The 50 most-cited articles in Journal of Chemical Education, 2020

Abstract Over 1.7 billion students around the world have had their education disrupted by the spread of the Coronavirus disease worldwide. Schools and universities have not faced this level of disruption since World War II. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a colossal challenge for teachers to urgently and massively adapt all their classes to distance learning in order to maintain educational continuity with the same quality. Even if some teachers and certain classes were ready to face the situation, a large majority had to adapt their teaching and learning in a very short time without training, with insufficient bandwidth, and with little preparation. This unexpected and rapid transition to online learning has led to a multiplication of teachers’ strategies for distance learning in lectures, tutorials, project groups, lab works, and assessments. The purpose of this paper is to present the feedback from students and teachers who participated in the lockdown semester of two different groups of a 5-year program in Chemistry, Environment and Chemical Engineering (100 students) at INSA…

Abstract In-person teaching activities at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus were curtailed in the midst of a semester as a result of the global shutdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. All instruction shifted online, and this rapid transition to emergency remote teaching had negative impacts on student learning, engagement, and mental well-being. This phenomenological study describes the results of surveys and interviews used to assess the emergency remote teaching experiences of students enrolled in second-year chemistry courses. Major student challenges included issues with motivation and engagement, personal scheduling, faculty communication, and increased stress and anxiety. This research recommends clear communication and flexible teaching and assessment methods to accommodate the assorted complications faced by our students.

The laboratory occupies a central place in chemistry curricula, but the reported goals of laboratory work are very broad. This commentary considers the variety of reported goals of laboratory work and seeks to address the question of what the pedagogic goals for laboratory work are in our curriculum. Drawing on literature from chemistry education research, history of science, and epistemology of laboratory work, it advocates seeking a single, well-defined goal of laboratory work as the place to learn how to do chemistry .

Abstract Our goal was to understand how students’ chemistry learning environments changed and how students responded to the wholesale transition to online learning. We deployed surveys to students enrolled in nine undergraduate chemistry courses at all levels. Survey 1 was deployed 2 weeks post-transition (N = 208); Survey 2, a week before semester’s end (N = 124, 1/3 new responders). Survey 1 asked students to describe pre/post-transition class and laboratory; to report extra-class resource use; and to write about their engagement, emotions, and motivation for learning online. Survey 2 asked students to estimate pre/post-transition verbal exchanges on a typical day; to respond to Likert-style questions constructed from Survey 1 comments; and to describe challenges of learning chemistry online including what they missed about laboratory. Results show classes changed little from a traditional lecture while laboratories changed dramatically from decision-rich first-person experiences to suboptimal passive observation. Students were sorted into profiles, according to described…

Abstract When campuses across the world needed to transition to the online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were many challenges educators faced, and addressing academic integrity issues were some of the most important. Certain strategies, such as online proctoring or additional software, were not available to most institutions because the expenses and training were too much to overcome. A more pedagogical and cost-effective strategy involved modifying the assessment format in a way that minimized or discouraged cheating. This paper presents strategies that effectively minimize cheating while addressing learning outcomes.

Abstract The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China has changed higher education dramatically, with a distinctive rise in online instruction. Here, we describe the major successes and challenges encountered during the full implementation of online chemistry instruction in higher education in China based on questionnaires answered by 56 teachers and 432 students in two universities. In addition to describing the impacts of online chemistry instruction on teachers, students, chemistry experiments, student assessments, and technology, our work seeks to provide insights into how teachers, students, and technologies rise to meet the challenges in this difficult time. Our survey indicates the common challenges for teachers and students that arise from no face-to-face interaction in online instruction. Apart from that, teachers have to be familiar with internet-based technologies and online teaching tools, adjust their teaching plans and teaching methods, and quickly adapt to the new situation. Teachers also need to improve their teacher–student interaction and maintain…

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide TikTok is a social media video-based phone application which enables creative and engaging videos to be shared on social media platforms worldwide. TikTok has been applied to create fun, exciting, and engaging 15–60 s long chemistry outreach educational videos, to encourage public dissemination of science with a systems thinking approach. With the creation of an online TikTok account called “The Chemistry Collective” by undergraduate students, 16 educational videos were created, with approximately 8,500 views. Upon surveying participants, viewers of these TikTok videos strongly agreed that they had learned something new about chemistry since watching these videos (4.66/5.00) and had an increased interest in chemistry (82.7% agreed). As such, TikTok can be used to enhance public and undergraduate student engagement with chemistry and science education, together with facilitating the ability of the public to understand how chemistry can be fun, can be performed at home, and is part of our daily lives.

