Pedagogy of the Text

There are 16 modules in this course. You can divide the course into 4 quarters, which works out to four modules per quarter. Each quarter should take you 9 weeks to complete, so you should shoot for finishing a module every two weeks or so. If you do that, each quarter will take you 8 weeks. Thus, you have about a week of flexibility time each quarter.

How will you know how much to do in order to spend only 2 weeks per module? Well, start by spending one half hour per day with the course. At the end of 2 weeks, if you have not completed the module, you know that you need to spend more time each day on it. If you finish a module in less than 2 weeks, then you know that you can spend less time per day on it. In the end, then, try to find the pace that will keep you on track. There are two types of exercises that you are expected to complete: "on your own" problems and an end-of-the module study guide.

l You should answer the "on your own" problems while you read the text. The act of answering these problems will cement in your mind the concepts you are trying to learn. Detailed answers and explanations are provided for you at the end of the module, so that you may check your own work. DO NOT look at the answer to a question until AFTER you have tried to answer it!

l You should complete the study guide in its entirety after you have finished the module. The solutions to the study guides are in a separate volume which your parent/teacher has. All definitions presented in the text are centered. The words will appear in the study guide and their definitions need to be memorized. Words that appear in bold-face type in the text are important terms that you should know.

The study guide gives you a good feel for what you need to know for the test. Any information needed to answer the study guide questions is information that you must know for the test. Sometimes, tables and other reference material will be provided on a test so that you need not memorize it. You will be able to tell if this is the case because the questions in the study guide which refer to this information will specifically tell you to use the reference material.

Experiments

The experiments in this course are designed to be done while you are reading the text. I recommend that you keep a notebook of these experiments. As you write about the experiment in the notebook, you will be forced to think through all of the concepts that were explored in the experiment. This will help you cement them into your mind. I recommend that you perform your experiments in the following way:

When you get to the experiment during the reading, read through the experiment in its entirety. This will allow you to gain a quick understanding of what you must do.

Once you have read the experiment, start a new page in your laboratory notebook. The first page should be used to write down all of the data taken during the experiments and perform any exercises discussed in the experiment.

When you have finished the experiment, you should write a brief report in your notebook, right after the page where the data and exercises were written. The report should be a brief discussion of what was done and what was learned. You should write this discussion so that someone who has never read the book can read your discussion and figure out what basic procedure you followed and what you learned as a result of the experiment.

PLEASE OBSERVE COMMON SENSE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.
The experiments are no more dangerous than most normal, household activities.

In order to help you prepare for the experiment in the course, the next few pages list all materials needed to perform the experiments in each module. You cause this and make sure that you have everything you need. That way, when you reach a lab in the reading, you will not be delayed for lack of supplies.