Day: October 30, 2010

  • Advice on working with models

    Problem-solving
    and working with molecular models are fundamentally different activities. It’s
    natural to feel some urgency when you practice solving problems, and the more
    you practice solving a certain kind of problem, the easier and faster it should
    get.

    This is not a useful way to approach the molecular modeling questions on homework assignments. The models that
    you build contain a lot of information, some of it useful, some of it
    not. You should take your time to
    look the models over from different angles, juxtapose what you see against what you have learned
    elsewhere, and develop some mental pictures that inform your understanding of
    chemical phenomena. The goal is not to learn a new problem-solving skill, but to create another dimension for thinking about chemistry. If you don’t feel like you have the time to do this, save
    the models for another day.