CHEM Matters - August 28th-September 1st, 2023
CHEM Matters is a week-long course that is designed to help prepare students coming into CHEM 1001 by emphasizing the importance of chemistry fundamentals. By having a strong grasp of underlying concepts that are common to all chemistry courses, you'll enter first year with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills you can use and build upon. You'll learn how to manipulate, understand, and solve for variables in simple chemical equations, which you can later translate to do the same for more complicated systems. Starting university with a strong basis of chemistry knowledge and problem-solving skills will ensure you feel confident (and successful!) going forward in your studies. CHEM Matters is coordinated by the Science Student Success Centre in the Faculty of Science.
Dates and Fees
CHEM Matters runs from August 28th to September 1st 2023. Registration for CHEM Matters will open with your time ticket. The fee for CHEM Matters is $150 including HST.
Is CHEM Matters for you?
Generally, CHEM Matters aims to teach students basic fundamentals about chemistry problem solving that they’ll need for first-year and future CHEM courses. Some of this material will be review from high school, while some will tackle subjects and practices that will help students better conceptualize and solve problems in CHEM 1001/1002. Some of the broad topics that will be covered in CHEM Matters include:
- Simple chemical reactions: stoichiometry and balancing, calculating reagents, neutralization reactions
- Units: conversion between units, identifying and using SI units
- Physical properties of solids, liquids and gases: density, volume, using the ideal gas law
We suggest that you consider registering for CHEM Matters if your high school chemistry grade was below 80% or you did not take University level chemistry in high school, and if you are registered for CHEM 1001 in the Fall 2023 term.
CHEM Matters will be instructed by a Postdoctoral fellow and Instructor, Dr. Sydney Buttera. The program is designed to provide students with a mix of lecture material, step-by-step tutorials, online activities, demonstrations and worksheets; this format will let students listen to material, see it being used and demonstrated, and then finally be able to apply this knowledge to problem-solving situations.
Listen to the CHEM Matters Instructor, Dr. Sydney Buttera talk about the program
Dr. Buttera is now a Post Doctoral Fellow and Instructor, and is very much looking forward to meeting the 2023-2024 cohort of incoming Science Students!