Journal of Chemical Education最新文献

Early engagement with science is crucial to broadening participation in STEM, especially in regions with educational, economic, and cultural barriers. Algae Quest is a context-based and active learning outreach activity designed for primary school students (aged 10–11) in Northern Ireland, using the real-world issue of blue-green algae (cyano-bacteria) blooms to introduce concepts of fluorescence, environmental chemistry, and scientific investigation. Delivered to 630 students across 27 groups from 18 schools, the activity aimed to challenge stereotypes about scientists, promote inclusive role models, and foster enthusiasm for chemistry. Evaluation via group responses from 400 students and survey feedback from teachers showed high engagement, increased understanding of chemistry, and a strong appreciation for the hands-on approach. The findings highlight the potential of inclusive, context-rich outreach to inspire young learners and diversify future scientific participation.

Augmented reality learning environments (AR-LEs) hold promise for enhancing students’ understanding of chemical reaction mechanisms by facilitating connections between particulate and symbolic level representations. However, little is known about the extent to which AR-LEs support these connections during students’ learning processes. This study investigates how AR-LEs support students in understanding the electrophilic aromatic substitution of bromine onto benzene, with a focus on the quality of connections made between particulate and symbolic representations. A video study with qualitative content analysis of transcripts was conducted to examine student interactions while learning with 2D symbolic-level and 3D particulate-level AR animations in situ. These analyses assessed the quality and quantity of connections students made while engaging with the AR-LE, with the goal of understanding more precisely how students use the AR-LE to make these connections. The findings revealed that most connections were of advanced quality, with no differences between the 2D symbolic-level and 3D particulate-level AR formats in stimulating connection-making. Furthermore, this study underscores the importance of scaffolding within AR-LEs to better support diverse learners.

To address shortcomings in the practical teaching components of Food Packaging courses, over the past 3 years, we have centered our efforts around faculty research directions. Taking biodegradable functional food packaging materials as our entry point, we have explored experimental teaching reforms centered on Open Comprehensive Experimental Projects (OCEP). Students completed the preparation of starch-based biodegradable food packaging films through literature research and raw material screening. Subsequently, advanced characterization techniques such as ATR-FTIR and SEM were employed to analyze the film’s structure and properties. Ultimately, through practical application in fruit preservation processes, students gained hands-on experience translating research outcomes into real-world applications. Compared to traditional experiments, this project demonstrated greater comprehensiveness and interdisciplinary nature, placing higher demands on students’ experimental skills, teamwork, and communication abilities. Combined with an assessment model emphasizing hands-on practice and comprehensive reporting, the project effectively cultivated students’ critical thinking and complex problem-solving abilities. Furthermore, sustained and deep engagement throughout the experimental process sparked students’ research interest in cutting-edge food packaging fields, enhanced their integrated practical capabilities, and truly transformed laboratory experiments into a bridge connecting theory with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) is expanding in the educational field, it presents profound implications for STEM disciplines, particularly chemistry and chemical engineering. This Perspective explores the integration of AI in education, drawing from UNESCO guidelines and global recommendations from 2022 to 2025, underscoring the imperative of a human-centered pedagogical approach. The analysis highlights the transformative potential of AI in educational practices, focusing on enhanced personalized learning, teacher training, and academic management, all of which are seen as possibly contributing to advancing sustainable development goal 4 (SDG 4, quality education). It also discusses the risk of epistemic drift, where reliance on opaque algorithms may detach scientific inquiry from a causal understanding. We show examples of prompt engineering techniques for scientific illustration generation in the fields of chemistry and physical chemistry, and discuss its advantages, and limitations. Furthermore, the rapid development of AI technologies has outpaced the policy debates in most academic institutions, creating a significant policy gap in higher education. This is coupled with global disparity, where most academic institutions in high-income countries have implemented AI-driven tools by 2025, while access in low-income regions remains constrained. We argue that to harness the potential benefits of AI, the chemical education community must move beyond technical adoption to foster critical AI chemical literacy. This involves targeted investments in digital infrastructure and the development of assessments that prioritize human reasoning over algorithmic output. We conclude that the responsible integration of AI requires a shift from a content delivery model to a knowledge creation model guided by the high-level ethical frameworks proposed by UNESCO.

