE FORMAT, WILL RECEIVE A ZERO. EACH MUST BE CHECKED FOR CORRECT SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION.

Consider the discussions as opportunities to share ideas about this exciting material with your classmates—enjoy this!

Introduce Yourself Discussion Activity

Worth 20 points, with replies.

Please write a short paragraph introducing yourself to the class.  Be sure to include a photo of yourself (or other representation) in your post.  The directions for attaching an image in Blackboard are posted above.

Your introduction must include the following information at a minimum:

• Your name
• Where you currently live and/or where you are from
• Your current educational goals and desired major (subject to change, of course!)
• Reason(s) why you are taking this chemistry course online (as opposed to face-to-face)
• Please include one or more optional topics in your post, which can include hobbies, pets, family, travel dreams, and anything else you’d like to share.  🙂

If you need, you can reference this page with instructions on attaching images to discussion board posts in BlackBoard.

Discovery of the Elements

Worth 20 points, with replies

In this activity, we are going to explore when and where certain elements were discovered (or where the first oldest sample was discovered, in the case of elements known in ancient times).  For each element, we will also explore various physical properties and what it is used for currently.

Assignment

1. Choose ONE element with an atomic number between 1–57, or 72–86.  You may not choose an element that someone else has chosen, so be sure to check the discussion board before you search and/or post.  Identify your chosen element by name and elemental symbol (abbreviation shown on the periodic table).
2. Use online sources to determine when (year) and where the element was discovered.  If your chosen element was known in ancient times, record where the first (oldest) sample was discovered and the era (or range of years) the sample was used.  Please try to narrow down the place as much as possible.  For instance, a city is better than a region, but a region is preferable to a country.
3. Watch this video regarding latitude and longitude. 
   
   Determine and record reasonable latitude and longitude coordinates for where your chosen element was discovered.  You may use any resources available online, and be sure to include the latitude and longitude coordinates in your post, in addition to the spreadsheet below.
   POST your latitude and longitude coordinates in our shared Google spreadsheet where indicated (also include your name, your element name, its elemental symbol, and year or era of discovery in the columns provided).  We will create a class map for our elements after everyone has entered their information into the spreadsheet.
4. Record the major physical properties of your chosen element in your discussion board post.  Be sure to include information such as the phase in which the element is most commonly observed (i.e., gas, liquid, or solid) and what it looks like.  Also include its melting point and boiling point (under normal atmospheric pressure), and its density.  (If the substance does not melt, but has a sublimation point instead, then record this information.)
5. Include in your post a short 3–4 sentence paragraph describing the applications for this element and/or any environmental or health issues.

Read the posts of at least two other students and post a short comment.

Be sure to include the links to your source(s).

Stoichiometry Inquiry Game

In this discussion board inquiry activity, you will be able to play a “game” designed to help you reinforce your understanding of stoichiometry and limiting reactants.

Your goals for this activity are as follows:

1. Predict the amounts of products and leftovers after reaction using the concept of limiting reactant
2. Predict the initial amounts of reactants given the amount of products and leftovers using the concept of limiting reactant
3. Translate from symbolic (chemical formula) to molecular (pictorial) representations of matter
4. Explain how subscripts and coefficients are used to solve limiting reactant problems.

This PDF contains the full instructions for the activity. Limiting Reactants in Chemical Reactions (PhET Activity)