In the Classroom
Strategies To Simplify Service-Learning Efforts in Chemistry Susan Sutheimer Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT 05764;
[email protected] Integrating service activities into chemistry courses has become increasingly popular as a teaching and learning tool. Research indicates that curriculum-based service-learning has many benefits for students, including improved cognition, enhancement of course-related skills, and application of course concepts to real-world experiences (1, 2). As students gain an appreciation of the need for community engagement they also strengthen their connections to the instructor and college (3). Additionally the community partner benefits from both the expertise and the services of the class. Excellent examples of service-learning pedagogy in natural and physical science courses are detailed in this and other science journals (2, 4–7), and in publications (8, 9) and Web sites (10, 11) dedicated to service-learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. In the sciences, service-learning has been especially successful in the environmental sciences as well as in chemistry and biology courses with an environmental or analytical focus. Also popular are programs that provide tutoring or chemistry demonstrations for elementary or secondary school students. Barriers and Aids to Incorporating Service-Learning Despite these potential benefits, chemistry faculty face several impediments to using service-learning in their classrooms. One of the major difficulties is finding a good community partner. Some potential community partners do not have needs relevant to chemistry classes or have expectations that exceed the scope of the course. Other willing organizations may need analytical information with specifications for data beyond the expertise of many undergraduates. Sometimes legal, ethical, and privacy issues are a barrier to community-based projects (12). Colleges located in rural areas have difficulty finding commu-
Figure 1. General chemistry students collect water samples as part of a simple short service-learning project. Photo by Paul Dahm of Green Mountain College.
nity partners with needs that can be met in conjunction with chemistry courses. Chemistry faculty considering using service-learning also face curricular and logistical challenges. Many chemistry courses, like those in other natural and physical sciences, are expected to cover significant amounts of specified material during the semester. Consequently faculty are often reluctant to include service projects in addition to an already large quantity of material. Unlike other disciplines in which whole syllabuses change to accommodate service-learning projects, chemistry courses are often difficult to alter both from time and content perspectives. Similarly, class size and transportation to work sites often constrain the addition of service-learning to the curriculum. Some of these challenges are less problematic in smaller chemistry classes or in classes that have more flexibility, including general education courses for nonmajors and selected laboratory courses. Flexibility of the teacher, curriculum, and institution is the key to integrating service-learning into a course. When flexibility is coupled with some simplifying strategies, many faculty may find it easier to successfully incorporate service-learning modules into their classes. The Simple Short Project One strategy for simplifying the use of service-learning in chemistry is to utilize a simple short project (SSP) as a servicelearning component of a course. Unlike some disciplines where one often sees weeks or months dedicated to a service-learning project, SSP makes sense especially in situations in which a simple project can incorporate or illustrate a salient point of the course. The SSP may utilize only a few class sessions or a single laboratory period and so be applicable to a variety of chemistry courses. A very successful short-term service-learning project in our general chemistry lab was done at the request of the director of the local watershed district. In early May, she is required to collect water samples from a relatively large number of sites throughout the watershed in a short period of time. A state or private lab then analyzes these samples for a variety of chemical and biological parameters. To be of service to this organization, the class dedicates one, 4-hour laboratory period in addition to two, 20-minute periods of class time. During the first of the class periods, students learn of the importance of quality sampling for obtaining both representative samples and for the validity of the final analytical result. During the laboratory period a watershed naturalist instructs them in the proper techniques of sampling, labeling, and handling surface water at a riverside location. Each student then practices the sampling technique several times. Students subsequently drive to off-campus sites to collect river water samples using these techniques (Figure 1). Although a simple exercise, students reflecting on the project during the second twenty-minute period described a feeling of pride in their meaningful contribution to the watershed district and an appreciation for learning something about
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In the Classroom
real-world chemistry. The community partner was equally appreciative, observing that: Our water quality monitoring program provides important information to help the public understand local issues and make good decisions, but it is too large of a project for us to do on our own. To have the assistance of volunteers, especially students who will not only help gather data, but then learn from it and share that knowledge, increases the value of our work tremendously.
