SUSANH. HIXSON
Highlights
National Science Foundation Washington, DC 20550
CURTIST, SEARS. JR. Georgia State Univenity Atlanta, GA 30303
Projects supported ~I,J the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education The Chemistry of Art: A Laboratory Intensive Course Designed To Interest Nonscientists in Chemistry Janet L Schrenk, Pradip Malde, and John L. Bordley The University of the Swth Sewanee, TN 37375 The way artists use pigments, dyes, metals, and paper in creating their works of art provides an excellent framework for teaching the nonscience student some basic chemistry. We are therefore developing a course that explores the roles of chemistry in traditional artistic processes such as painting, making natural dyes, metal-casting, papermaking, and photography. Our goal is for each student to discover both the power and the excitement that an understanding of the basic chemistry underlying the materials and processes of artists may bring to their own artistic o nthe work of other artists. work and to their a ~ ~ r e c i a t i of Beginning with the synthesis of the pipnent Pmssian blue on the first day of class, laboratory experiences set the stage for lecture and class discussion. There arc two (1-114 hour1 lecture ~ e n o dplus s a three-hour lab each wcck, with all classes meeting inthe laboratory in order to more fully integrate the hands-on experiences with the lecture material. Each artist's process will be examined in the context of baiiic chemical principles. The synthesis of Prussian blue and the conversion of raw umber to burnt umber (via loss of water of hvdrationl ~rovidesthc impetus for discussing topics like mb~ecularfdrmulas, molecuiar weight, and st& chiometry. Similarly, using these pigments and commercially prepared pigments to make their own watercolor, oil, and egg tempera paints leads to consideration of both organic and inorganic structure. As a class, the students will determine which pigments require the most oil to obtain the proper consistency and which pigments catalyze or retard the d ~ n rates. g They use a calorimeter to measure the absorbance spectrum of their pigments and monitor the drying, fading, and reactivity of the pigments over the course of the term. Examination of pigments under the microscope promotes discussion of the interaction of light with materials. Finally, microchemicaltesting of pigments will further reinforce ideas related to chemical reactivity. Over the course of the semester, the various artistic topics permit discussion of many fundamental topics covered in an introductory chemistry curriculum. For example, acid-base chemistry is introduced via experiments with differing dye conditions and expanded upon in determining the pH and alkaline reserve of different papers. Oxidation and reduction are introduced with indigo dying and fully developed during sections on metal patination and photographic processes. In addition, several nontraditional topics are studied, such as phase diagrams and the relationship of the microstructure of a metal to its history,
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that is, whether it has been cast, worked, annealed, or quenched. To further facilitate the learning process some topics, includine color theom. ". the measurement of color. and the pmperties of pigments under the microscope, will be mtroduced throueh use of Macintosh HwerCard stacks. These stacks are c;rrently being develope&. ~~~
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Acknowledgement This work is supported by National Science Foundation award DUE 9153695.
An Introductory Laboratory Program in Chemistry: Focus on Attitudes Marjorie Kandel SUNY at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 11794-3400 We are developing both a workshop and an elementary laboratory course i n a n effort to improve students' attitudes toward and understanding of science. The Workshop The workshop is variously titled either "Introduction to Laboratory" or "Reduce your Lab Anxiety." It is anoncredit elective and of two three-hour sessions. Students - - consists ~ ~ who are worried that they have an insutlicient background or believe for oersonal reasons that thev won't be successful in a laborkory course sign up for the workshop. Featuxes of the workshop are (1)discussion groups in which students are guided to a realistic view of what is expected of them in laboratory and (2) experimental sessions in which they have an opportunity to apply simple deductive strategies to solve typical laboratory problems. The students come to realize that they already possess muchof the knowledze and manv of the practical skills thev need to be successful. ~ncrcasedconfidence f i r m these ;ealizations results both in better performance in, and a better attitude towards, laboratory c k s e s and the science they are intended to teach. ~
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The Elementary Laboratory Course The one credit laboratory course meeting one afiernoon a week is intended for students with little or no high school background in chemistry who are concurrently enrolled in our elementary chemistry lecture course. The initial experiments focus on observation and data collection that do not ---require specialized knowledge. About midway through the semester the laboratory begins to build on the concepts that the students have learned in the lecture course. A choice of experiments that apply similar techniques and are based on a common theme is offered each laboratory session. Students are encouraged to bring materials from home to test, and they have been inventive in their response to this opportunity. For example, when we suggested that they bring in extractable colored materials ~~~~~~~
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from ink, cosmetic, or fwd sources for thin-layer and paper chromatography experiments, they brought perhaps fay different materials to test, ranging from fluorescent marker pens to mascara to green mold on bread! Materials
We have available, upon request, a package for the workshop that includes the teaching plan, experimental writeups, and needed preparations. For the elementary laboratory course, a manual is being prepared; in addition to traditional topics, about half of the experiments will be de-
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Journal of Chemical Education
voted to organic and environmental chemistry and biochemistry. Because our materials are independent of a specific lecture sequence or textbook, they can be adapted to one-session meetings, short introductory courses, or the laboratory component of existing high school courses. Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank project participants Drs. Chirakkal V. Krishnan and Mohammad J. Akhtar. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation Grant DUF: 9055829.
