Chemistry and Biochemistry for Nurses
CHEM 2090, 2092
Spring 2008
CHEM 2090, CHEM 2092
Instructor: Dr. Koni Stone, N358, 667-3570, Office hours: F 11:15-12:15, R 9:15-12:15 and by appointment

Web page for the course: http://science.csustan.edu/stone/2090/2090main.htm

Text: General, Organic and Biochemistry, Connecting Chemistry to Your Life.  Ira Blei and George Odian, 2000, WH Freeman and Company, NY. ISBN: 0-7167-2872-9.

Prerequisite: Passing score on ELM exam, or exemption from ELM.  It is highly recommended that students have passed the EPT or are exempt. Also, if you have never ever taken a chemistry class, it is advised that you take CHEM 1000.  If you took Chemistry in high school (and retained some memory of it, you should be ok for this very fast paced course.) 

Brief description: This course has been designed in collaboration with the Department of Nursing to fulfill curricular needs of the pre-licensure program.  Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of chemistry, including: the composition of atoms and molecules, mass balance, energy, properties of gases and solutions.  Then, students will study acid base chemistry and nuclear chemistry and their medical relevance.  A general description of organic chemistry will be presented with an emphasis on how molecular functional groups influence solubility and chemical reactivity; pharmaceuticals will be used as examples.  After gaining an appreciation for carbon based molecules (structures, nomenclature, functional groups and basic reactions), students will be introduced to the structure and functions of biological molecules (i.e. nucleic acids, amino acids, sugars etc.) Enzyme catalysis and an overview of metabolism will be introduced and then students will study the reactions involved in carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism.  

Since this is a general education class there are the following additional GE goals:

1. Subject Knowledge. To provide an educational experience that will enhance student's understanding of the discipline's basic principles, methodologies, and perspectives. The content for this class is chemistry as it applies to living systems.  Students will take quizzes and work on activities in class in order to prepare for 3 midterm exams.  Students mastery of the content will be assessed with a comprehensive final exam.
2. Communication. To provide an educational experience that will enhance the ability to communicate. Students will write a 4-5 page research paper and work in groups to present information that they have learned from their research papers.  Students will also be actively involved in problem based and directed inquiry based learning activities that will require them to work in groups.  Hence, their small group interaction communication skills will be enhanced.
3. Inquiry and Critical Thinking. To provide an educational experience that will enhance critical thinking skills and will contribute to continuous inquiry and life-long learning.  (see #4 below)
4. Information Retrieval and Evaluation. To provide an educational experience that will enhance the ability to find, understand, examine critically, and use information from various sources. Students will do independent research on a topic that they select from a pre-approved list.  They will be required to think critically about the information they retrieve and then synthesize their papers based upon their research.
5. Interdisciplinary Relationships. To provide an educational experience that will enhance students' understanding of a discipline's interrelationships with other disciplines.  Chemistry is considered to be the central science.  While medical applications will be emphasized, the connections to physics, biology, and earth science will be introduced.  For example, autoclaves work because of the direct relationship between pressure and temperature.  As pressure is increased, the temperature of steam increases.  This high temperature steam can then be used to sterilize glassware for microbiology experiments.
6. Global or Multicultural Perspectives. To provide an educational experience that will enhance the ability to look at issues from multiple perspectives and/or that will describe a discipline's impact on or connection to global issues.  Global topics will be introduced, such as the role of humans in global warming.  For example, long hot showers and SUV's require burning fossil fuels, this combustion reaction increases levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.  Carbon dioxide traps heat in the earth's atmosphere by absorbing infrared radiation.  Also, some populations have higher rates of genetic anomalies.  Sickle cell anemia results from a single amino acid change in a hemoglobin molecule.  This disease is most prevalent among people with ancestors that were originally from lands that are close to the equator where there are lots of mosquitoes!  It is thought that a mild form of the disease protects people from malaria infection.

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Learning assessment devices.

Device	Date/Frequency	Points
Quizzes/class activities	Frequently	100
Laboratory	Weekly lab reports and quizzes	200
Biochemical topic paper	Disease symptoms and overview: due March 3 Biochemical basis of the disease: due May 7	25 75
Exams	Three midterms, 100 points each, March 7, April 18, May 16	300
Comprehensive Final Exam	Friday, May 23rd, 8:30-10:30	300

This course is graded with letter grades using the following minimum scores: A, 90%; B, 80% ; C, 70%; D, 60%.  Plus/minus grades may be assigned. The last day to withdraw from this course is March 11th.

Quizzes will be based upon the homework (heavily weighted on the end of chapter exercises) and lab content.  The homework is not collected.  However, you need to do the homework to prepare for the quizzes. The exams will be based on the quiz, handout and homework questions.  The Comprehensive Final Exam will be based on the quiz, handout and exam questions.  There may be some essay questions, but most questions will require short answers and many will involve calculations. You will need a calculator that has scientific notation and log functions.

