Polychem 2 Demo

Polychem2 is an update of the chemistry demo 'Polychem' that provides a titration module from a comprehensive multimedia tutorial and simulation tool. One that helps teachers and students by providing hundreds of hours of student activity. The software is aimed at senior high school to junior college levels, with an emphasis on the applied nature of chemistry. Most high schools use it for years 11 and 12. Research has shown that the students using the software are well motivated and enjoy using the software. They prefer the software to traditional types of instruction and have more have fun in chemistry. Students are on task for a longer time and have been more motivated. This environment can be used a significant teaching tool, not just as a supplement. Students are empowered to take more responsibility for their own learning and can spend time learning, not just copying down notes. The program contains notes, computer generated interactive questions and exam questions from a large number of chemistry topics, the demo shows a titration section. There are also many simulations of equipment and of chemical processes. There is also an extensive section on organic chemistry that contains notes, interactive sections, simulations questions and nomenclature problems. There are also chemistry based games, demonstrations and activities. A key feature is the provision of model answers for the computer generated questions to help student reflection and analysis. The text notes displayed can be modified on screen, even over a network, and printed. The text can be enlarged using the controls for use by the teacher on a classroom projector or to benefit students with visual impairments. Examination questions can be added and altered, and facilities are included so that other developers can add topics and modules. Provided the user has write privileges to a disk, then assignment marks can be recorded as well as user names, times and dates. Computers required are Macintosh, 16mB RAM recommended (there is also a Windows version).The program uses 4mB of physical ram so it may run on 8mB machines if there are few memory intensive extensions. A Mac 040 would be the minimum configuration computer, with a colour 640 x 480 screen. John Waddick Otago Polytechnic Dunedin, New Zealand http://www.earthlight.co.nz/business/polychem