Article pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Incorporating Professional Service as a Component of General Chemistry Laboratory by Demonstrating Chemistry to Elementary Students Rachel A. Morgan Theall* and Marcus R. Bond Department of Chemistry, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701, United States S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: Formalized participation in professional service is not often part of the college experience, especially for first-year students in chemistry courses. When service opportunities are offered, they are most often through elective credit, upper-level courses, extracurricular clubs, and the rare service-learning courses. We have successfully incorporated a large science service-learning opportunity into the general chemistry laboratory that provides multidisciplinary educational experiences for children and the community. The experience for the college students involves several weeks of preparation for a two-week laboratory module and participation in the public event on the university campus. College students involved in the second year of the event were surveyed to determine the impact of formalized participation in professional service on their attitude toward science and participation in future professional service events. Highly positive responses on the surveys and public interest in the event suggest continuing and expanding on the science offerings in our geographic location. KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, Curriculum, Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning, Enrichment/Review Materials, Student-Centered Learning
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UNDERGRADUATE PARTICIPATION IN SERVICE College student participation in professional service is rarely a requirement for earning a degree in chemistry. A survey of the Internet and this Journal shows that some university programs offer elective credit3 to chemistry majors who have an interest in service-learning or community outreach. Certain classes also have a component of the course dedicated to service through the lecture course,4−6 general chemistry laboratory7,8 upperlevel chemistry courses and labs9 or nonmajors courses.10 Where credit is not offered, students volunteer time outside of class to participate in professional service through chemistry clubs, the American Chemical Society’s Student Chapters, National Chemistry Week activities, and the professional chemistry fraternity Alpha Chi Sigma. All of these opportunities are of high quality and provide a great service to the community either by helping organizations and groups find answers and solve problems related to chemistry or by supplementing education by providing excitement and entertainment through chemistry demonstrations and lessons. The reasons that service opportunities for students become part of an undergraduate education are varied; it may be the mission of the university11 or chemistry department3,6,12 or driven by interest from specific faculty members as part of a plan to create a competent, creative, and civically engaged workforce. Employers look for chemistry graduates to be skilled in critical thinking, able to develop innovative ideas, have experience in oral and written communication, and able to
rofessional service in chemistry can take many forms, but it involves learned individuals providing customized information or services to specific groups. An example of a professional service activity is putting on a demonstration show for elementary school students. The type of service such an event provides and the intended recipient of knowledge depend on whether the event is classified as outreach, service-learning, volunteering, or science service learning. Classification of the demonstration show as outreach implies that the show has been put together by professionals and, although training of additional performers may take place, the main target for learning lies with the audience. Volunteering for the demonstration show may mean helping to set up for the show, disposal of the chemicals used, or replacing items as needed throughout the show, but learning is not the intent of volunteering. If the show supports service-learning,1 it is likely centered on a thematic unit from a course, such as water conservation, performed by the students in the course, and analyzed also by the students in the course for its effectiveness (For example, in the case of a demonstration show: what did the elementary school students and the students in the course learn by doing the demonstration show?). Science service learning is defined by Cartwright2 to be “college students helping elementary and secondary school students learn to perform hands-on experiments” that are of interest to the local community. Science service learning is similar to servicelearning; the difference being that science service learning lacks a formal reflective or evaluative piece performed by the college students but both the college students, and those served by the service are expected to be learning. © 2013 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: January 18, 2013 332
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INCORPORATION OF HSN INTO GENERAL CHEMISTRY Building on the success of the first year, additional funding was secured and HSN was packaged with other free science programs for children. The additional funding and programming required a community programs coordinator to be brought on board. In the first year, 100 college students had participated in the event for a small amount of extra credit, mostly in chemistry classes. Feedback from these volunteers indicated that they wanted a more formalized way to participate in HSN and the decision was made to integrate the event into general chemistry through the laboratory portion of the course, thus shifting the event from purely outreach to science service learning. From the beginning of the semester, students worked to prepare their HSN activities (Table 1). Planning began with
work collaboratively as a team; all skills that can be gained through participation in professional service.12 A look at job advertisements shows that these skills are included in descriptions as desirable qualities for future employees.13 In the sciences, the majority of professional service experiences come through environmental and agriculture courses.9,14 Traditionally, however, chemistry course emphasis is placed on theoretical and practical knowledge, such as how to determine an electron configuration or how to perform a specific lab procedure, rather than on transferable job skills, such as communication, teamwork, and cooperation.12,13 An event, Halloween Science Night (HSN), which we have developed at our institution, has provided a rare case in which professional service has been incorporated into a general chemistry laboratory course. It is different than any of the previously described types of service as it provides a unique learning opportunity for students, specifically because the content of a course and corresponding service event is controlled by the college students themselves. Here, general chemistry students learn to perform demonstrations, the chemistry behind their demonstrations, and how to lead activities that target an elementary school population, all as part of their general chemistry experience. These activities also provide an opportunity for both college students and elementary-aged children and their families to learn aspects of science not typically covered in the regular K−12 curriculum.