Abstract In Spring 2020, we began a study focused on the development of inclusive teaching practices in an undergraduate chemistry lecture course for non-STEM students. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing educational disruptions, we changed the design of our study to focus on the learning and teaching experiences of students and instructors. Here, we conducted student surveys before and after the emergency transition to remote teaching and analyzed data on student participation in the online setting. We observed that student engagement was likely negatively impacted by the emergency transition. We also found that lectures engaged students less after the transition. By contrast, course activities that did not heavily rely on a physical classroom, such as students blogging about their research of chemistry literature and crafting an independent research paper about a chemical question, were more effective in retaining student engagement after the transition. We also analyze student utilization of synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities (for example, recorded…

In a world engaged in a perpetual race for progress, augmented reality (AR) is a new frontier that has attracted much research attention in recent years. The generalization of smartphones and the miniaturization and democratization of connected gadgets are leading to new uses and new expectations. In this article, we provide an AR application to the trending educational activity of escape games in order to diffuse AR to a large audience. As the application of an educational escape game, which is a good tool to improve the motivation and communication skills of students, requires considerable time for design, manufacturing, and operating, a numeric, mobile AR version is proposed here. For this purpose, an original paper-based version of the scenario is presented, principally turning around the Solvay process for a high school/college audience. In this scenario, the students are led to follow in the footsteps of a young Belgian physicist, Ernest Solvay. Through enigmas, participants discover a secret room containing Solvay’s secrets in Brussels. Puzzles about the periodic table of…

The COVID-19 lockout situation affected people all over the world. Despite all of the disadvantages, this situation offered new experiences and perspectives and pushed education advances forward as never before. Something that seemed to be unreal became a worldwide reality within a few days. Instructors of all subjects at all educational levels moved to a virtual environment instantly. Higher education institutions, universities, and colleges seemed to be fairly prepared for this situation. Unfortunately, primary and secondary schools, especially in eastern and central Europe, never considered distance education as a valuable alternative before, so they did not have software, hardware, and staff prepared for such a situation. Moreover, students' expectations and dilemmas concerning e-learning were not investigated earlier in the context of obligatory subject education. Moving to the virtual environment was particularly challenging for teachers, who wanted to transfer real class experiences into online lessons since chemistry is based on problems, observations, evidence, and…

Abstract Minimizing the energy consumption of desalination processes is an important goal for augmenting freshwater production and mitigating water scarcity. Chemical, civil, mechanical, and environmental engineering students can derive and analyze the energy consumption of desalination processes by applying engineering fundamentals such as thermodynamics, transport phenomena, and process design. We explore the fundamental thermodynamic limits of the most prominent desalination technologies in a format designed for engineering students and instructors. Two thermodynamically reversible processes for reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodialysis (ED) are developed to demonstrate that reversible processes consume the theoretical minimum energy, which is the Gibbs free energy of separation. We then quantify the practical minimum energy consumption for RO and ED, showing that the energy consumption of these processes approaches the minimum thermodynamic limit with increased process staging.

The adoption of equitable and inclusive teaching strategies in the undergraduate chemistry classroom is essential if equity gaps are to be minimized. Reducing these gaps will foster a diverse talent pool of future chemists to propel creativity and innovation. To cultivate an equitable and inclusive environment, instructors must engage in ongoing critical self-reflection, focus on students’ assets rather than deficits, create a relationship with the student as an individual, use best practices for engaging a diverse student population, and affirm students’ potential as scientists. Evidence-based strategies for successfully implementing transformation in the chemistry classroom and examples used in introductory chemistry courses are provided and discussed.