No make-up exams, quizzes or class activities will be given.  If you have extenuating circumstances that involve serious and compelling reasons for missing class, you are advised to schedule a consultation with Dr. Stone as soon as possible, so that an appropriate plan of action can be developed.

Biochemical Disease Paper: Choose a disease from the list provided on the www. Only four students will be able to sign up for each disease.  So, sign-up quick to be sure to get your first choice.  Note: All papers must typed  using  a 12 point font and double spaced.  No handwritten papers will be accepted.  NO EXCEPTIONS!  Do not forget your bibliography and remember to cite your sources of information in your text. Papers must be submitted electronically. It is best to send your file by email as an attachment (Word is preferred).  Please send your paper to: http://turnitin.com

Turnitin instructions: go to http://turnitin.com
At the top right hand corner, select "new user".  This will lead you through the steps to enroll in this class.  
Class ID: 2182986
Password: biochemistry

Paper Instructions:  Research your disease using www and library resources. Excellent sources of information are: the library (Chemical and Engineering News, Science, Nature, American Scientist, Science News, Lancet, Scientific American), the Internet, and newspapers.  Encyclopedias and our text book do not count as references.  After finding at least three different sources of information about the disease of your choice, condense the information from those sources into three papers:

1. Description of the disease, include the symptoms and who is affected. Due: March 3 .  Page limit: 1 page.
2. How is this disease related to biochemistry?  Fully describe the biochemistry of the disease.  What is defective? What molecules are involved.  Start by describing the normal process.  For example if you have chosen a mental illness, you will be fully describing how neurotransmitters relay messages from one neuron to another.    Due: May 7 .   Page limit: 3 pages. 

       Sources must be cited in the text, and listed in the bibliography.  You may use the same three sources for all three writing assignments.  You may not count multiple pages of the same web site as multiple sources.  You may not use the same sources that your friends use.  You may be requested to provide copies of your sources, so do not throw them away until your paper has been returned, failure to provide copies of your references upon request will result in an automatic "F" for the assignment.  For materials that were published on the world wide web (www), please report the complete URL address of the site for the information, the date of publication and the author or organization that produced the page.
      The audience for this paper consists of the other students in the CHEM 2090 class. Therefore, terms need to be defined and concepts must be simplified. Explain the concepts in your own words, do not lift phrases from the research paper and put quotes around them. Do not copy sentences from your sources and change one or two words (paraphrasing can be dangerously close to plagiarism).    Be sure to site all of your sources of information in the text.   
        Since this exercise is to assess your understanding of the material you have learned, you are not allowed to use quotations  of any kind.  There should be NO QUOTATIONS in any of these papers. Again, use your own words to convey your understanding of the material.  Do not copy the words from your source and change one or two words in a sentence.  If your sentences match the structure of your source, then that is plagiarism.  Papers will be electronically checked for plagiarism, so do not copy the work of others.  Plagiarism is a serious academic integrity offense and will be reported to the student discipline officer.
        The paper should be written in a style that is similar to scientific writing. There should be no first person (and no second person) and most sentences should use the passive voice.  Major points will be deducted for using either first or second person.  Science writing puts the emphasis on the data, (not on the writer) to be as objective as possible about the facts.
Examples:
Active voice: I broke the test tube.
Passive voice: The test tube was broken.

In the first example, credit is given to the author for increasing the entropy in the universe. The second example just states the facts.
        Again, students are encouraged to consult the instructor for additional guidance. This assignment is designed to encourage exploration of the media and library resources for information about biochemistry. Also students will gain an appreciation for writing a paper in "scientific style". 

The following categories will be used to assess the final submission of your paper: 

Late papers will be penalized 10% per 24 hour period.  (This includes weekends and holidays.)   Papers must be submitted electronically to http://turnitin.com.  Note: All papers must typed  using  a 12 point font and double spaced.  No hard copies or handwritten papers will be accepted.  NO EXCEPTIONS!

Laboratory:  You must take the laboratory portion of this course and complete each lab exercise with a passing score.  Every lab will incorporate the following:

• Measurements: weighing, volumetric glassware, using a ruler, significance of measurements, accuracy, precision.
• Using standard laboratory equipment: hot plates, bunsen burners, filtration flasks.
• Reading and following instructions
• Using information to make informed decisions
  
• Using standard laboratory procedures: writing data in the lab notebook in ink, clean work area, no food, drink etc. (professional behavior)

Each lab will have a connection to material that is covered in lecture.  Please see the lecture and lab schedule that is shown below.  (Instructions for each lab are linked to the title of the lab.)

WWW and Email:  All course announcements and homework assignments will be posted on the www. If you do not know how to get to the www, please see Dr. Stone  immediately.  Email is an excellent mode of communication with your instructor.  For a fast response, please put CHEM 2090 in the subject line of your email message.