Solving Real Problems with Chemistry is a collection of 20 activities designed to reinforce students’ problem solving skills in general chemistry. And yet, it is not just a book of practice problems for students. Each is a process-oriented, guided-inquiry, learning (POGIL) in-context exercise. Also, each POGIL-IC activity is not simply a problem, but a practical problem with real-world applications. Big deal, you might say; all general chemistry books have these types of problems. Possibly. However, the problems here are different.

What makes these problems different is that, first, they have a broad appeal, and second, they are not only interdisciplinary; they demonstrate how scientists and researchers go about solving problems. The appeal of the exercises is well addressed because, unlike most problems, the students should easily see how and why the activity at hand might be applicable outside of chemistry or science class.

The addition of assessment and reflection steps are things we have modeled and frequently see in sample problems but may seldom see on exam papers or homework exercises or in labs. The explicit addition of a series of questions designed to force students to reflect uponwhat they have just done is a unique feature of these problems. Assuming time permits, a classroom discussion of these reflections would be valuable.

The help files range from pointed questions to guide students along the path (Cu Help) to general problemsolving tips (Au Help). This is an interesting idea. It forces students to critically assess how much help they really need to complete an exercise and, over time, should obviate the “I don’t even know where to start” type of questions that instructors frequently hear.

According to the authors, Solving Real Problems with Chemistry can be used on its own or in conjunction with Foundations of Chemistry. Whether or not you use POGIL, this book is worthwhile to read. I found myself thinking about my general chemistry students and how I can help them learn to be better problem solvers after reading this book. I would recommend this to anyone teaching general chemistry at the college or high school level.

In recent years, my first-year teaching has been concentrated mostly in the second-semester General Chemistry II course. Because of my previous experiences in using POGIL (process-oriented, guided-inquiry learning) in the first semester of our general organic biochemistry course sequence, I wanted to try to incorporate POGIL activities in my General Chemistry II course.  At my suggestion, the publisher (Pacific Crest) pulled together a special printing of this fourth edition containing just the secondsemester activities that I wanted to use, for a price that was slightly more than half of the price of the whole book.

The complete fourth edition book is organized into 22 chapters, each of which contains from two to five activities, for a total of 66 activities. Each chapter covers a set of topics that are linked by a major concept. The order and distribution of these topics follows those found in many typical general chemistry textbooks.

Each activity is a stand-alone exercise that explores one major topic, and is designed to be used in a small-group setting in the POGIL manner. The activities use a structure that will be familiar to anyone that has used POGIL: first some information is presented in a model, which can come in a wide range of styles, from simple text or tables to diagrams and procedures. The model is followed by a set of “key questions” that can be answered by exploring the model. After this exploration, students (in their small groups) go on to do simple “exercises” that allow them to apply their new knowledge and gain confidence. Many of the activities conclude with one or more “problems”; these are more complex and require the synthesis of ideas, transference of learning to new contexts, or more in-depth problem solving.

In general, I found the activities to be well written and free of errors. The number of topics, especially in the second-semester material, is not enough to be able to do “all POGIL, all of the time”. In this fourth edition, the activities are more fleshed-out and better organized internally when compared to the first-edition counterparts that I used in a previous semester; many are also longer. The level of the activities works well for my general chemistry course, which has students from a wide range of majors and previous chemistry experience.