Journal of Chemical Education最新文献

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) incorporate authentic research into the required curriculum and have been increasingly applied to STEM courses to provide students with more opportunities to gain research experience. Since CUREs involve research questions with unknown answers, teaching these courses is vastly different from teaching traditional laboratories. Previous research has shown that the students’ experience in the laboratory can be dependent on the instructor or teaching assistants (TAs). In many institutions, TAs are the main content deliverer for the laboratory curriculum with the instructor overseeing the TAs. Thus, it is vital that the TAs get proper professional development (PD) to adequately prepare them to teach a CURE. Many TA PD programs focus solely on pedagogy-based training, but that is insufficient for CURE TAs. In this work, we present a seven-week TA PD program that centers on building TAs’ research mentorship skills. Throughout the training, we surveyed CURE TAs throughout the semester on their mentoring skills, teaching anxiety, and self-efficacy. Using the data provided by four participating TAs, we found these TAs’ self-assessment of their mentoring skills improved. Additionally, our data note that each TA’s level of anxiety and self-efficacy had only small fluctuations compared to other participating TAs, which we attributed to each TA’s level of prior experience with teaching and mentoring. Overall, this work indicates that research mentoring based TA PD is one possible route for effectively supporting TAs in building mentoring and facilitation skills as CURE instructors.

Drinking water quality monitoring was performed for General Education science classes during fall 2018, spring 2019, and fall 2019 semesters and for an undergraduate research project in summer 2021 to promote civic engagement of students by connecting science with real-world problems of environmental justice in urban communities in addition to teaching chemical contents. Copper is a common material for drinking water service lines, and exposure to elevated levels of copper due to the corrosion of copper pipes causes harmful health effects, but few studies have focused on drinking water copper in underserved communities. Tap water, fountain water, and filling station water samples from a minority-serving institution’s campus and public parks in Hudson County, New Jersey, which are urban communities with racially and socioeconomically diverse populations, were analyzed for dissolved copper, pH, and electrical conductivity by groups of students using low-cost test kits and portable instruments. Although most drinking water samples collected from the university campus and public parks met the US EPA’s action level (1.3 mg/L Cu) for copper and the secondary standard for pH (6.5–8.5), a few water samples exceeded the standards. The activity improved students’ lab and field research skills, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and communication skills while engaging students in environmental justice issues. The routine water quality monitoring of public water supplies in underserved communities by undergraduate citizen scientists can be implemented in a wide range of courses and contributes to environmental equity by communicating the water quality data to university or government officials.

Excel proficiency is a critical tool in undergraduate chemistry education, yet many students lack confidence in performing essential data handling and analysis tasks. To address student apprehension and encourage engagement with the software, this work reports the development of an Excel-based escape room. The activity is built entirely within the Excel environment, utilizing conditional formatting and password-protected sheets to create a self-contained, interactive learning experience without the need for external software or funding. The activity was trialed with a cohort of first-year undergraduate chemistry students. Participants reported positive shifts in their perception of Excel, noting increased confidence and a greater willingness to apply the software for complex tasks following the intervention. While direct skill acquisition requires longitudinal study, survey data suggests that gamifying the Excel environment can effectively lower the perceived barrier to entry for hesitant students. By embedding skill development within an exploratory framework, this model offers a scalable, adaptable tool for introducing digital literacy in the chemical sciences.

White Board Talks represents a collaborative learning experience that allows students to utilize secondary literature to develop group presentations for a graduate level advanced organic chemistry course. Each group is composed of three to five students whose objective is to communicate the construction of organic compounds, application, and importance of an organic synthesis review topic that is assigned by the instructor. During the one semester course, each group presents five white board talks. Each student participates in individual peer reviewing based on provided rubrics. This paper describes the design and implementation of White Board Talks over the course of 10 years at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The learning tool improved students’ critical skills in oral communication, peer reviewing, and collaboration, as well as their confidence, chemical literacy, and deeper knowledge of organic synthesis.

A laboratory experiment was developed to introduce green chemistry concepts through the synthesis of the nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drug, celecoxib. There are a range of issues based on the traditional synthesis of celecoxib including the use of a toxic solvent such as toluene, which is becoming severely restricted in its use, and other issues such as high energy consumption due to long reaction times together with wasteful extractions. A greener synthesis has been developed by making use of 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane (TMO), a hindered ether, as a solvent that can be potentially biobased together with reducing reaction times and optimizing extraction procedures. These changes reduced waste by over 100 kg per kilogram of product. When implemented with students, they synthesized celecoxib, and the adaptations to the traditional process were discussed and evaluated using green chemistry metrics in conjunction with the DOZN tool together with the underlying reaction mechanisms.

