Intellectual Merit: This project is incorporating modern instrumentation into the educational program of students at Columbus State University (CSU) and Chattahoochee Valley Community College (CVCC). Laboratory sections of chemistry courses are being redesigned to include discovery-based instructional modules that use spectroscopic and computational techniques. Successful laboratory experiments and methods are being adapted and implemented; these experiments have been endorsed by the NSF New Traditions Chemistry Initiative, centered at the University of Wisconsin, and others have been published in the educational chemical literature, primarily the Journal of Chemical Education. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the centerpiece of this discovery-based approach, with students given exposure to NMR theory and applications in their first course. At CVCC new experiments also are being incorporated into a biology laboratory course. At CSU faculty build increasingly more detailed uses of NMR to explain basic chemical principles in advanced courses, including organic, inorganic, analytical, biochemistry, physical chemistry, and research courses. Students synthesize these experiences in a research course, using a molecular modeling program. The 90 MHz NMR serves as a workhorse instrument for general, organic, analytical, inorganic, and physical chemistry laboratory courses. A community of STEM scholars form a peer advisory panel that is developing and evaluating the impact of discovery-based instruction on students' understanding of the chemical principles. The project has been designed to promote at both CSU and CVCC the development of skills in the areas of critical thinking, problem-solving, knowledge management, and assessment of performance. Broader Impacts: Columbus State University is located about 100 miles southwest of Atlanta. The student body is predominantly female (60%). The integration of modern techniques into STEM education is giving the students the preparation necessary to be successful in scientific careers in academia, industry, and government. At least 589 CSU undergraduates (science majors) are expected to participate in the proposed project per year, while faculty and students from CVCC benefit from their revised curriculum. CSU's outreach mission continues to strengthen ongoing collaborations with Auburn University (AL), Cott Beverages Inc. (GA), National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (FL), and two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (i.e., Clark Atlanta University and Southern University A&M College, LA). Other broader impacts of the proposed project include: 1) improvement of the educational and technical quality of laboratory and research experiences for STEM students and educators in the community served by CSU and CVCC; 2) exposing STEM students to spectroscopic and computational technologies; and 3) enhancing research opportunities for CSU's faculty and students. The results from the project will be disseminated locally and to the broader chemical education community through presentations at ACS meetings, publication in peer-reviewed journals, and posting at CSU's website.