Abstract The swift conversion of chemistry courses to various online formats has presented challenges for students and instructors alike, with one of the most significant challenges being the logistics concerning online testing. At our institution, instructors of general, organic, and physical chemistry courses sought to balance issues of exam access, exam security, and continuity with a traditional test format when switching to unproctored online exams. Different approaches were utilized for exam delivery with varying success. Common challenges arose in several courses, such as the need to train students to use new technology, and the threat of online information for compromising exam security. The most successful attempts to meet these challenges, such as use of a test-bank, are consistent with reported best practices and suggest a way to maximize access, security, and continuity, while working to diminish technological and ethical pitfalls that accompany unproctored online exams.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed many aspects of our world including the way we teach chemistry. Our emergence from the pandemic provides an opportunity for deep reflection and intentional action about what we teach, and why, as well as how we facilitate student learning. Focusing on foundational postsecondary chemistry courses, we suggest that we cannot simply return to "normal” practice but need to design and implement new ways of teaching and learning based on fundamentally reimagined learning outcomes for our courses that equip students for life after the rupture they have experienced. We recommend that new learning objectives should be guided both by an analysis of existing global challenges and the types of understandings and practices needed to confront them, and by research-based frameworks that provide insights into important areas of knowledge, skill, and attitude development. We identify a core set of competencies along three major dimensions (crosscutting reasoning, core understandings, and fundamental practices) that we believe should guide the…

Abstract An escape room uses a game-based active learning approach to develop students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills in an immersive environment. An escape room was developed to provide an innovative method to reinforce concepts in chemical bonding for a first-year general chemistry course. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was unsuitable to implement the escape room in a physical setting, as students need to interact in close proximity. To circumvent this problem, a fully digital escape room was developed using Google Forms, as it is cost-effective, accessible, and easy to use. Students’ feedback indicates that both escape rooms reinforce and motivate learning.

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide We present a simple procedure to make an augmented reality app to visualize any chemical 3D model. The molecular structure may be based on crystallographic data or from computational modeling. This guide is made in such a way that no programming skills are needed, and the procedure uses free software and provides a way to visualize 3D structures that are normally difficult to comprehend in the 2D space of paper. The process can be applied to make a 3D representation of any 2D object, and we envisage the app to be useful when visualizing simple stereochemical problems, when presenting a complex 3D structure on a poster presentation or even in audio-visual presentations. The method works for all molecules including small molecules, supramolecular structures, MOFs, and biomacromolecules.

Abstract With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, chemistry faculty across the globe quickly converted courses to an online format. Resources rapidly became available that reflected the views of faculty and administration concerning online learning, but it is only after having been through the experience that student perspectives can now be analyzed. Student perspectives are discussed here in terms of benefits and drawbacks of online learning in navigating time and distractions, student motivation for self-regulated learning, and resource availability. Adaptability, organizational skills, and self-awareness are some of the personal characteristics that make a student a successful online learner. Many students in upper-level chemistry courses have been able to more fully cultivate these skills and also have a more fully developed passion for the subjects they are learning, and therefore, they may be more successful with taking classes online, even with increasing difficulty of the subject matter. With a lack of face-to-face meetings, faculty in both upper- and…

Abstract One challenge of teaching chemical analysis is the proliferation of sophisticated, but often impenetrable, instrumentation in the modern laboratory. Complex instruments, and the software that runs them, distance students from the physical and chemical processes that generate the analytical signal. A solution to this challenge is the introduction of a student-driven instrument-building project. Visible absorbance spectroscopy is well-suited to such a project due to its relative simplicity and the ubiquity of absorbance measurements. This Article reviews simple instructor- and student-built instruments for spectroscopy, providing an overview of common designs, components, and applications. This comprehensive summary includes options that are suitable for in-person or remote learning with K–12 students and undergraduates in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis, and electronics courses.

This three-year study builds on prior work analyzing students’ causal mechanistic explanations about acid–base reactions. Here we extend that work to characterize and investigate how students construct causal mechanistic explanations of simple nucleophilic substitution reactions. After an initial pilot study, we adopted a modified version of the original task prompt which was used in two subsequent years to compare responses from students enrolled in a transformed organic chemistry course (Organic Chemistry, Life, the Universe and Everything) and a traditional organic chemistry course. Student responses were sampled in the middle of the first semester organic chemistry, just after they had learned the material, and once again at the end of the course, to identify how responses changed over time. Our findings from this study include (1) eliciting causal mechanistic explanations requires careful scaffolding to activate productive elements of a response, and (2) students from a transformed course are more likely to construct a causal mechanistic explanation at the end of Organic…

Abstract An online virtual escape-room game was created using the Google Forms survey app for an undergraduate chemistry lab class. Zoom video conferencing service was used to make the activity a collaborative learning experience. The theme was an escape from an abandoned chocolate factory, and the students solved problems to move to the next section or “room” on the Google Forms survey.