Table 1. Timeline for the HSN Project Week 1 2−4 5 6
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BACKGROUND ON HALLOWEEN SCIENCE NIGHT Halloween Science Night had its beginnings as an outreach event that paralleled the idea behind Trunk-or-Treat events put on by local civic and religious organizations. Rather than coming to a parking lot dressed in costume to gather sweets out of the trunks of cars, children (with their families) were invited to the university teaching and research labs. The children were provided aprons and safety goggles, so they could be dressed as scientists, and participated in science learning activities related to some of the common themes of Halloween. The original proposal for the event was funded by the American Chemical Society through a Local Section Innovative Activities Grant that provided money for materials, newspaper advertising, and activities to put on a free, public science event for children. Three faculty members worked together to create the programming and decided to create an event where children visited teaching labs and classrooms to participate in specially designed activities centered on themes such as “slime”, glowing things, crystals, glass, plants, non-mammal animals, bones, microscopes, bubbles, stars, and others from the fields of chemistry, biology, physics, and astronomy. The first year attracted 184 registered attendees between the ages of 5 and 12 years and a few drop-ins. All children or groups of children were required to be accompanied by at least one adult as they participated in the 16 planned rooms. Each room included multiple activities centered on the room theme, thematic take-home information and at-home activities, and small prizes. The evening concluded with a large group demonstration show that took place in an auditorium. At the concluding show, the children treated the scientists and college student volunteers like rock stars, clapping and cheering as each demonstrator was introduced and the demonstrations were performed. By including parents and other family members, it is estimated that around 600 people were present for the first year of HSN. The program originally used for HSN has already been used as a model for similar events at other institutions.6
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Activity Introduce and explain HSN project. Handout Project Proposal Form and Activity Sign-Up sheet Students groups meet outside of class to decide on a project. Student groups hand in the Activity Sign-Up sheet Instructor approves the activity or talks with student groups about modifications Students test their activities or demonstrations in lab and write a script for what they would say about their project. Students present the activities or demonstrations to the class. Students welcome the community to campus to participate in HSN activities
students forming groups and choosing a topic to be used for creating or adapting an activity for children. Activities could be chosen off a suggested list, but students were also free to choose their own topics. Students then began searching for activities to develop for their projects and the chemical explanations behind their demonstration or activities in preparation for the two scheduled HSN lab periods a month later where the activities were practiced and presented. Each group was required to turn in a project proposal that was approved by the instructor based on suitability for children and on availability of supplies. Supplies needed to perform activities during lab time were obtained from the chemistry department stockroom. Projects were submitted several weeks before the start of the module to allow time for locating the supplies and to ensure adequate stock of certain chemicals. Activities where supplies were going to be above departmental budgetary allotments, difficult to obtain, or too dangerous were adjusted in consultation between the laboratory instructor and students in the group. In some cases, videos of reactions were used to exhibit dangerous chemical behavior. Each of the 12 lab sections had about six different projects developed by students working in groups of four, a number that could be easily managed by the instructor. During the first week of HSN activities in the lab, students tested their activities or demonstrations and wrote a script for what they would say about their project. Project requirements were to explain the chemistry at about a third grade level, relate the chemistry to real life, and include an activity for children to participate in. During the second scheduled HSN lab period, students presented their projects to the class. Students in each section provided feedback to each other and the instructor on the quality of the presentation and the activity developed for the 333
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concepts they covered for their projects and what their role would be in the development and presentation of the activity. They had the opportunity to engage in the event through all four learning style modalities. For example, assimilators are students who are good at pulling information together and were likely to have participated by looking up demonstrations and activities that would fit well with the chosen concept. Divergers may become leaders of the group providing motivation, creativity, and linking the project to real life. Convergers could find additional information for the projects and reasons for why it would be important to learn the chemical concept or work well outside of the project as the person who handed out information or helped children find their way to activities that would interest them. Students could act as an accommodator by problem solving (making the demonstration work) and role playing (presenting the activity or signing up to participate in the demonstration show).
