CHEM 1614 General Chemistry I Syllabus 010 Spring 2026

Attendance - Attendance is expected at each class meeting. Attendance will be recorded for lecture and lab but will not be a direct factor in determining your grade. If you are not going to be in class, please email your instructor. You are responsible for any information that you miss.

Communication – Communication with the instructor is extremely important. You should contact your instructor as soon as any issue arises. Make sure to push your notifications from CANVAS to your phone. In addition, check your school email and log onto the course at least once a day. The preferred mode of contact is email, NOT CANVAS messaging because attachments and screen shots are often not transferred.

Office Hours – I will be available in L338 or R305 on Tuesdays before class from 11:30 to 12:30 pm and Thursdays from 3:00 to 3:45 pm, other times by appointment.

Participation – This is a 4-credit hour course and thus requires at least 8 hours of work per week outside of class time. I will be monitoring your activity level in the course. If I see a reduction in activity and notice missing assignments, you can expect an email from me. If I don’t hear back from you, your name will be submitted to KCC’s Early Alert System, and an adviser will be in touch with you. Participation in all activities is essential for you to successfully complete this course.

Orientation – The orientation to this course is in Module 0. There are many moving parts in this course, including CANVAS and MasteringChemistry. It is crucial that you become familiar with these important components so that you can complete your homework in a timely fashion. You should go through Module 0 as soon as possible before beginning Module 1.

Technical Issues – If you have problems with your home technology that are affecting your work in the course, please notify your instructor as soon as possible. If there are technical issues with KCC’s or Pearson’s system which last more than 6 hours, I will notify you and adjust any due dates that have been affected.

Email – Please reserve email contacts for private conversations with me regarding problems with the class or grade issues. Save content questions for the Q&A Discussion forum that is posted in each Module, which I will check daily. In this way, your situation remains private and any discussion of course content is available to everyone. If you do email me, you will receive a reply within 24 hours, but usually much sooner.

Grading – I will do my best to keep grades updated. Sometimes labs take longer to grade.

Reading & Videos – Reading assignments are listed on the class schedule as a section number, and they pertain to the e-text located on the Mastering Chemistry website. There are also videos posted on the chapter lecture resource page in the modules for each chapter. It is expected that students do the required reading and/or watch the videos, as this will be the main source of content information, besides class lectures.

Homework – The intention of homework is to reinforce the concepts in the chapter. The homework resides on the Pearson MasteringChemistry website and is assigned by chapters. The individual assignments can be viewed as a list or on a calendar. Opening dates and due dates can be viewed by mousing-over the assignment. Chapter homework is due on the day of the unit test before class starts (T 12:45 pm & TH 1:45 pm- see course schedule). Benchmarks will be announced in class so that you are pacing yourself appropriately. After the unit exam, the homework grade for the chapters in that unit will be recorded, although you will still have access to it for practice. You will have multiple attempts to answer homework questions and can ask for feedback on many of the questions. The lowest homework score will be dropped.

Quizzes – There are daily in-class quizzes which make up 5% of your course grade. In-class quizzes are considered a low stake learning activity which serves as a checkpoint through the module. A short 5–10-minute hardcopy quiz will be given at each class, generally over material from the previous class. If you miss class or arrive too late, a grade of 0 will be given for that quiz. Homework is for acquiring the information and practicing it. Quizzes are for understanding your level of learning and will let you know what and how much more you need to study to acquire mastery. The lowest 4 quiz scores will be dropped.

Labs – The labs are an essential component of this course and attendance is mandatory at the first lab session, when we discuss safety. All labs are performed on campus in room R311. Proper lab attire and safety goggles are required in the lab. You may not perform the lab experiment without these, and you will receive a grade of zero if the lab is not performed. If you miss more than 2 labs, division policy requires that you fail the course since it is meant to transfer as a lab course. If you know you will be absent, please email the instructor beforehand. Prelabs are due at the beginning of a lab session the day the lab is performed, and labs are due at the next lab session. Late points are assessed if a lab is turned in late (2% per day until the labs are returned to the class, after which the late penalty will be assessed at 5% a day). The 2 lowest lab grades will be dropped.

