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AIAN ublished by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development

With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

 

 

 

"RESEARCH" IN FRESHMAN CHEMISTRY

The teaching of general chemistry presents two major challenges to the instructor. First, the teacher must
present in a coherent fashion a broad overview of the laws, theories and relationships which make up the
body of knowledge called chemistry. This is a formidable task considering the variety and quantity of
information within the discipline, not to mention its interrelationships with allied fields. Second, the teacher
must assist the student in turning this massive amount of information into a working, functional body of
knowledge which he/she can apply in a practical sense. The second is the more difficult task, in part
because the teacher cannot control the marvelous, mysterious process of intellectual synthesis taking place
within the students’ minds. This the students must do for themselves. However, the teacher can create an
environment in which the student must make this intellectual synthesis.

In an attempt to create such an environment, we have introduced an individualized "research" problem
as the final series of experiments in our general chemistry laboratory program. This series of experiments is
performed by all general chemistry students and is not part of an advanced or honors program.

The directions given the student for the last five weeks of the term are: "Starting with three grams of
either copper, zinc or magnesium, prepare a series of five compounds (A—> B — C — D-* E) and prove
their identity to the satisfaction of the instructor." While such a task is simple, even trivial, to an
experienced chemist, to a freshman general chemistry student it represents a formidable challenge in
chemical research.

The students are required to submit a detailed research proposal for the synthesis and identification of
their chosen sequence of compounds. This proposal is reviewed for safety considerations by the instructor,
but the students are not told whether the proposal is workable. The writing of the research proposal
requires considerable library research and serves to introduce the student to the chemical literature. Also,
the students quickly learn the importance of good experimental design and develop a basic understanding of
synthetic sequencing and analytical processes.

Once the research proposal is reviewed for safety, the students begin the synthetic work. It has been our
experience that this experimental series is best suited for small laboratory sections of a dozen students or less
since each of the students possibly will be doing a different series of experiments which can involve
corrosive and flammable materials. Close supervision by the instructor is critical for this series to be
performed with minimal risk to the students (and instructor). The students are required to keep detailed
notes of their experiments and progress. After the final compound is prepared and analyzed, the students
report their results in journal format. This journal report gives the student further experience with technical
writing.

Feedback from students has been very positive. Some students find it frustrating in that they don’t know
where to begin. It is this very frustration which can help stimulate the intellectual synthesis of random data
into a working body of knowledge. The guiding, sometimes gentle, hand of the teacher is a must, however,
to prevent this frustration from turning into despair and defeat. Students normally find this experiment
stimulating, challenging; and they feel a great sense of accomplishment for having carried out their own
experimental procedures.

Richard L. Stein
Professor of Chemistry

For further information, contact the author at Germanna Community College, Box 339, Locust Grove, VA
22508.

 

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AO} Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712 my