Abstract In recent months, universities around the world have been forced to cancel courses and close their doors due to the growing coronavirus epidemic. Following the government’s precautions, Algerian students were bound to quarantine regulations for their safety. Thus, they unexpectedly switched to online learning instead of face-to-face learning. Our objective of this exploratory study is to investigate the perceptions of Algerian university students regarding the abrupt transition to online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this goal, an online survey with closed and open-ended questions was conducted among 380 students from the faculty of chemistry and hydrocarbons (FCH) at the University of BoumerdesAlgeria. The results showed that students have a negative perception of online learning. They are reluctant about this new digital pedagogy and prefer the traditional way of teaching to online teaching during the coronavirus pandemic.

Abstract Recently, there have been calls to integrate systems thinking approaches into chemistry education in order to strengthen students’ conceptual understanding, build their problem-solving capabilities, and prepare them to make informed, ethical decisions about globally relevant issues, such as sustainability. Unfortunately, implementation of systems thinking approaches in chemistry classrooms currently poses challenges. Exemplar systems thinking materials with a STEM focus are limited, particularly at the tertiary level. Moreover, the science education community has yet to agree upon a systems thinking definition or develop a comprehensive list of systems thinking skills that students should develop. Thus, a current priority for the advancement of systems thinking in chemistry education is the development of resources for instructors and students alike. In the current project, we constructed a tool that provides an operational definition for systems thinking in chemistry education and serves as guide for the design, analysis, and optimization of systems thinking activities.…

Abstract In light of COVID-19 in spring 2020, we developed a simple and versatile inquiry-based, laboratory-style active learning colorimetry experiment amenable to at-home quantitative analysis. In this experiment, students acquire an external calibration method using aqueous solutions of a self-selected chromophoric analyte from household products using a smartphone camera and RGB image analysis. We report typical student-obtained results for a 5-point external calibration method using RGB image analysis and solutions prepared with green food colorant and blue food colorant. Solutions were prepared using common kitchen measuring tools, glass drinking cups served as sample cells or cuvettes, images were acquired with a smartphone camera, and image analyses were conducted using RGB analysis software. Results show analytical data can be readily obtained for both colorimetric and absorbance-based analyses. Experientially, results show that throughout method development students are challenged with various quantitative analysis learning objectives, including basic concepts about…

To understand critical problems associated with solid waste and its consequences for the environment, a laboratory experiment is presented on the synthesis of aluminum-based metal–organic framework (MOF) MIL-53(Al) from household waste (PET bottles and aluminum foil/can), for undergraduate students of chemistry. This work is designed to teach students the research methodology and basic understanding of MOFs and their application in carbon capture and storage (CCS). Students also learnt several instrumentation techniques such as UV–vis spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and gas sorption to characterize the physicochemical properties of MIL-53(Al). The facile production of MIL-53(Al) enabled the students to investigate its applicability in CO 2 sorption. The calculations of essential parameters such as CO 2 over N 2 selectivity and the use of statistical tools in data processing are also explained to the students. In the end, the instructor presented his/her feedback by evaluating the answer…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an at-home laboratory program was created and implemented for a section of the general chemistry course at the University of Southern California. The experiments were designed to only utilize safe household items and no special equipment. These laboratory activities, spanning over 4 weeks, focused on concepts usually covered in the final one-third of our second-semester chemistry laboratory, including pH, acid-base titrations, buffers, solubility, phase equilibria, and thermodynamics. In this article, we describe the design of the laboratories and our experience with this experiment, while also providing an assessment on how similar activities could be integrated profitably into a regular general chemistry course.