children. The instructor evaluated the presentations and the project as part of the lab grade. The faculty teaching the lab and organizers of the event chose from the activities presented by the students those that were innovative and professionally prepared as projects to be performed during the science night. The chosen projects were incorporated into existing room themes but also resulted in the creation of two new rooms that contained entirely student-developed projects. The remaining students (whose projects were not chosen) signed up to help with the operation of the event including assisting with other activities designed by faculty members or the ACS Student Members Chapter, acting as guides for visitors, answering questions and distributing the room science toys and treats that children took home, acting in the demonstration show, staffing safety stations, setting up for the event, or assisting with participant check-in. Students unable to be present on the day of HSN or who objected to the Halloween theme helped with pre-event set up in the days and weeks leading up to HSN and with cleaning up after the event. The 2010 event was funded with a total of $6100 in grant money from the local section of the American Chemical Society, the Local Sections Activities Committee (LSAC) Innovative Projects Grant, and the Missouri Foundation for Health. The funds were used for supplies for 300 children attending all of the rooms (not just the chemistry rooms), safety goggles and aprons for each child, printing costs, advertising in print and radio, science toys and treats for children to take home, student worker help, and chemical supplies including liquid nitrogen. This budget was a large increase over the previous year’s budget of $1900 funded entirely by the LSAC Innovative Projects Grant. The principles of good practice in community service pedagogy were considered in the development of the assignment.11 The nature of a large service-learning project is that the instructor develops the framework for instruction and the students develop the content. HSN, being similar to a service-learning project followed the same format. As content was expected to vary widely from section to section for the HSN laboratory activities, a rubric was designed to help maintain academic rigor for the course. Credit was awarded to the students for the design of their projects, the presentation of the project to the class, and a written report. For the student to be successful in the project, the group had to explain in their written report the chemistry behind the activity they developed, explain what children should observe during the activity, and describe why these observations were important. To keep the focus on learning, not service, only 5 points out of the 30 available for the assignment were awarded for participation in HSN. The 5 points for participation were thought necessary to ensure that students would not cancel their plans to attend the event at the last minute. The grading rubric used for the HSN projects, along with other handouts distributed to students to help with planning projects, can be found in the Supporting Information. In determining how to incorporate the HSN event into the general chemistry laboratory course, theories of servicelearning, based on the learning styles models of Kolb11,15 were used. These were considered because in a class the size of general chemistry, many majors and different learning interests are represented. All four of Kolb’s learning stylesi.e. divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodatorswere represented in the HSN portion of the general chemistry course. Students in this project were allowed to choose the
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DESCRIPTION OF HSN 2010 Halloween Science Night 2010 took place on Saturday, October 23, 2010, from 5 to 9 p.m. within the teaching and research laboratories of the university. It is estimated that 1000 people were in attendance, which included 325 registered children ages 4−15 years, their parents, siblings, and extended family. Eighteen science rooms were organized for the event. These rooms were staffed and prepared by just over 300 people, around 90% of whom were students enrolled in general chemistry. The room titles and a short description of the activities in each room can be found in Tables 2 and 3, with chemistry specific rooms listed in Table 2. Table 2. Description of Chemistry Related HSN Room Activities Room Title
Chemistry Activity
Boom! Room
Demonstrations of chemical reactions that produce noise or light Make and investigate the properties of three kinds of slime Solve a forensic chemistry mystery and play with things that glow Observe glass blowing and learn about glass Demonstrations and activities involving the properties of water
Slime Room Glow Cave Glass Circus Danger! Dihydrogen monoxide Freeze Room Crystal Lab Movie Special Effects
Demonstrations involving freezing at all temperatures Observe X-ray crystallography and grow crystals National Chemistry Week theme room: explanations and demonstrations of noncomputer generated special effects used in movies
Thematic programming in the science labs and classrooms took place from 5 to 8 p.m. The conclusion of the event began at 8 p.m. with an hour-long science show called The Amazing Molecular Race that was written by the organizers and students from the ACS Student Members Chapter. The show was based on the Fusion Science Theater format16 and performed by students in general chemistry and the ACS Student Members Chapter.