This laboratory experiment presents a set of four integrated practices involving heterogeneous catalysis for undergraduate students in chemistry, industrial chemistry, and chemical engineering. The experiments involve the synthesis, modification, characterization, and application of zeolites as solid acid catalysts in the catalytic cracking of plastic waste (PW). The synthesis and acid activation routes of the zeolites were rationalized by using simple and easy-to-use reagents. Characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the determination of catalytic activity in PW cracking was performed using simple, rapid, and safe thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The dynamic experiments enable students to understand, on a laboratory scale, the central concepts of applied catalysis and the circular economy, bringing teaching closer to the reality of industrially relevant processes.

Physical organic chemistry is a core subject for graduate students in organic chemistry, yet it is often considered highly challenging due to its abstract theories and mechanistic complexities. To improve comprehension of core concepts within a constrained curriculum, we have investigated various active learning strategies over the past five years. Among these, the integration of the latest research literature proved to be particularly effective. This paper details a case study using a selection of recent publications to teach radical philicity and reactivity. This two-hour module was designed with clear learning objectives for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students: to determine radical philicity, predict reaction rates and selectivities, and apply these concepts to current research problems. Analysis of student performance and feedback indicates that this literature-based approach not only successfully achieved these learning goals but also fostered a deeper interest in the subject and enhanced engagement with the primary research literature.

Yield stress is a fundamental concept in materials science. It is said that a material reaches its yield stress when, after some deformation, it does not recover its original structure. This is a well-known concept in solid mechanics. However, a similar concept in fluid mechanics is relatively unfamiliar outside the rheological community; in this case, the yield stress is the minimum stress required to initiate flow in certain materials. This research aims to address this educational gap by first presenting a description of the mathematical models commonly used for such fluids, then comparing simulations of fluids with and without yield, and finally, an interactive teaching module on the yield stress concept for undergraduate students. The module uses illustrative videos, simple experiments, and an infographic to intuitively demonstrate the concept and differentiate fluid with and without yield stress. A Google questionnaire was used to evaluate the module’s effectiveness among 90 students from diverse programs related to chemistry. The results showed a significant improvement in conceptual understanding, with more than 90% of students correctly defining yield stress after this questionnaire, compared to only 14% before. Considering all this information, we aim to offer engineers the essential tools to better understand and utilize this important material property.

Metal nanoclusters (NCs), as an important branch in the field of nanotechnology, offer significant application potential in catalysis, sensing, materials, and other fields due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In educational contexts, introducing atomically precise nanoclusters helps students gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles and application prospects of nanotechnology. Unlike metal nanoparticles (NPs), atomically precise NCs exhibit superior structural precision and controllable properties, serving as ideal model systems for teaching nanomaterials and nanotechnology. This undergraduate experiment course was conducted by ten second-year undergraduate students in group work, which consists of four sessions: a class on the synthesis, purification, and a class on scale-up synthesis of Ag6, followed by a class on the next week covering single-crystal structure determination and a class on optical property measurements, as the growth of the single crystals will take about a week, involving hands-on engagement with cutting-edge scientific research instruments such as single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD), fluorescence spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The course has been well-received by ten upper-division applied chemistry majors, who confirmed its suitability for balancing complexity and engagement. Through this course, students not only synthesize nanoclusters and observe their structural features but also enhance their experimental proficiency, critical thinking, and innovative capabilities, thereby laying a solid foundation for future scientific research.

This Perspective brings to light and challenges a set of persistent myths that seem to subtly influence the teaching and learning of organic chemistry. We have chosen nine myths that reflect common beliefs, which may have arisen from historically established teaching methods, systemic reasons for content coverage, large class sizes, expert “blind spots”, and/or personal instructional preferences. These myths may prevent students from meaningful learning and can inadvertently promote superficial memorization over a deeper understanding of concepts and reaction mechanisms. For each myth, we examine its origin and outline insights and design principles informed by empirical research in chemistry education, highlighting practical approaches that bridge the gap between theory and practice. The overall aim is to raise awareness of persistent myths and encourage efforts to replace them with strategies that foster conceptual understanding, mechanistic reasoning, and more meaningful engagement with organic chemistry.

The publication of articles related to student laboratories has played a prominent role in the content of this Journal throughout its history. The nature of the submissions in this area of teaching and learning has evolved over time and shows signs of continued growth today. This observation is particularly evident in the contributions from authors who have conceived of and implemented laboratory experiments that stretch over multiple meetings with students. This editorial considers this development and discusses how to best help authors who are interested in publishing such work to find success in the editorial evaluation process, including peer review.