Students’ interest in chemistry is a crucial factor that promotes engagement, persistence, and achievement in science learning. However, little is known about how environmental factors (perceived social support from teachers, parents, and peers) and personal factors (chemistry self-efficacy and learning strategies) jointly shape students’ interest in chemistry. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationships among these variables and students’ interest in chemistry. A total of 1,694 Chinese high school students participated in a questionnaire survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were employed to explore both linear and configurational relationships among the variables. The SEM results indicated that perceived social support from teachers, parents, and peers directly and positively influenced students’ interest in chemistry, while chemistry self-efficacy and learning strategies served as mediators in this relationship. The multigroup analysis further revealed that chemistry self-efficacy negatively moderated the path from teacher support to interest in chemistry, suggesting that students with higher self-efficacy rely less on external support when facing challenges. The fsQCA results identified five sufficient configurations, leading to high levels of interest in chemistry. Notably, the two configurations with the highest coverage both included the core conditions of high chemistry self-efficacy and high levels of learning strategy use. Taken together, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of how external support and internal factors interact to enhance students’ interest in chemistry, highlighting key implications for chemistry teaching practices and future research.

The course Understanding Color Through Chemistry and Painting was developed by the authors for students in the Honors Program at Fairfield University. This interdisciplinary course was team taught by an inorganic chemist and an artist with a specialization in painting during the Spring 2021 and Spring 2024 terms. The class focused on three main themes: properties of color, identifying color and color perception, and examining and analyzing color. The class was organized as a combination of in-class lectures, laboratory experiments, painting, and in-class activities. For the final exercise, the students came up with a scientific question about colors used in a painting and found scientific data in the peer-reviewed literature to help the students answer the question in a five-to-seven page paper. The students were also asked to select an Impressionist or Post-Impressionist painting, create a landscape painting using a similar palette, and create a video where they explained the painting and the data they researched that supports their conclusions. Both instructors will use examples from this class in other classes to spark interest and excitement in the material among the students.

Electrolysis is an essential but often difficult topic for first-year engineering students, because the processes are more complex than those of other introductory chemistry subjects. This paper introduces a simple classroom demonstration that enables students to visualize acid–base changes during electrolysis. The setup uses platinum electrodes, filter paper soaked with aqueous KNO₃, and red cabbage juice as a pH indicator. Within about 10 min, the solution near the anode turns red, while the cathode region shifts from green to yellow, providing a direct visual link between observed color changes and the underlying half-reactions. Designed for introductory general chemistry courses, this demonstration is especially useful when safety concerns or limited class time make multiple laboratory experiments impractical. Pre- and post-test results showed marked improvement in students’ ability to predict electrode processes occurring during electrolysis.

The increasing complexity of experimental sciences demands innovative teaching strategies that both facilitate conceptual learning and sustain student engagement. While gamification offers such potential, many implementations require substantial resources, limiting their adoption. This work introduces ESTOPA (Experimental Strategies, Times, and Options for Process Assessment), a low-cost, classroom-compatible gamification strategy designed to teach complex biochemical processes through collaborative, process-based reasoning. ESTOPA integrates experimental design principles, probabilistic reasoning, and sustainability content (via the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs) within a narrative framework, promoting both disciplinary and transversal skills, such as teamwork, communication, and leadership. The activity was implemented in a third-year “Environmental Biochemistry and Biotechnology” course (N = 28, University of Córdoba, Spain). Student perceptions, collected through a ten-item survey (α = 0.82), indicated strong engagement, perceived utility, and alignment with course objectives. Additionally, a retrospective analysis of exam data across four academic years revealed a significant improvement in higher-order cognitive skills (Cohen’s d = 2.07, p < 0.01) following the ESTOPA intervention. These results suggest that ESTOPA effectively supports the development of applied and analytical thinking in biochemistry. Given its scalability, low cost, and adaptability, ESTOPA represents a valuable pedagogical approach for university science education.

Asymmetric organocatalysis represents a pivotal yet challenging concept in modern organic chemistry education. To enhance interdisciplinary learning, we designed an interdisciplinary instructional project focusing on the l-proline-catalyzed asymmetric Mannich reaction. In the whole schedule, the experimental section includes the synthesis, purification, and characterization of the products, while the computational chemistry section involves the computation for the reaction potential energy surface and the energy decomposition analysis (EDA)-based quantification of noncovalent interactions. It cultivates key skills in molecular modeling and data analysis while offering students insights into fundamental organic concepts, such as stereoselectivity, steric effects, and electronic effects. Implemented as a capstone project in advanced organic chemistry courses, this project effectively introduces theoretical concepts of intermolecular interactions and provides a practical and easy way for teaching catalytic mechanisms.