By Tiffany Smith
Move over chalkboards. BYU professors are using technological innovations to make learning chemistry effective and exciting.
Chemistry professors Steven Fleming, Paul Savage and Philip Brown have each created computer-based aids to learning that are gaining recognition from students and publishers alike.
For Fleming, turning to computer technology has been a bit of a struggle.
'I don''t want to use the computer in the classroom. I like to move around. You''re no longer talking the students, you''re talking to a computer,' he said.
Because of this, although his and Savage''s Organic Reaction Animations (ORA) software helps students understand difficult concepts, Fleming said he doesn''t depend on it extensively.
The ORA program is a resource for chemistry students trying to understand molecular structures not visible by the naked eye. Traditional, physical models of molecular structures contain dozens of specially-constructed moldings and small parts which require monkey-like dexterity for assembly. Using these cumbersome models to show change in structure can be difficult and time-consuming.
ORA, on the other hand, displays graphical representations of more than 50 chemical reactions smoothly and accurately, no assembly required.
It offers features multiple views of a reaction, information about that reaction and online quizzes to help a user test their understanding of the chemical process.
'It almost puts you in ,' said Fleming, who says that the software is an effective study tool for freshman and graduate students alike.
Students who have worked with ORA agree.
'I don''t think it''s used enough,' said Brent Siemssen, 26, a senior from Troutdale, Ore., a chemistry class TA. 'I''ve seen professors neglect or just not use it when they could have and it would have simplified the principle to be able to just see it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, an animation is worth many more.'
The ORA project started in 1997 when Fleming realized that the traditional tangible models of chemical structures he was using were not adequate to explain chemical reactions and a solution might be found by using computers.
He found some rudimentary modeling software and brought it to a colleague in the department for his opinion.
'I took it to Paul Savage to show him and he said ''It''s nice, but we could do better,'' and I said, 'Yeah, we could,' Fleming said
Fleming and Savage took their own reaction calculations to student Greg Hart, who was able to render them into animated representations.
At a 1998 conference, the project caught the eye of a textbook author who wanted to publish the software in conjunction with his
organic chemistry textbook. Part of the resulting agreement was that the software would be made available separately in the bookstore for $5.
The resource is non-profit venture. Fleming said development of the next version of ORA has put the project in the red. 'At this point, we''re in the hole by about $14,000,' Fleming said. The latest version of ORA, which includes even more interactive functionality, is ready to go for production by Norton Publishing.
Chemistry professor Philip Brown used computer technology to solve a different problem: a lack of laboratory space.
Each experiment required of freshman chemistry students usually takes up most of the three hours allotted per lab, leaving little time for lab instruction. But no lab can hold an entire class at once, so Brown, who serves as coordinator of freshman chemistry labs, was faced with the problem of explaining quickly pre-lab information to groups in four different rooms at the same time.
'I tried pulling everybody together into one of the four rooms and presenting the video material live, trying to squeeze it in 15-20 minutes or so,' Brown said.
'It meant it was very rushed, very very crowded, it got very hot very quickly, it wasn''t possible for everybody to see everything well and it crunched lab time anyway, so that any time savings we got from watching the video was lost in watching the video,' he said.
Brown''s solution is a comprehensive video-enhanced Web site that displays all of the pre-lab information in an easy-to-understand format.
For those who have difficulty absorbing information presented online, a detailed paper-format lab manual is still available, but Brown said the Web site could be more helpful to students.
' is designed more to give them a visual boost to what the text is talking about and presents some other materials that were never in the text in the first place. Disseminating online gives it a better individual feel.'
Other innovations are on the way. Brown said that he, along with chair Paul Farnsworth and other members of the chemistry department are working on an online chemistry lecture series and already have a working agreement with a publisher for eventual production.
Although the project is being developed for use by Independent Study, BYU-Idaho, Hawaii and other institutions in the Church Educational System and could be effective as a stand-alone class, Brown said that the online lectures work better as a supplement rather than a substitute for traditional on-campus lectures.
'As far as campus is concerned, we''re more interested in enriching than replacing,' he said.
Brown said that online courses are not without their flaws.
'When you go online, you lose the spontaneity of hitting question when it arises and that''s a big factor in building excitement for the subject,' Brown said. 'You don''t have to lose all, but you lose maybe some of the spirit of the lecturer and of the student.
'To me, a successful lecture is when we have real unity in what we''re trying to accomplish on a spiritual level. It can be very hard to develop that online.'