Downloaded via ARIZONA STATE UNIV on July 4, 2018 at 19:34:37 (UTC). See https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines for options on how to legitimately share published articles.
Chapter 7
Using a Context Rich Pedagogy To Teach Kinetics, Quantum Mechanics, and Spectroscopy Elaine M. Marzluff1,* and Mary A. Crawford2 1Department
of Chemistry, 1116 8th Avenue, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa 50112, United States 2Department of Chemistry, 2 E South Street, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois 61401, United States *E-mail:
[email protected] Context rich curricula have been shown to aid in attracting and retaining a diverse group of students, engage a variety of learning styles, and improve student performance. In physical chemistry, it can be difficult for students to see connections of class materials to other fields. To address this we have developed a set of interdisciplinary, inquiry based learning materials for physical chemistry that combine a guided reading of a recent paper from the literature with a complementary laboratory exploration. The classroom guided paper readings, which include discussion questions, biographical and historical background, are inspired by materials developed in the Physical Chemistry with a Purpose Series developed by Michelle Francl at Bryn Mawr College. The laboratory explorations emphasize spectroscopy (Fluorescence, Raman and UV-VIS), quantum chemistry and mathematical modeling. All experiments use inexpensive modular equipment and are designed to be done in a single class/lab session. Pre- and post- surveys show modest gains in students attitudes about physical chemistry. Analysis of student lab papers demonstrates a greater mastery of both the applicability and understanding of material when the guided paper reading was combined with the laboratory.
© 2018 American Chemical Society Teague and Gardner; Engaging Students in Physical Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Introduction This chapter describes the development of complementary laboratory and curricular materials to introduce physical chemistry students to spectroscopic and computational techniques with a context-rich pedagogical approach. When developing these materials, our goal was to enable students to use the tools and language of physical chemistry to solve scientific problems, understand and apply fundamental concepts, and to make interdisciplinary connections that reveal the relationship and relevance of physical chemistry to other scientific disciplines. The primary project goal of our work has been to develop adaptable laboratory and curricular materials for physical chemistry that introduce students to spectroscopic and computational techniques with a context-rich pedagogical approach. We report on the development and implementation of four spectroscopic based laboratories to be used in the physical chemistry curriculum, using inexpensive modular spectroscopic equipment. Three of the laboratories incorporate electronic structure computations, and the fourth utilizes computational modeling. Each of the laboratories is designed to complement a guided reading of a paper from the literature to provide context and expose student to interdisciplinary applications of the techniques studied in lab. Attitudinal surveys conducted pre- and post- introduction of the contextual material were used to assess the impact of contextualized laboratory experimentation on student learning gains, comprehension, and attitudes. The need for context-based materials at a national level has been the subject of several recent calls for reform of the physical chemistry curriculum (1–3). The classic texts for the physical chemistry laboratory are somewhat lacking in modern, contextualized spectroscopy experiments (4, 5). This has been attributed in part to the high cost of equipment (6). To address this, we have developed four affordable, modular spectroscopic laboratories coupled with context-rich physical chemistry lecture materials inspired by those developed by Dr. Michelle Francl at Bryn Mawr College (NSF DUE 0340873) (7). Laboratory exercises are designed to provide students with direct applications and training in Raman, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as computational chemistry and mathematical modeling to learn about modern applications of kinetics, quantum mechanics and spectroscopy. The scientific topics explored in the experiments and the accompanying materials are timely and recognize recent developments in the broad area of spectroscopy while also bringing in exploration of nanomaterials, an area recently highlighted by the ACS-CPT for further development (8). When constructing the guided paper reading, we placed emphasis on highlighting contributions of female and underrepresented scientists, as that is critically important in helping to diversify the STEM student population.
Physical Chemistry in a Context Recently revised guidelines for undergraduate chemistry published by the Committee on Professional Training (CPT) of the American Chemical Society call for a use of effective pedagogies including inquiry-based learning. The CPT 96 Teague and Gardner; Engaging Students in Physical Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
notes that the laboratory provides an optimal environment for implementing such strategies (9). Context-rich curricula have been demonstrated to attract and retain a diverse group of students, engage a myriad of learning styles, and improve overall student performance (10, 11). Over a decade ago, Dr. Francl developed six context-rich guided paper readings designed to be used in the classroom. Each guided reading focused on a recent paper in the primary chemical literature applying physical chemistry topics and principles to interdisciplinary research areas. The materials also included a background piece on the paper, discussion questions and problems, and additional reading for interested students. Also included was biographical information about important historical figures or current researchers in the field. Evaluation of the materials through pre- and post-assessment surveys concluded that while students appreciated the modules, they still struggled to see the transferability of the concepts introduced in physical chemistry to other disciplines (3). The assessment of the lecture materials speaks directly to ongoing concerns regarding undergraduate physical chemistry, particularly the ability of students to develop an understanding of how physical chemistry is applicable to other fields of chemistry and biological chemistry. This understanding is important given the symbiotic relationship between physical chemistry and other scientific disciplines. We have developed four complementary laboratories and classroom activities in an attempt to alleviate some of the frustration experienced by students. The concepts presented in the guided reading are directly related to the experiential components of the laboratory, which has been demonstrated to help students’ qualitative and quantitative understanding of concepts and models (12). Our focus was originally based on developing laboratories to complement the existing lecture materials written by Francl, with each of the labs used with an existing classroom module. For three of the four labs we have also written new guided paper readings, allowing us (and adopting instructors) to choose based on their own expertise, student interest, or desired level of course. A recent survey of physical chemistry teachers found that a barrier to incorporating new materials in physical chemistry is that many instructors were not trained in incorporating new pedagogies (13). Thus, for transferability, it is necessary that materials include not just a description, but detailed instructor guidance on implementation. The materials we have developed include instructor guides for both the in-class guided activity and the laboratories, and all materials are available by request from the authors. One of our goals was to expand the use of spectroscopic techniques that are currently limited to traditional experiments using IR, NMR and UV-VIS absorbance in many physical chemistry laboratory courses (including, prior to this work, our own). Through the proposed experiments, students are exposed to modern spectroscopic techniques. Because of the prevalence of computational methods in modern chemistry, we include a molecular modeling portion in the laboratory whenever appropriate. All laboratories can be completed in a single three to four hour lab period. For institutions where the laboratory and course are not linked, the guided literature reading and laboratory can be completed in a single four hour laboratory period. Two of the laboratories include the opportunity for multi-week projects. 97 Teague and Gardner; Engaging Students in Physical Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
The labs were originally designed to use Ocean Optics modular spectrometers, which have the advantage of multiple uses and are relatively low cost (as compared to higher-end/research grade options) (14). The Ocean Optics equipment is inexpensive and easy to set up and use, it also provides flexibility for students to explore advanced projects and research. Molecular modeling is carried out using the Gaussian suite of programs (15) and mathematical modeling is done in either Mathematica or Mathcad (16). For schools with existing equipment offering similar capabilities, the laboratory experiments should be readily adaptable. Two of the experiments can be done using inexpensive modular spectrometers controlled with a computer, tablet or smartphone (
