Journal of Chemical Education最新文献

Urgent action is needed across the world to combat climate change and its impact on the social, economic, and environmental well-being of humans and the planet. This important topic is one that is a priority for integration into chemistry classrooms, laboratories, and outreach efforts. It connects strongly to foundational chemistry concepts and highlights the critical role chemistry will play in finding solutions to the many challenges faced in reducing greenhouse gases due to human activity. This Special Issue presents a broad collection of efforts by chemistry educators across the globe to create innovative ways to motivate and inspire students and preservice teachers with the relevant chemistry knowledge, climate literacy, and scientific responsibility needed for climate action. A range of interactive tools, active-learning methodologies, and interdisciplinary approaches provide a wealth of resources for a broad range of teaching environments and ideas for instructors seeking to incorporate climate education and instill advocacy into chemistry programs.

“ChemiBold” was created as a didactic trilingual card game (English, French and Spanish). The general aim of the game is for the players to learn to identify 11 functional groups, as well as to learn additional information about each substance displayed on each card’s reverse side. In “ChemiBold”, teams of two players aim to collect compound cards that match the functional groups from two dice that are thrown by the game master in each round. Each correctly identified functional group per card is awarded one point to the team. The team with the highest point count wins the game once there are no more cards on the table. To measure the impact of the game on student learning, it was tested on 67 undergraduate students from the Facultad de Quı́mica at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). To accomplish this, quizzes to evaluate student’s proficiency in the identification of the 11 functional groups targeted in “ChemiBold” were performed before and after playing the game. Through this, it was possible to statistically observe an improvement in the identification of functional groups among the participating students. Taking this into account as well as the survey results obtained regarding playability, content, and usefulness, the initiative was deemed successful as a tool for introductory teaching of functional groups.

Although the use of mobile-based learning applications in organic chemistry is rising, limited studies have evaluated their effectiveness as learning supports. This study presents a phenomenographic investigation into the evaluation of using the Chirality 2 app as a learning support in a first-year chemical engineering organic chemistry course in a South African University context. An open-ended questionnaire was used to probe students’ perceptions of the course and their suggestions regarding improving the Chirality 2 app. The findings revealed that students used the app to practice, revise, and test their understanding of organic chemistry concepts in preparation for class tests. Although the students liked the Chirality 2 app for providing immediate feedback, they also expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of detailed feedback for the incorrect answers, and the fact that they were restricted only to multiple-choice questions. The study offers valuable insights into the potential use of gaming apps as equitable learning tools to support organic chemistry students in diverse and resource-limited environments.

Teaching analytical chemistry is an important obligation in various fields of natural sciences, yet the responsibility to convey the complexity and required interconnected thinking of the subject is very challenging. Additionally, it is important to put the conducted laboratory experiments in the context of real-world problems and prepare students for their future professional lives. We herein propose the teaching of analytical chemistry to fifth-semester pharmaceutical sciences students on active pharmaceutical ingredients from expired medications from the perspective of green chemistry and green analytical chemistry (GAC). In a five half-day course, students learn how to independently plan laboratory experiments, perform common analytical techniques, and practically implement newly learned concepts. Liquid–liquid extraction was used to extract paracetamol and mefenamic acid from tablets, which were then used to apply common analytical techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The students were encouraged to implement various concepts of GAC in their experiments, aiming at using greener solvents, reducing generated waste, and improving overall safety. As a learning assessment, the students performed the analytical data analysis and summarized their results in a certificate of analysis, a common form of report used in the industrial and pharmaceutical fields. Based on a questionnaire the students answered after the course, we were able to show that our concept not only taught analytical chemistry but also could draw a connection to real-world issues including medication waste, the environmental impact of analytical procedures, and the future professional life of the students.

In this research, we discussed the concept of green chemistry and sustainable development in the synthesis of polymers by designing a simple and practical experiment. Initially, a renewable and stable polysulfide with high sulfur content was synthesized by reverse vulcanization of elemental sulfur and castor oil. Then, this castor oil/polysulfide (CPS) hydrophobic polysulfide was coated on the linen fabric to obtain a super-hydrophobic filter. The coated polysulfide filters were identified using X-ray energy diffraction (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and X-ray-map methods. Finally, the use of super-hydrophobic linen fabric filters for separating two-phase oil–water compounds was investigated. High separation efficiency as well as near-complete separation removal of the aqueous phase are the advantages of linen fabric filters. Also, no significant change in separation efficiency was observed after 10 recycling times. This research uses simple and available natural materials for the synthesis of new polymers and the construction of strong super-hydrophobic filters for the separation of water and oil by examining visible and attractive evidence for chemistry students, in the third year of the bachelor’s degree, in the organic chemistry laboratory based on green chemistry, and the principles of sustainable development are reviewed.