Abstract The rapid transition in teaching format due to COVID-19 gives rise to many challenges, especially for research and lab activities since they may require a different approach with more constrained resources compared with lecture-based courses, in which various virtual communication platforms have now been employed. As essential parts for student’s active learning, effective strategies to perform undergraduate research and lab courses during the current circumstance need to be carefully designed. To address this challenge, we have revisited different distance learning resources and implemented four critical methods in undergraduate research activity in our research groups, including question-driven literature review, visualizing experiments from virtual scientific resources, performing safe and simple home-lab experiments, and learning new computational tools. These approaches provide versatile opportunities for remotely engaging students in research and lab activities besides just participation in group meetings and scientific webinars. We believe insights gained from…

Abstract With a sudden move to remote and online teaching due to COVID-19 pandemic, Organic Chemistry became more challenging for both students and educators with the emergence of new technological challenges and instructional strategies. The Organic Chemistry I class at SUNY Plattsburgh was shifted to an online learning model in an attempt to mimic face-to-face teaching as well as maintaining active learning. This communication highlights the instructor’s perspectives on the challenges and insights gained for teaching Organic Chemistry I (lecture component) for the Spring 2020 semester in the time of COVID-19. A combination of asynchronous and synchronous teaching methods was found to be effective for content delivery, active learning, and increasing student’s engagement. Synchronous class attendance was monitored and compared with typical face-to-face class attendance. Synchronous problem-solving exercises had an effect on student’s attendance rate and learning. An exit survey indicated about 64% of students had a preference for face-to-face teaching over online teaching of…

As a pedagogical approach, process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) allows students to socially construct knowledge through iterative cycles that include three steps: exploring a model, inventing a concept, and applying the resulting ideas. A growing body of research indicates that relative to lecture-based approaches, POGIL supports student learning more effectively. In this article, we review research related to POGIL, focusing on the nature of the evidence used to evaluate its impact on student learning, as well as trends related to relevant features of the studies, such as theoretical and methodological choices. We find that this body of research has typically focused on quantitative measures that broadly assess student outcomes, with fewer studies concentrating on qualitative, theory-based explanations of student learning. Moreover, key features of POGIL implementation (e.g., theoretical underpinnings, activity structure, process skills, and student roles) remain understudied. On the basis of the review, we propose suggestions for future research and practice.

Abstract A systems thinking approach to incorporating green chemistry and safety into laboratory culture is vital, as chemists will be at the molecular level of the innovative solutions to our global challenges. Training chemists to have the skills and culture to accomplish this feat in the safest way possible is pivotal to safe working conditions within the chemical industry and extends to society in a sustainable future for the planet. Today, we know green chemistry to be the framework for conducting chemistry in a manner that is conducive to life. In this article, we emphasize how framing green chemistry through the lens of systems thinking can build a culture of safety in the laboratory. This can shift the focus of safety culture from compliant to proactive, as assessing the risk of performing a reaction gives chemists ownership and control of their safety. The Guide to Green Chemistry Experiment for Undergraduate Organic Laboratories is highlighted as one approach. The guide utilizes the green chemistry metric, DOZN 2.0, which allows for a quantitative method toward recognizing…

Different virtual chemistry laboratories (VCLs) have been developed with which students can perform and practice their practical and experimental work, thus increasing their learning before performing the same work in a real chemistry laboratory. In this paper, we present an analysis of the existing virtual chemistry laboratories by identifying their strengths and shortcomings and formulate guidelines for the development of future VCLs with more generalized, realistic, and flexible features.

Abstract The closure of campuses in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that scheduled practical activities for introductory chemistry students could not take place. The first practical class started prior to shutdown, and 21.5% of the students undertook the face-to-face offering. The remainder completed an online offering consisting of the same worksheet with videos of each of the tasks, which relate to ions in solution: conductivity and precipitation. A Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test comparison of the marks for the first practical showed that online students had, on average, a 0.9/10 drop in their mark compared to the face-to-face cohort. We concluded that a significant proportion of students found the transition to online learning difficult with the technology we provided. Rather than add another online learning activity, we chose to develop simple activities that students could complete at home, along with worksheets linking their observations to the theory taught in class. The first kitchen chemistry activity included experimental measurement (timing water boiling),…

Abstract The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted face-to-face instruction in educational institutions all over the world. As instructors we had to scramble to completely change courses to emergency remote delivery, sometimes with only a few days’ notice. Herein, we present reflections on the successes and challenges we encountered following the sudden and unexpected transition to remote delivery. We also address ways that we managed the obstacles faced, from overcoming technological issues posed by remote delivery to adaptation of laboratory content for emergency remote delivery. In addition, we discuss successful strategies for assessment of student learning and student engagement in the online environment. Overall, we found that students’ motivation was high, as indicated by online class attendance and engagement with course activities. We believe that the existing strong student–instructor relationships at our small liberal arts and sciences campus contributed to the unexpectedly high level of student engagement.

