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CHEM T.V. - A
Professor's view
Chem TV is a visualization aid for sophomore
Organic Chemistry developed by Dr. Betty Luceigh of UCLA. It is
marketed in the US by Exeter Multimedia Publishing, phone
800-832-0034.
Chem TV exists at present in two volumes. Part I mainly covers
the elementary material taught in first semester, whereas Part II
contains more special topics and biochemical material. Each
volume is divided into sections on Structure, Reactions, and
Special Topics. Within each section there are a number of movies
that run for a few minutes. The movies are manipulated like a
typical video player. There are controls for play, fast forward,
and reverse, as well as volume control. The material within each
movie is arranged in a way that the user can jump from topic to
topic in any order. Overall the movies have a nice flexible
structure, and as such represent a quantum improvement over older
presentation modes that lock the viewer in from the beginning.
The overall presentation quality of ChemTV is generally
satisfactory, although there is variation from movie to movie.
This reviewer uses ChemTV regularly in class with the aid of high
quality projection equipment. Students have given approach this
high praise. They have been less enthusiastic about ChemTV as an
individual learning aid that is used out of class. The scientific
accuracy of the movies is a point that can be debated. Like much
of sophomore chemistry, a lot of material is presented as a
necessary oversimplification. A couple of the movies, however,
contain comments and sections of information that are incorrect,
e.g. SN1 reaction. Thus, purists may be quickly dissuaded from
using this product. A number of the movies on biochemical
structures are quite crowded and thus hard to view. As a guess,
the average teacher will find about a quarter of the 54 movies to
be worth showing to the class. A second edition with improved
graphics would be useful.
Professor Brad Smith,
University of Notre
Dame,
April 1997.
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