Journal of Chemical Education最新文献

A teaching experiment providing a research-oriented experience is customized for senior undergraduate students majoring in chemical engineering, environmental engineering, and material science. The practical class was designed to demonstrate membrane separation by focusing on the forward osmosis (FO) membrane concept, FO process in treating oily wastewater, and membrane fouling behaviors and characterization. Touring this comprehensive experiment, students acquired valuable experience optimizing the FO operation parameters to realize an efficient FO process, while the membrane fouling phenomenon was observed and understood. Besides, the students also acquired hands-on opportunities to examine Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), which helps them understand the impacts of membrane fouling on the membrane physicochemical properties and lays a groundwork for their further research. The testing data was collected and visualized by the students via the software Origin, and then the results were systematically analyzed to reveal the membrane fouling mechanism and form an experimental report, which endowed the students with the ability to organize experimental results. This reasonable design serves as a bridge to connect membrane theoretical knowledge and practical application challenges, inspiring the passion and curiosity of the students in research work and narrowing the gap for further research study.

Successfully integrating science outreach into undergraduate courses may present a considerable challenge for educators. Science communication, when produced by students, merges teaching, research, and outreach, fostering concepts of learning and engagement with socially relevant aspects of science. With that in mind, the Science Communication Project invited undergraduates from an Environmental Chemistry course to create science communication videos addressing Green Chemistry solutions to environmental issues in the chemical industry. The objective of this study was to evaluate the extent to which the project’s learning objectives were achieved. The students’ 16 productions were assessed using a five-criteria rubric designed to evaluate the learning objectives. The results indicate that the learning objectives─researching literature, explaining scientific concepts, and discussing science, technology, society, and environment relations─were satisfactorily achieved. These findings highlight how the Science Communication Project enriched Environmental Chemistry learning, fostering a deeper understanding of chemical concepts by connecting them to real-life situations through an STSE perspective.

The metaverse, a virtual community brought into being via cutting-edge digital technology, unveils itself as a potential game-changer for organic chemistry education as the digital transformation gains significant momentum. This Commentary explores the opportunities and challenges of integrating the metaverse into organic chemistry, considering its impact on teaching, learning, and research. By examining various case studies and social observations, we highlight the potential of immersive virtual laboratories and augmented-reality-based training systems, showcasing their capacity to foster discovery, collaboration, and innovation. This discussion aims to inspire a scholarly thought exchange on how the metaverse can redefine traditional educational boundaries, enhancing the learning experience and advancing the future of organic chemistry education.

We present an analysis of the quiz metrics (question responses, marks, and times) recorded by a virtual learning platform (Moodle) in the context of a series of chemistry assessments. These metrics allow us to investigate whether any particular strategies are associated with higher or lower marks on the assessments. We find that there are no significant correlations between the order in which students attempt questions or edit their answers or between the percentage of the allowed time that students use and their performance on these quizzes. However, we did observe some patterns of behavior that seemed to distinguish students who obtained marks below the median and those who obtained higher marks. This work was conducted with reference to the model of “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning”, and as such, we also describe some practical implications of this work for our own pedagogy, which others who teach chemistry across a range of educational levels may also find useful.

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and Undergraduate Learning Assistants (ULAs) play vital roles in undergraduate education, particularly in large STEM courses, by fostering professional relationships with undergraduate students and supporting their academic success. Despite this importance, GTAs and ULAs often begin teaching with limited training. Therefore, practicing self-reflection can be considered beneficial for both GTAs and ULAs. It is by engaging in self-reflection that they are more likely to consistently assess and improve their teaching methods. As such, this study investigates how GTAs and ULAs engage in self-reflection to develop professional relationships with undergraduate students, through using the Vitruvian Model of Reflective Practice (VMRP) worksheets, semi-structured interviews, and a survey. The impact of significant yet simple affective domain gestures, such as remembering undergraduate students' names, in developing professional relationships was revealed. Moreover, in enhancing such relationships, other strategies such as body positionality, addressing undergraduate students’ misconceptions, and providing reassurance emerged as crucial factors for developing professional relationships with undergraduate students. In addition, a survey was designed and distributed among undergraduate students to assess their perception of relationship development approaches suggested by the GTAs and ULAs and identify additional methods provided by the undergraduate students. Methodological transparency and informal discourse were highlighted by undergraduate students as actions for strengthening their professional relationships with both their GTAs and ULAs. Overall, this research provides valuable insights into the importance of the affective domain in educational settings and offers practical recommendations for improving the professional relationships between assistants and undergraduate students.