Abstract Effective assessment is an extremely important area of chemistry education. Typically tests measure students’ knowledge of critical thinking skills, chemistry vocabulary, and application of concepts from one chapter to another. While it is relatively straightforward to measure concepts such as chemical vocabulary and algorithmic problem solving during a regular session with paper-pencil based testing, an online test with no proctoring presents significant challenges to test administration. In the COVID-19 term, when instruction moved online, it was imperative that the authenticity of the tests administered to students was maintained, irrespective of an institution’s choice to allow students to select credit/noncredit or pass/fail options. This communication describes some of the challenges faced during online testing and some of the strategies implemented to successfully overcome them.

Large, multi-section laboratory courses are particularly challenging when managing grading with as many as 35 teaching assistants (TAs). Traditional grading systems using point-based rubrics lead to significant variations in how individual TAs grade, which necessitates the use of curving across laboratory sections. Final grade uncertainty perpetuates student anxieties and disincentivizes a collaborative learning environment, so we adopted an alternative grading system, called specifications grading. In this system each student knows exactly what level of proficiency they must demonstrate to earn their desired course grade. Higher grades require demonstrating mastery of skills and content at defined higher levels. Each students’ grade is solely dependent on the work they produce rather than the performance of other students. We piloted specifications grading in the smaller, third quarter course of the lower division organic chemistry laboratory series held during a summer term. Open-ended questions were chosen to gather student and TA perceptions of the new grading system. TAs felt…

Abstract Although principles and practices of green and sustainable chemistry have been articulated for more than 20 years, they have yet to become systemically infused into the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. The American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI) has convened stakeholders from across the chemistry education community to develop a strategy and, subsequently, a road map for mainstreaming green and sustainable chemistry concepts and practices into the chemistry curriculum. Through this initiative, a set of core competencies were developed to guide infusion of green and sustainable chemistry knowledge and skills into the curriculum and prepare chemists to make significant contributions to sustainability in the future. The core competencies are described briefly here as well as strategic efforts to develop the road map and to aid the adoption of green and sustainable chemistry into the undergraduate chemistry curriculum.

Abstract Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic presents mental health and academic obstacles for students. As mental health can strongly influence academic performance, addressing the loss of community by transitioning to distance education, midsemester, is imperative. This work draws upon the community and wellness benefits associated with online gaming and applies it to ChemDraw. The goal is to improve the class’ wellness and social community while teaching valuable organic chemistry skills. In this paper, a molecule, speed-drawing tournament (Molecule Madness) is presented along with reflections describing the impacts on student wellness and organic chemistry skills. Gamification of ChemDraw is achieved by (1) treating at-home practice as video-game training and (2) using video-conferencing software as a medium for multiplayer gameplay. As the primary focus is placed on education rather than entertainment, ChemDraw is subclassified as a serious educational game. Community is developed by in-game, online chat: observers, announcers, and competitors all interact with each…

Abstract The distance teaching of organic chemistry to first-year undergraduate students during lockdown represents a challenge for both students and teachers. To face this challenge, a method combining synchronous and asynchronous teaching was presented in this paper. The asynchronous part of the teaching was achieved through the broadcast of videos on the social network Facebook in order to allow each student to progress at his or her own pace. The synchronous part of the teaching was carried out thanks to the Discord platform in order to answer students’ questions live (written and oral) as well as to keep a social link with them. The videos have been recorded at home with a minimum amount of material, and the equipment is reported. To assess the efficiency of this alternative teaching compared to distance real-time teaching during disruption, a questionnaire completed by students was used and discussed.

