TECHNOLOGY REPORT pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Using Texas Instruments Emulators as Teaching Tools in Quantitative Chemical Analysis Vaneica Y. Young* Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, United States ABSTRACT: This technology report alerts upper-division undergraduate chemistry faculty and lecturers to the use of Texas Instruments emulators as virtual graphing calculators. These may be used in multimedia lectures to instruct students on the use of their graphing calculators to obtain solutions to complex chemical problems. KEYWORDS: Upper-Division Undergraduate, Analytical Chemistry, Computer-Based Learning, Multimedia-Based Learning, Quantitative Analysis, Student-Centered Learning
T
he use of graphing calculators, such as the TI-8X series, has been widely embraced in the secondary school, grades 9 12, mathematics curricula. Their use has been promoted in calculator-based laboratory (CBL) experiments. The use of graphing calculators in the postsecondary chemistry curriculum parallels the grades 9 12 usage. Strong arguments for the use of graphing calculators in upper-division chemistry lecture courses have been made.1 4 The first upper-division chemistry course encountered by science and engineering majors is analytical chemistry, arguably the first course where students can benefit from using the power of their graphing calculators to solve chemistry problems. At the University of Florida, the popular Quantitative Chemical Analysis textbook by Harris5 is used for the analytical chemistry course, and there are many places where the use of a graphing calculator is advantageous: statistical analysis, linear regression analysis for the determination of calibration curves, multiple equilibria problems leading to a polynomial with more than one unknown variable, or using Gauss Jordan elimination to solve simultaneous equations. I have found in my classes that most students do not know how to use their calculators to perform these tasks. Therefore, in appropriate lectures, the students take out their calculators, and we go through the solution steps together. This is done using a TI-83 Plus emulator, which is a free download from Texas Instruments as the TI-83 Plus/Ti-84 Plus/Ti-73 Explorer SDK (software development kit).6 The TI-83 Plus emulator is used, because the TI-83 Plus is the graphing calculator owned by most of the students. A screenshot of the simulator screen, with the calculator view superimposed is shown in Figure 1. After Go is selected from the Debug pull-down menu, the calculator is active, and the main menu and CPU menu may be minimized. The resize box is not active, but the image on the projector screen is large enough for students to see what keys are pressed, and what appears on the virtual LCD screen. It is also possible to display only the virtual LCD screen, but the resize is also inactive for that window. Thus, the virtual calculator cannot be used to replace the hardware equipment used for CBL applications. The mouse is used to make keystrokes. Similar to the actual calculator, the virtual calculator turns itself off after a period of inactivity. At the University of Florida, faculty do not have administrator privileges on the classroom multimedia Copyright r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Figure 1. TI-83 Plus Emulator (Image used with the permission of Texas Instruments).
equipment; therefore, I installed the SDK on a SanDisk Cruzer smart USB flashdrive, so that the emulator may be run from any computer. Alternatively, it could be installed as a portable application on an ordinary USB flash drive by using the open source program PortableApps.com.7 Texas Instruments also has a freely downloadable SDK for the TI-89, TI-89 Titanium, Voyage 200, and the TI-92 Plus.8 Adding the calculator component increases student participation in the problem-solving lecture components. Of course, the calculator component is used as a supplement. A priori and posteriori approximations that may be used to make complex problems manageable when only a scientific calculator is used are still taught. The SDKs are quite powerful, and any instructor can use them to develop course specific RAM-based assembly programs and Flash ROM-based applications, should he or she be inclined to do so. Published: July 12, 2011 1442
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed100706h | J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1442–1443
Journal of Chemical Education
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
’ ASSOCIATED CONTENT
bS
Supporting Information Several detailed examples of how the virtual TI-83 may be used in the quantitative analysis lecture course. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
*E-mail: vanyoung@ufl.edu.
’ REFERENCES (1) Menezes, W. J. C. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 1465. (2) Madden, S. P.; Wilson, W.; Dong, A.; Geiger, L.; Mecklin, C. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 903. (3) Kim, M.-H.; Ly, S.-Y.; Hong, T.-K. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1367. (4) Kim, M.-H.; Ly, S.-Y.; Hong, T.-K. Chem. Educ. 2002, 7, 233. (5) Harris, D. C. Quantitative Chemical Analysis, 8th ed.; W. H. Freeman and Company: New York, 2010. (6) Download Central: TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus/TI-73 Explorer SDK. http://education.ti.com/educationportal/downloadcenter/SoftwareDetail.do?website=US&tabId=1&appId=177 (accessed Jun 2011). (7) PortableApps.com: Portable Software/USB | Download PortableApps.com: Portable Software/USB Software for free at SourceForge.net. http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/ (accessed Jun 2011). (8) Download Central: TI-89/TI-92 Plus SDK. http://education. ti.com/educationportal/downloadcenter/SoftwareDetail.do?website= US&tabId=1&appId=178 (accessed Jun 2011).
1443
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed100706h |J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1442–1443
