Chemical Education Today
Association Report: 2YC3
NSF Curriculum Reform, Get Involved! by John T. Magner and José Barreto
For the past several years, NSF has been interested in funding chemistry projects at several institutions of higher learning with the stated purpose of reforming the first two years of the chemistry curriculum. The program has funded five major projects which have the potential to revolutionize chemistry education at the community college level (1). What are some of the problems that we face as community college faculty, and how can the NSF Curriculum Reform Projects benefit us? Ask yourself these questions: Do I feel that my students arrive in my class with a solid background in basic chemistry? Do they possess excellent problem solving skills? Are they engaged and active learners? Do they participate in discussion and enjoy the interchange of ideas? Are these questions important? If the answer is yes, would you appreciate some assistance along these lines? It is quite possible that the NSF Curriculum Reform Projects can provide you with the tools to make some of these things happen. Astoundingly, much of this help is available at no cost (if you have microcomputing resources and an Internet connection), and adopting these programs and technology should decrease your workload. Some specific examples follow. Problems with background? The Molecular Science Project1 offers software and network-deliverable, interactive learning units that are ideal for strengthening weak backgrounds. A learning unit has been developed for balancing chemical equations. Have the students go to the Molecular Science Web site 2 to use an interactive periodic table. GraphLab shores up essential graphing skills, an area where many students are painfully deficient. Students tend to rely on algorithmic problem-solving. Rather than understanding the important concepts embedded in a problem, they mimic solutions to old problems. Imagine now a stoichiometry learning unit where students solve a stoichiometry problem in an algorithmic fashion (in the typical manner). Then they are immediately shuttled to a modeling program where they build the molecules involved in the reaction and can see bonds broken and formed, to give reality to the concept of the conservation of matter. Solving a spectroscopy problem is a high-level, nonquantitative problem-solving skill. Practice problems and their answers are available on WebNMR. 3 An example of developing quantitative problem-solving skills can be seen in the Kinetics Learning Unit.4 Students can learn rates, reaction order, Ea, rate constants, and calculations by manipulating experimental data from inside an Excel spreadsheet (the details of manipulating the spreadsheet are provided within the module). Similarly, the New Traditions Project (2) offers “Challenge Problems”—multifaceted problems (some are also multimedia) that generally require a division of labor among a group of students before a solution can be constructed. How can we motivate students to be more engaged and active in their learning? The ChemLinks and Modular Chem Consortia (3) have developed a series of modules that challenge students with an important question: for example, what 956
should we do about global warming? Students find such questions engaging and relevant. The modules guide them to discover the important topics of general chemistry using active and collaborative classroom activities and discovery-based laboratories as they work to solve the theme question. The Workshop Chemistry Project (4) uses peer-led, team learning to engage students. Students are divided into groups of six or eight (facilitated by an undergraduate peer leader), that meet throughout the term. The peer leader guides the students in fun, collaborative activities typically involving problem-solving. Workshops are available on a regular basis for faculty interested in implementing Workshop Chemistry at their institutions. In addition to multimedia tools, the New Traditions (NT) Project has developed several other easily adapted techniques to improve the participation of students in chemistry courses. Cognitive research suggests that the average attention span of a student in a lecture is less than 20 minutes! The NT Project makes use of this research finding by developing “ConcepTest questions”—multiple-choice questions used to focus the class’s attention on a particular issue. The students vote on the answers, discuss the reason(s) for their choices with each other, and vote again. The correct choice is then revealed (either by the instructor or by one of the student groups with the correct answer). ConcepTest questions provide immediate feedback to the instructor and to the students on how well the class grasps a concept. A videotape showing possible uses of ConcepTests is available through the NT Web site.5 The NT project has also published a manual of inquirybased laboratory experiments. Workshops specifically for twoyear college faculty have been given on the implementation of New Traditions techniques in chemistry courses (2). The Molecular Science Project’s Calibrated Peer Review6 is a fascinating idea that selects students (who must pass a calibration test) to serve as reviewers of other students’ work. The instructor can create a field of questions about a particular subject (a lab report, for example), and three student reviewers “grade” the report by answering a series of multiple-choice questions. The entire process is anonymous—the reviewers do not know whose work they review, and the student does not know who reviewed his or her work. A great deal is learned in this process by the reviewer and the student whose work is being reviewed. The potential for collaboration between different institutions is immense, since the software is Web-based; and real assistance can be provided in reducing the instructor’s grading load. Check out this site! The objective of the NSF Reform Projects is not only to update the curriculum but also to make its presentation more effective. The philosophy at the foundation of these projects is constructivism. Students learn best by doing, whether engaged by interesting software or collaborating in peer-led workshops. We must break out of the static lecture mode of teaching and encourage independent thinking and learning. Institutions
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 75 No. 8 August 1998 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
Chemical Education Today edited by Ann Cartwright San Jacinto College, Central Campus Division of Science & Mathematics Pasadena, TX 77501-2007
involved in both the New Traditions and the Molecular Science Project have actually developed courses where the lecture has been completely replaced by interactive and discovery-based learning activities. In these courses, faculty serve as facilitators for this student-centered learning. But teaching differently also requires new forms of assessment. The New Traditions Web site (5) maintains a FLAG (Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide) link to new assessment instruments that have been developed and used by various individuals within the NT, ChemLinks, and Modular Chem consortia. NT also sponsored the development of a new form of the ACS General Chemistry Examination that pairs traditional (algorithmic) and conceptual questions on the same topics so that instructors can test and compare students’ understanding in each sphere. These examinations (“First Term General Chemistry Special Examination” and “Second Term General Chemistry Special Examination”) can be ordered from the ACS Exams Institute.7 What should you use? Every professor has his or her own individual style and emphasis. Some of what has been mentioned you will find useful, some you will not. Community colleges are active participants in the development and implementation of each of the projects mentioned and would welcome your participation. With so many wonderful ideas to choose from, the biggest mistake would be to do nothing. The cost of implementing any of these projects is low, and they just might reduce your workload. Notes 1. Links to the Web site for each of the projects except the Molecular Science Project can be found at the NSF Web site, Web Sites of Course and Curriculum Development Projects; http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/ EHR/DUE/web/ccd/ccdlist.htm#chem; accessed June 1998. 2. Mol Sci Home Page; http://www.pslc.ucla.edu/MolSci.html; accessed June 1998. 3. WebSpectra—Problems in NMR and IR Spectroscopy; http:// xenon.chem.ucla.edu/~webnmr/; accessed June 1998. 4. Guest Account Creation for “Chemical Kinetics”; http:// pong.nslc.ucla.edu:8900/webct/public/guest.pl?Kinetics; accessed June 1998. 5. New Traditions Home Page; http://newtraditions.chem.wisc.edu; accessed June 1998. 6. Calibrated Peer Review Welcome Page; http://server2.nslc.ucla.edu/ cpr/; accessed June 1998. 7. CHED at Clemson; http://tigerched.clemson.edu/; accessed June 1998.
Literature Cited 1. Russell, A. A.; Chapman O. L.; Wegner P. A. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 578. 2. Landis, C. R.; Peace, E. G.; Scharberg, M. A.; Branz, S.; Spencer, J. N.; Ricci, R. W.; Zumdahl, S. A.; Shaw, D. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 741. 3. Anthony, S.; Mernitz, H.; Spencer, B.; Gutwill, J.; Kegley, S.; Molinaro, M. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 322. 4. Gosser, D. K.; Roth V. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 185.
John T. Magner and José Barreto teach at Montgomery College, Couroe, TX 77384; email:
[email protected] and
[email protected]. JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 75 No. 8 August 1998 • Journal of Chemical Education
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