Benefits of metacognition and active learning on student performance are well understood; however, little is known about the effect of the “explicit teaching of metacognition” combined with active learning on student performance in chemistry courses. Using a quasi-experimental study design, we investigated: (1) differences in performance in the General Chemistry I course between students exposed to the explicit teaching of metacognition combined with active learning (treatment group) and their counterparts who were exposed to active learning alone (comparison group) and (2) the effect of the teaching method, gender, race/ethnicity, first-generation status, and preterm overall GPA on student performance, after controlling for ACT math scores, data consisting of exam scores on three midterm exams, and a cumulative final exam. Independent t- test results indicated that the treatment group performed significantly better than the comparison group on the midterm exam 3 and the cumulative final exam ( p < 0.05), with mean differences of 6% and 5%, respectively. Descriptive statistics also…

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Visualization of three-dimensional (3D) elements has always played a huge role in chemistry education. At the same time, it is a challenge to teach with most representations being shown in two-dimensional (2D) media. With the recent rise of extended reality (XR) that includes virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technology in higher education, attempts have been made at presenting 2D representations to students in a manner that is easier to understand. However, the effectiveness of said attempts has limitations. Our AR project has developed a free-to-use mobile application “Nucleophile’s Point of View” (NuPOV) that aims to address these limitations. By allowing users to not only view chemistry concepts in an AR setting but also interact with them by hand, they are able to learn and understand at a deeper level through an individualized and self-directed learning experience. Our study has shown that such an approach proved to be relatively well-received by students.

Students undertaking courses in the field of chemistry need to integrate their spatial skills and conceptual knowledge. However, model perception along with the understanding of spatial processes and spatial structures of molecules has been a cause of difficulty for students as conventional teaching methods cannot fully aid student comprehension. In this research, we propose a technological solution to aid the spatial learning process by automatically creating a link between two-dimensional (2D) representations of chemical structures and three-dimensional (3D) molecular visualization. The image of a chemical structure is acquired and processed on-the-fly for structure identification and 3D model generation. The 3D molecular model is simplified for real-time interactive rendering. The efficacy of the proposed solution in enhancing spatial ability of individuals is evaluated through an experiment on first year undergraduate students. Our analysis of the results suggests that virtual models and mobile applications are capable of narrowing the performance gap between students with…

A growing body of educational research is demonstrating the improvements to learning gains and student performance that can be promoted by a flipped-classroom model in university chemistry courses. Usually, a core aspect of the flipped-class model is the student viewing of a preclass instructional video, allotting time for an in-class activity during the following lecture. Flipped-classroom instructional videos were prepared for a first-year general chemistry course at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. Unlike many flipped-class video resources, these videos are not just narrated screen captures. Instead, they are anchored in live instructor recordings, complemented by three different presentation modes, each designed for pedagogical correspondence to a corner of Johnstone’s triangle: narrated screen capture (symbolic), molecular animations (submicroscopic), and experimental laboratory demonstrations (macroscopic). Live instructor recording created a reliable persona for students to interact with, in keeping with tenets of social agency theory, and video format…

The chemistry of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a new class of emerging crystalline porous solids with three-dimensional (3D) networks composed of metals and multidentate organic molecules, was introduced by using three differently-shaped crystals. We reported new and mild MOF synthesis methods that are simple and devised to be performed in high school or primarily undergraduate school settings. MOF applications were demonstrated by use of our synthesized MOFs in the capture of iodine as a potentially hazardous molecule from solution and as a drug delivery system. These applications can be visually confirmed in minutes. Students can gain knowledge on advanced topics, such as drug delivery systems, through these easy-to-prepare MOFs. Furthermore, students can gain an understanding of powder X-ray analysis and ultraviolet-visible near-infrared spectroscopy. This laboratory experience is practical, including synthesis and application of MOFs. The entire experiment has also been recorded as an educational video posted on YouTube as a free public medium for students to watch and learn.…

Principal component analysis (PCA) is one of the most important and powerful methods in chemometrics as well as in a wealth of other areas. Running a PCA results in two main elements, the score plot and the loading plot; the score plot provides the location of the samples, and the loading plot indicates correlations among variables, the trends in the grouping of samples, and the most important variables. In the past 10 years teaching chemometrics, we have struggled with not having free software with an easy to use graphical user interface for data handling and calculations. In this paper, we provide a series of examples that students used to carry PCA in R-Project, a free and open source software program. In the first example, students used PCA to find correlations among chemical properties of chemical elements and relate these properties with the periodic distribution of the elements. In the second example, meat samples were grouped using 14 variables, and students could observe how outlier samples might influence the PCA model; in this case, they were also taught how to use the t…

UC Merced’s upper-division analytical chemistry course has been modified to include a series of Jupyter notebooks intended to introduce chemistry students to the Python computer language. These Jupyter notebooks were designed to cover a wide variety of topics common to quantitative and instrumental analysis. Assuming no prior programming experience, the notebooks are scaffolded to introduce students the Python’s syntax while applying Python to solving chemical problems. Jupyter and Python were chosen because they are free, widely available, and widely used.