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SURVEYS OF STUDENTS INVOLVED IN HSN 2010 At the 2009 event, the organizers observed that the student volunteers seemed to enjoy the activity almost as much as the children. In a local newspaper story about the event,17 a student, who had dropped the general chemistry class yet still 334
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Analysis of Pre-Event Surveys
Table 3. Description of Other HSN Room Activities Room Title Star Lab Rocket Launch Bird’s Nest: Eagle Blood Room Body Room Carnivorous Plants Marine Biology Room Microscopic Space High Voltage Room Electrostatic Room
Because general chemistry is required of many majors, participants in 2010 included 49 self-identified majors from all of the degree programs in the College of Science and Math as well as majors from health and exercise sciences, computer science, and humanities. Students were asked why they were participating in HSN and 194 responded that their participation was based solely on enrollment in general chemistry. Many of the students also participated for reasons of fraternal service, science clubs, or extra credit in other science classes. Students were asked if they had participated in professional service prior to HSN. Fifty-nine percent of the students indicated that they had participated in at least one professional service event, as indicated by responses to two survey questions: “Please indicate the number of professional service activities in which you have participated” and “If you have participated in professional service in the past, what field was that service a part of?” For purposes of the surveys, professional service was defined as participation in science events for the public outside of normal class time or the regular duties for a job. However, analysis of the open-ended responses to the latter question leads us to believe that the percentage of students with previous professional service experience is significantly less than 59%. Many of the reported activities took place through community or church organizations and were not related to science. It is common for people to confuse service-learning, outreach, community service, and volunteerism.11,18 It is not possible to differentiate from the responses how many service activities were related to professional service in science and how many were related to other fields or were volunteerism.
Science Activity Walk-in inflatable star map Make straw rockets and test launching variables to improve distance traveled Dissect owl pellets and attend a presentation of a live American Bald Eagle Track the circulatory system, dissect a heart, and demonstrations Touch bones of mammals and investigate body parts Plant a Venus fly trap and take it home Identify sea shells, learn about shark teeth, pet sea creatures Observe bacteria and microbes through a microscope Experiment with a Van de Graff generator and observe super conductors Experiments and activities involving static electricity
showed up to volunteer, commented about how much she enjoyed working with the children, even though she was no longer enrolled in chemistry. Many other student participants from outside of general chemistry volunteered as a means to gain professional experience useful for resumes or applications for postgraduate study or to gain service credit with fraternal or pre-professional organizations on campus. The disparate motivations for volunteering for the event and the degree of satisfaction that college student participants appeared to gain from the event prompted us to investigate participant attitudes. We were also interested in determining whether HSN should remain a part of the laboratory curriculum. All general chemistry students and other volunteers were given a survey prior to working the event and a follow-up survey when the event was over. The 281 students enrolled in general chemistry in the fall of 2010 were administered the preand post-event surveys during their regular weekly lab meetings. These surveys were completed without student names or identifiers and were approved by the university’s research with human subjects committee. Questions on the preevent survey focused on gathering information about previous service experiences, reasons for participation in the event, major, gender, and interest level in science. Questions on the post-event survey gathered information on how the event benefited students, knowledge gained by students, and likelihood of participating in an event like HSN again.
Analysis of Post-Event Surveys
Following HSN, the college students were again surveyed to determine what benefits they perceived to have gained from the class projects and from helping with the event. Fewer college students replied to the post-event survey (N = 125), and of those, only 47 responses were given to the open-ended question that asked students “Do you feel that participation in professional service activities like Halloween Science Night is beneficial to you and if so, how?” Many of the responses were positive. The largest number of responses (35) for how students had benefited indicated that students had learned how children learn or how to teach people about science. Although it takes much more than a single semester to gain these skills, it is encouraging that students self-identified that they believed they learned a little about how to teach people about science.
