Chemistry (12) "Transforming Advanced Chemistry Laboratories to Prepare Students for Challenges in Nanotechnology, Energy and the Environment" at the University of Maryland is testing the hypothesis that extended and repeated exposure to modern instrumentation is effective for teaching upper-level chemistry laboratories. Current scientific problems are increasingly complex and solving them requires the use of increasingly sophisticated instrumentation. As the number and complexity of modern tools for chemical measurements increases, it is increasingly impractical to train undergraduates on every possible technique they might encounter in the workplace or in postgraduate studies. The intellectual merit is to develop methods to (a) enable students to become sophisticated at accomplishing open-ended, problem-based exercises and (b) provide transferable skills that allow students to quickly master new instrumentation in later laboratory courses. The project outcomes include (a) improving students' understanding of the concepts of physical and analytical chemistry, (b) providing aspiring chemists and biochemists with problem solving skills that will enable them to answer modern experimental problems, (c) fostering an appreciation of the experimental basis of chemical and biochemical knowledge and (d) introducing students to modern interdisciplinary problems in relevant areas. The innovations that prove most effective will serve as the basis for designing an advanced laboratory curriculum in chemistry. The project results will have broad impact by serving as a model for enhancing student learning that can be adapted to other university-level chemistry programs. The results will be disseminated throughout the chemical education community and are likely to be of use to the broader STEM community.
This project aimed to improve the laboratory skills of undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry students. Specifically the project explored optimal pedagogical methods for teaching the use of advanced laboratory instrumentation. The chemical sciences have witnessed an rapid increase in the use of modern elecrtonic analysis and characterization instruments of ever increasing sophistication. These instruments are used in many modern applicaitons including chemical analysis, characterization of nanomaterials, and development of pharmaceuticals. Chemists and biochemists entereing the private sector workforce are expected to rapidly learn how to use diverse instrumental methods, but often find that the classical chemistry lab curriculum inadequate to meeting this challenge. To address this problem, the project team has redeveloped a series of laboratory experiments using instrumentation obtained throgh this program. These laboratory exercises that were developed as part of this project emphasize understanding a smaller set of instrumentational methods (GC-MS, and HPLC) in detail and using applying these skills to problems several solving exercises in the areas of nanomateials, environmental chemistry, and biological chemstry. This approach contrasts to the traditional approach of providing student with a brief, expository exposure to a much wider array of instruments and instrumental methods. It was anticipated that the in depth, focussed approach where the instruments were used in problem solving exercises, rather than in routine data collection. would provide the students with skills and understanding that would allow them to more rapidly learn to use new types of instrumentation. Preliminary analysis of student learning outcomes suggest that the students who have used these in-depth laboratory modules have improved their comprehension of instrumental methods and are able to transfer those skills when challenged with making measurements using new types of instrumetns. The project has also resulted in the development of several new laboratory exercises, which are currently being prepared for publication.
