Shortly after arriving at McGill in the summer of 1966,the then chair of Chemistry,Leo Yaffe,a man not to be trifled with,asked what courses I would feel "comfortable"teaching.Having had a few opportunities in graduate school (University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill)and on my post-doc (Cornell University)to lecture to some fairly sizable classes in introductory organic chemistry,I said "intro organic".Yaffe then said that my assignment in September that year would be two consecutive classes of 250 persons each.My instincts said that this was not a good idea as I was quite sure I would sometimes mix up material given to one group and not the other.I then countered (not at all expecting an affirmative response)with "How about combining the two groups together in one class?"His answer was "OK".I am not sure if I had any intelligent rejoinder other than to prepare my classes-somewhat fearfully-over the remaining weeks of the summer.It was the extraordinary size of these initial classes that I believe gave me the motivation to make the innovations that are described here.
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