Clipper Chemistry has the same objective as the traditional course: the students will become conversant and skillful with the way chemists view the world. The atomic nature of matter, states of matter, chemical bonding, physical properties, chemical reactions, thermochemistry and the quantitative and qualitative treatments of these topics are all included in this view. The course requires the student both to learn a significant amount of factual information and to develop problem-solving skills involving quantitative and descriptive material.

Chemistry I uses a combination of readings from a standard textbook and conversational presentations by the instructor including notes via streaming media. In addition, computer-based activities on the Web will be fully integrated with the audio and video presentation to put the information in context for the student. The students also will be encouraged to interact directly with the instructor by e-mail, discussion board, chat room, and telephone, as necessary.

Chemistry I includes several web-based modules that proceed as follows. First a student first reads the appropriate chapter in the book. The student then watches and listens to a presentation by the instructor on the Web. This presentation consists of a conversation by the instructor on the key points of the chapter and includes written class notes that appear on the screen. Videos of the instructor accompany the conversation, highlighting the important features of the material and illustrating the information from the text. Typical features in the presentation include pictures, graphs and additional visual displays to illustrate what the instructor is discussing. The presentation is more in the style of a brief exposition on the topic at hand, intentionally kept short and specifically crafted for viewing in tandem with a Web-based activity.

An integral feature of the Web presentation is an activity, in context, for the student to do. After reading and hearing about the chapter in focus, the student moves to a Web-based activity in which definitions, related calculations and concepts are used. As a form of self-evaluation, the student will have the opportunity to compare notes, observations and comments associated with the assigned activity to actual assessments of the same scenarios by a chemist.

The key feature of the activity is that it pulls concepts and ideas together into a meaningful context rather than making learning an exercise in rote memory. The Web-based activity is a bridge between the information in the text and the discussion by the instructor. The role of such activities is to put the information in context and to engage the student in working with key concepts.