Although virtual reality (VR) has been around for decades, the primary market has been video game entertainment. Because VR allows for realistic interaction with computer-generated 3-dimensional (3D) hologram-like learning objects with handheld controllers, it is inherently versatile, and we have therefore asked: Can we extend the documented benefits of such immersive experiences to an undergraduate chemistry lab at scale? This activity describes an in-class (i.e., portable) virtual reality chemistry lab, applied in an undergraduate biochemistry class, with over 200 students enrolled in 8 lab sessions, which took place at Harvard University in the spring of 2020. What made this deployment unique is that each student had the opportunity to individually explore the shapes of proteins and drug compounds and to learn how these structures explain function using the latest, tetherless VR technology (Oculus Quest). Students completed in-class, VR-based work with the aid of peer-to-peer support (pairs), and students engaged with this active learning module to observe, manipulate, and build…

Microplastic contamination of the environment is a major concern but detecting such contamination presents a challenge, particularly for particles <0.1 mm in size. Community scientists and students who participated in a plankton monitoring program and routinely examined samples of seawater using bright-field microscopy, often found fragments and filaments that were likely of anthropogenic origin. While in some cases this was clear from their structure and color, the origin of many particles remained questionable. To address this problem, optical components were added to microscopes for polarization and fluorescence detection. Plastics often show birefringence under crossed-polarizers due to alignment of the polymer chains within. They also bind Nile Red dye to give green, yellow, or red fluorescence emission, depending on the hydrophobicity of the polymer. Fluorescence excitation was achieved using a focused blue LED flashlight mounted externally to a microscope and emission was detected through a yellow plexiglass or gel filter. The required optical components cost a few tens of…

A demonstration experiment of the synthesis of a novel tetrazole derivative via a multicomponent reaction (Ugi tetrazole four component reaction, UT-4CR) bearing a luminol moiety and a subsequent exploitation of its chemiluminescent properties is described. A complex product is generated in just one simple step, so simple that children can do it: "kinderleicht", German for dead easy. Students are stimulated, inspired, and involved in a multilevel active learning process using the Steps to Inquiry framework as a metacognitive tool that raises student awareness regarding scientific process and prompts them to ask their own questions discussing the merits of a mechanism and evaluating its effectiveness before they start their own cycles of inquiry.

The decisions and actions that chemistry educators make regarding why, what, how, and when to teach certain content or implement a specific instructional activity are often guided, but also constrained, by explicit or implicit "didaktik models". These types of models direct our attention and actions when designing curricula, planning for instruction, or assessing the learning process. They also give educators a professional language when talking or reflecting about teaching and learning. When used systematically, didaktik models support the implementation of research-based instructional practices and are helpful in the professional development of educators. In this essay, we describe, analyze, and discuss the nature and utility of didaktik models in chemistry education and argue that it is critical for chemistry educators to recognize and reflect on the types of models that guide their work.

Circular dichroism (CD) is the differential absorption of left and right circularly polarized light. It arises from molecular electron oscillations that are driven by both the light’s electric and magnetic fields, where the effects are in phase for one circular polarization and out of phase for the other. We describe these interactions, which have not been presented at an intuitive level before, with classical and quantum treatments. A rotational average of the latter solution leads to the Rosenfeld equation, which underlies most CD research. We illustrate its use with a chiral version of a harmonic oscillator, which we then apply to the far-ultraviolet CD of protein α-helices. This presentation is aimed at the level of upper-division undergraduates and could be usefully incorporated into a physical chemistry course.

Abstract This study details the efforts taken in remotely teaching a large organic chemistry lecture course in the midst of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The course lectures were taught synchronously via Zoom and student feedback was gathered regarding effective teaching strategies and assessment tools in a remote course setting. The precourse and midcourse surveys also provided insight into challenges and time commitment issues that students are facing when learning in this new situation. We highlight the instructor’s experience combined with student perspectives to tackle this situation moving forward. We hope that this work can assist faculty in remotely teaching their chemistry courses, and contribute to the information that is being collected globally regarding remote learning in light of the recent events.