Organic and computational chemistry are increasingly interconnected, with computational methods now being essential for understanding complex reaction mechanisms. Thus, integrating computational chemistry into organic chemistry is crucial for supporting students in arguing with evidence and gaining a deeper understanding of chemical concepts that traditional experimental approaches have struggled to elucidate. This integration of computational methods is now essential in modern organic chemistry and should be introduced to the classrooms of students. An authentic learning experience that uses data from computational chemistry calculations and allows students to make a claim about structure–property relationships can bridge the gap between theoretical and experimental approaches, fostering students’ understanding of chemical concepts and enhancing their problem-solving skills. This study investigates how integrating organic chemical problems into a computational chemistry course can be achieved by a task design that aims to induce cognitive dissonance. In this task design, eight students first build written arguments for the most stable conformation of simple disubstituted ethanes, i.e., 1,2-difluoroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane, followed by computational calculations to verify or revise their arguments. The study examined how cognitive dissonance affects students’ perceived confidence, their written argumentation, and their overall task evaluation. The results indicated that the task design successfully induced cognitive dissonance, leading to a drop in confidence after computational results contradicted students’ arguments. The evaluation revealed that students rated the task design to be cognitively demanding but also to be engaging and beneficial for understanding chemical concepts. The study’s implications emphasize the potential for integrating computational data into organic chemistry as a means to critically evaluate one’s arguments and gain a deeper understanding of chemical phenomena.

Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are fascinating chemical processes where three or more starting materials come together to form a single product. By exploring various MCRs, second-year undergraduate students learn about the synergy between different functional groups and how they influence reactivity, the power of the streamlined approach compared to conventional stepwise reactions, and the critical thinking of MCR mechanisms. Herein, we introduce a valuable synthetic method for constructing heterocyclic compounds through a multiple-component condensation/cycloaddition process. Specifically, we focus on 1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP), a privileged N-heterocyclic scaffold widely used in medicinal chemistry, particularly for 4-aryl-3,5-dicarboxylated derivatives. The experiment provides an excellent opportunity for students to explore the concept of green chemistry while synthesizing structurally interesting and useful molecules using readily available materials. Specifically, we achieve this through the condensation reaction between 2-furaldehyde (furfural), acetoacetic acid tert-butyl ester, and ammonium acetate. Key features of this teaching experiment include the following. (1) Multicomponent reaction: The method involves a concise, multicomponent reaction with a short reaction time. (2) Catalyst-free: Notably, the reaction proceeds without the need for solvents or catalysts. (3) Visually striking reaction system: The change in the reaction system is visually evident, enhancing the learning experience. (4) Useful methodology for drug synthesis: The approach has practical implications for drug synthesis. We successfully implemented this experiment proposal across five parallel student groups, involving approximately 150 participants. The experimental procedures encompass organic synthesis, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis.

In this submission, we report a green laboratory experiment involving the reduction of acetylferrocene to 1-(ferrocenyl)ethanol using ammonia borane as the reductant and water as the green solvent. We found this as an interesting, educative, and inexpensive experiment that was easily conducted within a laboratory slot of 4 h. It is also a cost-cutting experiment as the reactants needed for the experiment can be obtained as compounds prepared by students from laboratory experiments that are carried out earlier, thus saving expenses on costly starting materials and reducing chemical wastage. The reduction of acetyl ferrocene in water medium occurs at a moderate temperature (80 °C) and is completed within 2 h, while the product purification, crystallization, and spectral characterization have been completed within another hour. The progress and completion of the reaction were monitored by thin-layer chromatography, and a crystalline product was obtained by ethyl acetate and hexane extraction followed by open evaporation of the hexane extract. The final product was characterized using spectroscopic methods (IR, ¹H NMR), and melting point determination. The safe and environmentally friendly conditions of the reaction and the use of reactants prepared from previously conducted experiments make this experiment accessible to undergraduate- and graduate-level synthetic laboratories across the world. This experiment helps to teach students the principles of green chemistry and how reactions that were traditionally carried out in organic solvents can be conducted in a water medium. The procedure also teaches how upcycling products from a previous experiment can be carried out, thus preventing chemical wastage. The students also learn the green principle of replacing traditional chromatographic workup with less solvent-intensive approaches. The spectral analysis part helps students understand how functional group interconversions from ketones to alcohols can be monitored by using spectroscopic techniques.

Forensic science undergraduate programs have been on the rise in recent years, and popular crime shows have made terms like “forensic” familiar to the general public. However, many of these shows contain inaccurate depictions of the field and give prospective forensic science students unrealistic expectations. Forensic Science in a Box, created by the student author, was developed to both engage middle school students in an inquiry-based activity and expose them to a more realistic forensic science experience. A two-part forensic activity kit was created around the theme of questioned documents, which combined both forensic and chemical analysis techniques. Along with the activity, pre- and postsurveys were administered to each student to test the effectiveness of the activity as well as probe how the activity might have influenced their decisions to pursue a career in forensic science. Overall, the activity had a positive impact on students’ opinions and confidence in forensic science. Teacher feedback was also encouraging, as the activity could be utilized in a short time frame (30–40 min) and can be adapted to include more advanced topics, if desired.

Polystyrene cups are commonly used for calorimetric experiments at the high school and undergraduate levels. However, the environmental impact of polystyrene is well-known and alternatives to this nonrenewable resource are desired, especially in localities where polystyrene bans are enforced. This work describes a simple, 3D printed container (made in two forms, one with a 2.5 mm wall thickness and a second with a 5 mm wall thickness) which behaves statistically identical to single or double layers of polystyrene cups. These containers can be rapidly manufactured on site at a minimal cost and are durable and reusable. The use of 3D printing allows for a green alternative to polystyrene.