R. C. Bell 0. A. Moe, Jr. and H. A. Neidig Lebanon Valley College Annville. PA 17003
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A Summer Chemistry Workshop for Secondary School Students
During the summvr months. Lebanon Valley College cond ~ w t sa number of one-u,eek Youth Scholars I'ropriuns in several disciplines for students who have completedtheir junior year in high school. One-week chemistry workshops have Stuheedheld in the past few summers under this dents invite0 LO participat~:in the program itrr granted n scholarship trum iht, CnIIege 10 cover thc cost o i tuilion, instructional materials, and a room. A nominal charge is made to defrav in Dart the cost of meals. T h e kleciion of the high school students for the program involves their recommendation hv individuals in their schools. Letters are sent to chemistry teachers, science supervisors, guidance counselors. orincioals, or suoerintendents of des'fgnated s r h w l askin$ thern'to nominaie on(: participant and 'l'o he elicihle for a onc alternatr for a Youth Scholar.+h~v. scholarship, the student should have completed aiecondary school chemistry course with laboratory, should show academic promise, should he planning to attend college, and should he considering a career in chemistry or he interested in continuing studies-in chemistry. A letter is sent to each student nominated by the secondary school contact describing the nature of the chemistrv workshop and inviting the student to return a completed application form. The criteria used in selecting scholarship recipients from the applicants includes:
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( 1 1 the science and mnrhrmaiici murw ~akrnhy r h student. ~ I ? , informnrion sulm~ttedI,y the individual who nornmated the student, (3) the written statement of the student in support of the application, (4) supplementarv information submitted in support of the ap.. plication, (5) the extent of participation in independent laboratory projects, and (6) proposed courses to be taken during the student's senior year.
At least one student is selected from each of the secondary schools from which aoolications are received. The objectives of {he chemistry workshop are to provide students with an opportunity to: (1) perform, independently, qualitative and quantitative experiments an the laboratory bench. (2)
interact with students having different backgrounds,
(3) experience life on a college campus, and (4) ohtain informationconcerning careers in chemistry and in other
science fields. Sessions are held Monday through Friday with activities scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A varietv of recreational activities are planned by the Cbllege for thk early evening hours. The major activity of the program is laboratory work, with the main emphasis on the analysis of a variety of chemical substances and commercially availahle materials. The group of experiments selected includes titrimetric, gravimetric, ohotometric. and chromatoeraohic techniaues. A twical list .. .. oi cxprriments used in thr workihop is listrd in thc table. 'I'hc wtrkshon i, stafli.d with three, facutv member; imd four undergradiate chemistry majors. Each faculty memher
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22 1
Journal of Chemical Education
Workshop Experiments
Statistical Analvsis of Exoerimental , ~~- DensiN , Data -. Determ nat on 01 Acio Dssm atom Conaant oy T lrimetry Analys r of a Mlxtbre of Bar um Cn oride Two rlyorste and Swim Chlor de Evaluation 01 Commercial Antacids The Quantitative Determination of Alcohol in a Denatured Alcoholic Beverage Paper Chromatography of Selected Transition Metal Cations Six Test Tubes: An Adventure in Chemical Identification Colorimetric Determination of Aspirin in Commercial Preparations Determination of Water Hardness by EDTA Titration Analysis of Vitamin C in Food Products Estimation of Ammonia and Oxygen in the Influent and Effluent of a Sewage Disposal P i a t ~~
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accepts the responsibility for staging three or four experiments. For most of the laboratory work, the participants are provided with copies of the corresponding commercially availahle experiments.' At a pre-laboratory discussion, a faculty memher presents the necessary background information and additional instructions for each experiment. Participants are divided into four groups as they go into the laboratory. A college student is assigned as a teaching assistant to each group. The teaching assistant is responsible for having the necessary equipment, reagents, and samples available for the participants to use. During the course of the experiment, they circulate among the students answering questions and demonstrating techniques with which the participants are not familiar. At the conclusion of the experiment, the assistants are available in the conference room to assist with calculations and the processing of data. A facultv memher conducts the oost-laboratory discussion a t which t;me the participants and disc& their results. For some of the experiments, the data are treated statistically so that the limitations of the experimental design can he considered and further exwerimentation sumested. In other cases commercially available materials are evaluated in terms of the relative cost of an active ingredient in the sample. Toward the end of the week, a number of seminars are held on career notions in chemistrv and other scientific fields, as well as the nature of various uhdergraduate science curricula. In addition, the students have an opportunity to become acquainted with the research being conducted hy two members of the College staff in hydrogen bonding and in enzyme kinetics. The use of such instrumentation as gas chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and spectrophotometry is demonstrated, as well as the interaction of an on-line computer with these machines. The staging of these chemistry workshops has proven to be an excellent way of providing interaction among high school and college chemistry students and faculty. I n addition, they have been very successful in attracting qualified, interested students. Although numerous requests have been received to
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Modular Laboratory Program in Chemistry, Willard Grant Press, Boston, MA.
expand the program to accommodate more students, the program has been maint.ained with approximately 32 students in each of 2 one-week worksho~s.with students from different *r,.imdary ichwd