Organic Chemistry I lab students participated in a simple short project that benefited the Vermont Achievement Center (VAC), a nonprofit organization that serves children and families in our local region. Early in the fall semester students were asked to collect ~1 L of natural materials to make dyes. They received several literature sources for investigating a wide variety of dye possibilities (13, 14) and information on the chemistry of colors, mordants, dyes, and dyeing. In previous years students in organic chemistry dyed swatches of cloth or wool for this experiment; for this service-learning lab they dyed cotton infant bodysuits called “onesies”. While the basics and theory of the experiment did not vary much from previous iterations, the focus of the lab became completely different. Rather than merely trying to get through the experiment, this time the students focused on making colorful and sometimes tie-dyed onesies for distribution to families through VAC. To complete the project, representatives from VAC met later with the class to discuss the nonprofit’s mission and programs and to accept the dyed baby clothes. Students also reflected on the project, wholeheartedly agreeing that the experiment became more meaningful and connected them better to the community than the same experiment would if using swatches of cloth or wool. Some student comments included these quotations: It was cool to be dyeing something for a reason. It introduced us to the subject and showed how it has real-world applications. It also felt more purposeful than most of the other labs we have performed in the past, since the very first thing we did the whole semester ended up benefiting children in a rather important way—clothing them.
Using the College as a Community Partner A second strategy for simplifying service-learning projects is to utilize the college as a community partner. While many strict service-learning advocates may find this to be problematic, rural and sometimes urban colleges often find a paucity of nearby community partners with course-related needs. Transportation to distant work sites is time consuming and can be expensive. At the same time colleges may have substantial land holdings and require information to better manage their grounds. Chemistry classes can build longterm databases by monitoring the water quality of campus ponds or determining soil chemistries in college gardens, farms, and forests. Our general chemistry and nonmajors chemistry courses use the college as a community partner during a unit on plastics and polymers. Early in this unit students as a class or a lab group sort recyclable plastics in our student-staffed recycling center. Even a short time sorting plastics provides students with some hands-on experience in the basic types of recyclables. This 232
service also introduces them to the magnitude of the recycling problem and triggers questions on why some plastics are not recyclable, why plastics must be sorted, and how are they processed. While the service is to the college, this project is every bit as rewarding and educationally valuable as similar projects for community partners. Students have reported that they appreciated the hands-on experience, and that it helped them to understanding subsequent materials on the formation and recycling of plastics and polymers. For the instructor, preparation time was streamlined by eliminating both transportation to an outlying recycling location and the need to research communitybased partners. Projects Tangential to Chemistry The third strategy is to employ project topics tangential to the science of chemistry. Rather than using the direct application of traditional course content, the use of projects from what could be called the “sidebars” of chemistry texts may be equally valuable to students as service-learning projects. In our case, the students in general chemistry are helping the local historical society to learn more about the historical uses of the chemicals in their collections. This project originated with the discovery in this area of a pharmaceutical kit thought to date from the mid-19th century. The kit, which resembles a doctor’s bag, contains 130 labeled vials of chemicals and plant powders. During a single laboratory period, students visit the Poultney Historical Society, learn from the curator some of the history of the Society and its holdings, and investigate the pharmaceutical kit and a U.S. Civil War Era medicine exhibit. (A chemistry class in a previous service-learning project designed the exhibit, which includes the pharmaceutical kit and other information about the period’s medicine.) For the service-learning assignment, each student chooses a chemical name from a vial in the kit, then researches the literature to determine its current or IUPAC name, find its historic and current uses, and identify toxicity, physical, chemical, and biological properties. Using a common template, students prepare a page of information on each chemical. The finished page is added to the historical society’s collection of similar writings from previous classes. A total of over 60 students in both general chemistry and nonmajors science classes have participated in this project. Students have made some very interesting discoveries, including a large number of currently recognized toxins and explosives. At the same time they have increased the depth of their chemical knowledge, learned to use the chemical literature, and have substantially contributed to the collection of information for the historical society. Students also make a new, interdisciplinary link to the medicines used during the 19th century and in many cases much earlier. One third-year student in environmental studies commented that “It was fascinating to have a window onto the medicine practiced 150 years ago…. We took a great deal from it…and I think the town did, too” (15). Other good examples of tangential experiences occur in service-learning programs that specialize in tutoring or providing chemistry demonstrations for precollege students. Esson and colleagues describe a project in which students in the second quarter of Introductory Chemistry “proposed and implemented chemistry projects…with students from a local elementary