Exams – These summative assessments allow you to provide evidence that you understand the concepts in the unit. They will be administered as noted on the schedule and are designed to be completed in 75 minutes. They will be comprised of multiple choice and free response (essay) questions. All exams count toward the final grade. Please notify the instructor prior to the exam if you will be absent. You will be required to schedule a makeup time at the KCC Testing Center, provided the instructor approves your absence. An excused absence requires documentation of your extraordinary circumstance requiring you to miss a test.

Academic Dishonesty – Section 17.2 of the Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations describes violations of the academic code of conduct. The consequences are addressed in section 18.0 and can range from receiving a grade of 0 on the assessment to removal from the course or institution. The academic integrity of the faculty, staff and students protects the reputation of the course, program and college, and ensures the learning experience is fair for all involved.

Instructional Philosophy

Communication – It is of the utmost importance that you communicate any difficulties that you are having with the course. You can do this by emailing, use the Q&A discussion forum, or CANVAS message. If I am unaware of a problem, then I cannot help you resolve the issue. Please do not wait too long to request assistance or help with any concerns that arise. You must be your own advocate.

Active Learning – Fully invest yourself in the assessments and activities of the class. They are designed to help you learn the content. Actively participate with the mindset for learning. Approach the task knowing that you will acquire valuable understanding by completing it or you will request help to fill in the conceptual gaps.

Practice – You must practice harder than what you will eventually perform. In the context of an academic course, this means that you will practice sufficiently so that a particular skill or set of facts is readily retrievable as you take the summative assessment. The only way to accomplish this is through practice and that means doing the readings and taking notes, followed by the homework, quiz and labs.

Asking Questions – Do not hesitate to ask questions. Muster up the courage to be the one to request clarification. This can be done in the Q&A forum, at the Tuesday and Thursday class meetings, during office hours or in tutoring. The longer you wait to ask your question, the less meaning will be incorporated into your conceptual framework.

Critical Thinking – The ability to critically think as opposed to just memorize, sets you up for success and serves you well in other courses and in your quest for employment. Prompt yourself to dig deeper, ask questions and make connections. Look for patterns, trends, and common denominators in the information you are taking in. Actively look at the extremes of a situation and prioritize what is the most important aspect of a body of knowledge. In other words, continually prompt yourself to interact with the content.

Memorization – Memorization is a low-level cognitive skill but is essential to learning. It takes knowledge to acquire knowledge, so memorize the requisite facts in a timely manner. In chemistry this means element names and symbols, metric prefixes, etc.

Enduring Learning – Engage in the best-practice habits of learning that lasts beyond the quiz or the test, such as spaced study, retrieval, prediction, etc. You will learn more about this in Module 0 - Orientation.

Metacognitive Skills – Continually assess what you know and be honest with yourself. Don’t trick yourself into a false sense of security. Use practice quizzes in the study area and your first attempt at the Pearson chapter quiz to assess your understanding and then remediate any concepts that you do not fully grasp by searching the topic in the e-text, going to the Student Success Center, checking your lecture page resources, googling the topic, attending office hours or finding a good YouTube video for further explanation.

Mistakes – The best way to remember something is through a mistake. Mistakes are not equated to failure, but rather an opportunity for learning. The only time a mistake is bad is when you don’t learn from it. Take advantage of practice quizzes and questions so that you allow yourself an opportunity to make a mistake, and then learn from it.

Diversity – Diversity is an integral part of a dynamic classroom and comes in a number of forms. Diversity in students can include demographics, learning style, life experience, or interests, to name just a few. The instructor can also bring diverse lessons, addressing multiple learning styles or different strategies to present various topics. Diversity brings richness, engagement and flavor to a learning environment, virtual or otherwise.