Study SMART: (Articles that make amazing points about interruptions and focus... study smarter not harder! Spending time on schoolwork doesn't equal understanding. You can spend less time and understand more if you minimize distractions.)
A Productivity Lesson from a Classic Arcade Game (Cal Newport) - I quote this author's book several times in my smartphone presentation.
Important quote — “If, like most, you rarely go more than 10 – 15 minutes without a just check, you have effectively put yourself in a persistent state of self-imposed cognitive handicap.”
Award-Winning Director Christopher Nolan Explains Why He Doesn't Have a Cellphone - while realistically we cannot really function completely without a cellphone since we don't have assistants to take care of calls/texts/emails/etc for us, this is still an interesting perspective and has some good research.
Important quote - "Research has shown that not only does mind wandering encourage creative connections and new solutions – the very activity surfing our smartphones eliminates – but a certain level of passive boredom (the type incited by reading a particularly dense text or attending a monotonous meeting) often leads to fresh perspectives and new approaches to problems."
Less Smartphone Time Equals Happier Teenagers, Study Says -
Important quote - "Adolescents who spent more time on non-screen activities had higher psychological well-being. They tended to profess greater happiness, higher self-esteem and more satisfaction with their lives."
- Use the login information I gave you in class (you can also find the instructions HERE) to login to the book. Remember, it does not work for all browsers, so if it is not working on the browser you are using try another one (Internet Explorer is the most likely to work) and we have yet to find a way to make it run on a tablet. If you find a way let me know!
- A Chemistry timeline of significant historical events that relate to chemistry. Each entry lists the date, a pictorial representation, a small paragraph about the event, and links for further information!
3. Online Conversion Calculator
- Use this site to check the answers to any homework problems (or lab conversions!) you are unsure of. Remember, you still have to show work to get credit and you will have to do problems without the site on tests and quizzes. So use it to check your homework, not DO your homework.
4. Interactive Periodic Table #1 Interactive Periodic Table #2
- #1 Has an interactive periodic table where you can click on elements to get more information about them and you can change the view of the periodic table to show boiling points, date of discovery, etc.
- #2 Click on any element for more information about it, change the temperature by a slider at the top to see what phase each element would be at different temperatures, etc.
5. Chemistry Tutorials (University of Illinois)
- A site with many chemistry tutorials on topics we cover in this course. Several are linked in the Unit 2 downloads section already!
- A site with many chemistry tutorial vodcasts and explanations you may find helpful.
- In case you need graph paper for any of your labs or assignments and forget to get it from me before you go home.
- This is the folder with some of the vodcasts for the course (located on screencast.com). Links to individual vodcasts should also be listed on each Unit's individual page.
- This is a student-created "class" section on quizlet for storing flashcards related to my course. The elements you learn in Unit 4 are on there as well as the Ions for the course. Other students are welcome to add more to it!
Scientific Study Tips
Scientific Study Tips - A great 4 minute Asap Science video!