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 85 No. 2 February 2008 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • © Division of Chemical Education
In the Classroom
school” (2). Lee found that college students who participated in a tutoring project for secondary school students in science scored significantly better on chapter tests (16). Hatcher-Skeers and Aragon discovered that students overwhelmingly enjoyed performing chemistry demonstrations for middle school students and “were very serious about their responsibility as teachers of science” (5). Enhancing the science experience of young students by tutoring, providing demonstrations, or working together on special projects are especially effective ways of doing service-learning, are a welcome benefit to the community, and are relatively easily arranged and carried out with willing local schools. Once again flexibility becomes important, as students and faculty alike may need to adjust their schedules as well as their ideas of what a chemistry class “must” entail in order for such programs to be viable. Expanding Service-Learning in Chemistry Undoubtedly the introduction of service-learning in chemistry has its challenges. Even in these few examples it is easy to envision the time and logistics necessary to manage a service-learning project. Yet these are memorable active learning endeavors that benefit students, colleges, and community partners in lasting ways. If flexibility is the key to opening up chemistry classrooms to service-learning, then creativity is the key to building exemplary experiences. All of the examples above required imagination on the part of the faculty member as well as the community partner. In most cases development of the project also relied on the creativity of the students. Even in simple projects students can play a significant creative function. For example, students suggested the components used in creating the template for the Historical Society project, and designed the logistics for the timely collection of samples for the watershed sampling project. These activities create student ownership, foster learning communities, and lead students into the realization that the application of science in the real world must incorporate their multiple talents. Surely faculty themselves benefit from the creativity of the students. In combination with the flexibility in course content afforded by the faculty member, creative servicelearning projects can become effective means to accomplish course learning goals. Acknowledgments This work is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation DUE-0126421 for enhancing the undergraduate laboratory experience using an environmental focus, instrumental methods, and service-learning; and by a Learn and Serve America: Higher Education grant through the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Special thanks go to the General Chemistry II classes, Ron Steffens, the Poultney Historical Society, The Poultney–Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District, and the Service-Learning Program at Green Mountain College.
Literature Cited 1. Zlotkowski, E. Introduction. In Service-Learning and the FirstYear Experience: Preparing Students for Personal Success and Civic Responsibility (Monograph 34), Zlotkowski, E., Ed.; University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition: Columbia, SC, 2002; p x. 2. Esson, J. M.; Stevens-Truss, R.; Thomas, A. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 1168. 3. Vogelgesang, L. J.; Ikeda, E. K.; Gilmartin, S. K.; Keup, J. R. ServiceLearning and the First-Year Experience: Outcomes Related to Learning and Persistence. In Service-Learning and the First-Year Experience: Preparing Students for Personal Success and Civic Responsibility (Monograph 34), Zlotkowski, E., Ed.; University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition: Columbia, SC, 2002; pp 15–24. 4. Kesner, L; Eyring, E. M. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 920. 5. Hatcher-Skeers, M.; Aragon, E. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 462. 6. Draper, A. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 221. 7. Cracolice, M.S.; Ward, K. Chem. Educator 1998, 3, S1430-4171(98)03213-2. 8. Life, Learning, and Community: Concepts and Models for ServiceLearning in Biology; Brubaker, D. C., Ostroff, J. H., Eds.; American Association for Higher Education: Washington DC, 2000. 9. Acting Locally: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Environmental Studies, Ward, H. Ed.; American Association for Higher Education: Washington, DC, 1999. 10. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, Chemistry and ServiceLearning in Higher Education. http://www.servicelearning.org/ resources/quick_guides/chem_he/ (accessed Oct 2007). 11. Campus Compact, Syllabi by Discipline (Chemistry) http://www. compact.org/syllabi/list.php?discipline=Chemistry (accessed Oct 2007). 12. Fitch, A.; Reppmann, A.; Schmidt, J. The Ethics of Community/ Undergraduate Collaborative Research in Chemistry. In Acting Locally: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Environmental Studies, Ward, H., Ed.; American Association for Higher Education: Washington, DC, 1999; pp 53-64. 13. Editorial Staff. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 1688A. 14. Richards, L.; Tyrl, R.J. Dyes from American Native Plants: A Practical Guide; Timber Press: Portland, OR, 2005. 15. Bolag, Burton. The Chronicle of Higher Education 2005, Oct 21, A10. 16. Lee, A. Learners as Teachers: A Chemistry Tutoring Project. In Program Book, 19th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, July 30–August 3, 2006; Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN, 2006; p 335.
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