Throughout the world, increasing students’ awareness of and preparedness for opportunities in STEM fields continues to be a challenge, with international efforts facing additional language and cultural barriers. To address this need, a new outreach experience was developed to stimulate interest in STEM through a passion shared across most of the world: soccer. The curriculum Materials Science of Soccer was developed by a multidisciplinary team at MIT and taught in collaboration with local Brazilian engineering undergraduate and graduate students to high school students in Brazil. Each day of camp consisted of a series of 15-minute lectures interspersed with a variety of active learning activities and laboratories to reinforce STEM-related skills. The active learning portions were cotaught by Brazilian-MIT undergraduate pairs. Original lectures were written for the class, translated, and taught in Portuguese. Feedback was collected daily and at the end of the course. The goals of this report are to (1) provide an overview of the camp structure and copies of the activity guides as a resource for future outreach programs; (2) discuss the benefits and challenges of a multi-tiered, cross-cultural learning model offered by programs like MIT Global Teaching Laboratory; and (3) analyze the impact and outcomes from the experience on each learning group (MIT students, Brazilian college students, and Brazilian high school students) from postcamp survey data.

STEM education helps students learn through practical experiences, linking theory with practice. Natural Science has many practical applications for implementing STEM education. This article presents a 10-step process for designing STEM education topics in Natural Science teaching and applies this process to design the STEM education topic “Making a pH measuring pen in soil using Internet of Things (IoT) technology”. With a practical approach to understanding the need to create STEM products, especially exploiting IoT technology, we can connect pH measuring pens with other peripheral devices to increase the applicability of the product. This design process can be applied to design STEM activities according to different contents and topics to improve the quality of teaching Natural Science in secondary schools. This paper presents a case study of integrating STEM education into natural science teaching for secondary school students. The focus is on using IoT technology to create a pH measuring pen for soil analysis. This project aligns with a broader initiative aimed at promoting agricultural automation through STEM-based educational activities. The study aims to enhance students’ understanding of science concepts, promote practical skills, and foster innovation. By engaging students in hands-on activities, the project seeks to make learning more engaging and relevant.

The identification of an unknown substance sample can be instructive and exciting training for students on the condition that chemical tests and chromatographic analyses are not uncritical applications of literature prescriptions. Here, we describe a laboratory experience for undergraduate students based on an analytical scheme leading to the identification of an unknown amino acid through a sequence of physical, chemical, and chromatographic tests accomplished according to a previously provided decision tree. Only after differentiating the amino acids for their solubility in water and the pH of their solution/suspension do students apply chemical or HPLC analyses within the resultant amino acids subsets with awareness of the mechanism and the specificity of the reactions and the principles of the HPLC separation. The laboratory experience is designed so that students implement their knowledge of general, organic, and analytical chemistry.

It is quite important for each individual interested in cosmetic chemistry to apply the steps of formulating a cosmetic product and obtain a prototype product. In this regard, second-year university associate degree students (N = 15) were enabled to produce their own prototype creams in the laboratory environment by examining the contents of 10 different types of hand and body creams, investigating and classifying the purpose of the raw materials, extracting the common raw materials found in 10 different creams, and selecting reliable chemicals together with the training instructor in this study. The results of the individual evaluation report created by the training facilitator for each student in the study revealed that the majority of the students improved their ability to conduct research from a “weak” level in the pre-evaluation to a “good” level in the post-evaluation. In addition, the post-evaluation total average percentile scores of the students were statistically significant compared to the pre-evaluation total average percentile scores (t(14) = −10.753, p < 0.001).The results also showed that the majority of the students were able to create prototype products at a “good” level. At the end of the application, all students expressed completely positive opinions about the application and laboratory process as educational, fun, and interesting and that they could use it in their professional lives in their own fields. This application realized in the research is thought to provide a contribution to the chemistry, health, and engineering education literature. This hands-on approach is innovative, and the significance lies in its potential to enhance the practical skills of students, making them better prepared for industry challenges. It also includes a methodical process provided for students to recreate cosmetic products, which is not commonly found in the literature. In addition, it is useful to chemistry educators, offering a replicable model for integrating practical formulation skills into chemistry courses.

As part of the nanosciences optional seminar for undergraduate students of chemistry career, a comprehensive practical activity was made to reinforce and integrate concepts related to nanoscience, nanotechnology, and green chemistry while introducing the scientific method. Specifically, this laboratory project focuses on the synthesis of gold (AuNPs), silver (AgNPs), and bimetallic gold–silver (Au–AgNPs) nanoparticles using honey as a green reducing and stabilizing agent. Furthermore, the influence of Ag:Au molar ratio, temperature, and reaction time on the bimetallic nanoparticle synthesis was evaluated, and the obtained materials were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), ζ potential, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) methods. The experiment not only introduces the students to the skills of sample preparation and instrument operation but also serves as a valuable hands-on experience to explore the frontiers of knowledge, consolidate their learning of the key theoretical concepts, and reinforce the soft skills related to problem-solving, critical thinking, and the effective communication of their research.