Chemical Education Today
From Past Issues
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Posters—Old Tool, New Tech by Butler J. Raines, Chantelle Gaskin Gomez, and Kathryn R. Williams
The photograph in Figure 1 shows the posters and wall hangings at the front of the auditorium of the University of Minnesota chemistry building in 1929 (1). They were probably typical of those in science halls throughout the 20th century: a periodic table, the electromotive series, names and symbols of the polyatomic ions, common weak acids and bases, and similar references. Posters have been used as teaching tools since the birth of the Journal of Chemical Education and probably for many decades before. Early JCE articles emphasized the importance of posters in the high school setting (2–5). A good example is the 1928 paper by Fannie L. Bell (3), which included photographs of the posters prepared by her students (such as shown in Figure 2). Bell clearly expressed the educational benefits of poster preparation—increased student awareness of the many roles of chemistry in everyday life, increased public appreciation via poster exhibits, and increased availability of teaching materials accumulated from year to year. In the early 1940s, William C. Curtis wrote a threearticle series on project-based learning in high school chemistry (6–8). In the lead article (6), Curtis provided an extensive list of topics for posters with suggested sources for information and a bibliography organized by topic. Although the material is now more than 60 years old, the Curtis paper can still serve as an idea bank for displays and science fair projects. After the appearance of the series by Curtis, this Journal was devoid of poster-related papers until the 1980s. In part,
the newer papers reflected a resurgence of posters intended for high school students or the general public (9–11). But late 20th century applications moved into college curricula (12–15)—along with a new buzz term, the “poster session”. Faculty have effectively used poster presentations in one-semester general chemistry surveys as well as intermediate-level courses for chemistry majors. Not surprisingly, poster preparation and dissemination have been enhanced by computer technology and the Internet. Most noteworthy is Sally Rigeman’s experiment in her AP chemistry class (11), whose successful poster projects led to in-service workshops for teachers and a series of Web pages. Digital plotters have been used to prepare page-size blocks since early in the microcomputer era (16), and now the advent of large-format printers makes it possible to prepare custom single-sheet displays. Two years ago, the University of Florida Chemistry Department purchased a Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 500PS printer, primarily to prepare easy-to-mount displays for professional meetings. Soon research groups began mounting posters about their projects in the hallways near their labs. We quickly realized that the DesignJet printer also provided an opportunity to revive posters as a teaching tool. Since students routinely crowd the hallways waiting for their classes or labs to start, why not decorate the walls with colorful posters about fundamental chemistry concepts and/or laboratory procedures?
Figure 2. “Contributions of Chemistry to the Automobile”, a poster made by a student in Ms. Fannie Bell’s high school chemistry class. (JCE 1928, 5, 161).
Figure 1. The chemistry auditorium at the University of Minnesota in 1929. Note the two large tables mounted over the doors and the smaller posters on the front wall. (JCE 1929, 6, 1499).
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Chemical Education Today
Figure 3. Sample poster on Spectrophotometric Methods for the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Florida. The full size of finished posters is 36 x 48; this and the other posters in this set are available as supplementary material in this issue of JCE Online.W
So far, efforts have targeted the introductory analytical chemistry lab. There is a separate poster for each experiment, including the background theory in outline form, close-up digital photographs of the apparatus, and hints about the data analysis. Additional posters teach essential techniques like pipetting and use of a volumetric flask, as well as balancing redox reactions. A sample poster on the spectrophotometric determination of iron using Ocean Optics instrumentation is shown in Figure 3. The posters are popular with the students as a handy way to prepare for lab, review for quizzes, and obtain help with reports. The laboratory TAs often use the posters as part of their prelab talks. The computer and large format printer have revived and enhanced the instructional poster—an excellent example of the coupling of modern technology with a time-tested teaching tool. W
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
15. 16.
Supplemental Material
Bell, Fannie L. J. Chem. Educ. 1928, 5, 157–167. Stone, Charles H. J. Chem. Educ. 1929, 6, 1535–1541. Rademacher, E. E. J. Chem. Educ. 1931, 8, 688–698. Curtis, William C. J. Chem. Educ. 1941, 18, 293–295. Curtis, William C. J. Chem. Educ. 1942, 19, 458–459. Curtis, William C. J. Chem. Educ. 1944, 21, 547–550. Pacer, Richard A. J. Chem. Educ. 1991, 68, 549–550. Sullivan, Dan M. J. Chem. Educ. 1992, 69, 133–134. Rigeman, Sally. J. Chem. Educ. 1998, 75, 727–730. Dunstan, Marie; Bassinger, Pat. J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 1067–1069. Sisak, Mary E. J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 1065–1067. Mills, Pamela A.; DeMeo, Stephen; Sweeney, William V.; Marino, Robert; Clarkson, Sandra. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1158–1161. Huddle, Penelope Ann. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1152–1153; Huddle, Penelope Ann. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1154–1157. Pearson, T. D. L.; Greer, M. J.; Demas, J. N. J. Chem. Educ. 1981, 58, 691–692.
PowerPoint files for the complete set of posters are available in this issue of JCE Online. Literature Cited 1. Kirk, R. E. J. Chem. Educ. 1929, 6, 1497–1502. 2. Jacobs, Adeline H. J. Chem. Educ. 1925, 2, 792–794.
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Kathryn R. Williams is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, PO Box 117200, Gainesville, FL 326117200;
[email protected]. Butler J. Raines and Chantelle Gaskin Gomez designed the posters as part of the requirements for the Master of Science in Teaching degree.
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