Figure 1. Percentage responses for each Likert rating. 335
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future. Before the event, 59% of those surveyed believed that they had participated in service in the past. Hence, approximately half, or more, of the students who had not previously been involved in service are now motivated to participate in further professional service activity. Given a recent report that scientists in academia are not interested in helping with K−12 education,19 it is encouraging to find that students are interested in being involved with a similar event or HSN events in the future. Their excitement may encourage more faculty involvement in K−12 professional service. The main obstacle in implementing a professional service activity such as HSN is the amount of time and effort required to prepare and organize it. Thus, it really is a team effort and drawing in additional faculty and institutional support is critical to maintaining and growing the activity.
And, this is seen as a positive step toward further participation in professional service. Two responses, “learning people skills” and “how to work in groups”, were the second most common responses. These are desirable skills for obtaining future employment and for success in upper-level chemistry courses where greater emphasis is placed on projects and group work. This laboratory module seems to have helped students to understand that chemists do not work in isolation, that being able to work with others is essential for success, and that it is important to be able to communicate about science with the public. Students were also asked what they had learned by participating in HSN. The most often chosen response to this question was that they had learned chemistry or specific chemical concepts. This result is not surprising given that the survey was given in a chemistry classes but it does show that one of the program objectives was achieved; students reported they learned chemistry concepts through participation in a professional service event. To measure changes in attitude toward science, students were asked the following on both the pre- and post-event surveys: “On a scale of 1−9 with 1 meaning that “I don’t like it” and 9 meaning “It’s my favorite thing” please rate your level of enthusiasm toward science by circling a number below. Five is considered neutral, meaning you neither like, nor dislike science.” Student responses are shown Figure 1. It is not surprising to find that in a single event, like HSN, there were no statistically significant differences in the responses provided by gender or survey. Overall, the majority of the students had a positive attitude about science both before and after the event. Responses to the final question asked on the post-event survey, “Would you help with an event like HSN in the future?” can be seen in Figure 2. A significant correlation was found
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DESCRIPTION OF HSN 2011 In the third year, we increased the educational value of the professional service component for general chemistry. Each team of students is now responsible for researching an element, preparing a poster, and a presentation of the poster and a related demonstration before the day of the event. HSN 2011 required more preparation than HSN 2010 with students performing an even greater range of more in-depth activities than the previous year. Informally, initial results show greater student engagement in the development of activities for the event with, in many cases, students taking video of their projects to post on social media or to send to parents. As with 2010, students involved with HSN 2011 cite the event as their favorite lab of the semester. The instructional strategies used appeal to a wide range of student interests and offer the opportunity for students to learn science topics from outside of the normal chemistry curriculum. The students were able to weave their own career goals and interests into their projects. In a time when students are rapidly switching away from science majors, more opportunities to work with professionals engaged in service events similar to HSN should be made available to students to keep them interested in science.5,6,12,15,19 The students showed more excitement when sharing their experiences with the young visitors at HSN 2011 and involvement with the ACS Student Members Chapter (the most active of the science clubs on our campus) has increased as students come to see the value in professional service. As the framework for HSN is now in place for the fall semester, we have plans to translate the activities into the spring semester in conjunction with “Chemists Celebrate Earth Day”, an annual event sponsored by the American Chemical Society.
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Figure 2. Percentage responses for “Would you help with an event like HSN in the future?”.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information *
The activity sign-up sheet, project proposal form, feedback form for project presentations, and grading rubric for the Halloween Science Night laboratory module. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
between the responses to this question and the responses shown in Figure 1, r(125) = 0.614, p < 0.001. The more a student liked science, the more likely they were to indicate that they would help with an event like HSN in the future. On this question, a response of 1 indicated the student would “Never again” help with an event like HNS and 9 meant the student felt it was “very likely” they would participate in another professional service even in the future. Those who answered 5 were indicating that it was neither likely nor unlikely that they would participate in service in the future. Overall, 79% of the respondents were likely to help with an event like HNS in the
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest. 336
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are grateful to the following individuals and organizations for their valuable assistance in making this professional service opportunity possible: Shannon McNew, event organizer; Charlie Vaughn, chemistry stockroom manager; B. Alexia Harris, student worker; Christy Mershon and the Office of Extended and Continuing Education; the Chemistry Club, faculty, and staff at Southeast Missouri State University; the American Chemical Society Southern Illinois Local Section; and the Missouri Foundation for Health.
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