Joel Shulman
University of Cincinnati
ACS Committee on Professional Training
BCCE Symposium on The Evolution of the ACS Approval Process:
Moving beyond the 2008 Guidelines
July 31, 2012
Can be termed:
Process skills
Soft skills
Employability skills
Nontechnical professional competencies
Characteristics:
Generic and transferable
Marketable and lifelong
Wide applications that go beyond course content alone
Problem solving/Critical thinking
Laboratory safety
Chemical-literature skills
Communication, both oral and written
Team skills
Professional ethics and social responsibility
“Students should go beyond course content alone to be effective and productive scientists. They need to master a variety of skills that will allow them to become successful professionals.”
“Both dedicated courses and integration of learning opportunities throughout the curriculum can be used to develop student skills and provide a means for assessing them.”
“The ultimate goal of chemistry education is to provide students with the tools to solve problems.”
– Problem solving skill is what students will need to develop further in graduate school and the reason they are hired by industry.
– But even if they have the tools, students don’t necessarily know how and when to use them.
– Need to integrate knowledge across chemistry and apply this knowledge appropriately to solve a problem.
What Do Students Need To Demonstrate?
PROBLEM SOLVING/CRITICAL THINKING
Define and analyze problems clearly
Develop a testable hypothesis
Design and execute experiments
Sort through data and draw appropriate conclusions
Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate literature articles
Understand the fundamental uncertainties in experimental measurements
Laboratory Safety Skills: A Lifelong Impact
HAZARDS occur daily!
Laboratory Safety Teaches Students about:
Minimizing hazard risks and what to do when they occur
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How to Use prudent practices and protective equipment
Ultimately, Lab Safety Skills teach students to:
Create a safer/healthier environment for all
Live safer, healthier, longer lives
What Do Students Need To Demonstrate?
LABORATORY SAFETY
“Students [should] understand the concepts of safe laboratory practices and how to apply them.”
Begin safety awareness in the first lab course
Understand responsible disposal techniques
Comply with safety regulations
Understand and use MSDS
Recognize and minimize potential chemical and physical hazards in the laboratory
Demonstrate Understanding of:
Safety rules (food/drink)
Dress regulations (shoes/clothing/goggles)
Physical safety
Safety/Emergency equipment and their use
What to do in case of accident/Injury/Illness
Handling, storage, and disposal of chemical waste
When to work in fume hoods
Awareness of Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) requirements
Access and ability to use Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
Proper techniques for each experiment
“Set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed, and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”
American Library Association (ALA)
What do students need to demonstrate?
CHEMICAL-LITERATURE SKILLS
“Students should learn how to retrieve specific chemical information from the chemical literature.”
Determine and access needed information
Retrieve specific information
Journal articles, reviews, handbooks, etc.
Variety of online data bases, such as Chemical Abstracts
Use both library and electronic sources
Evaluate technical articles critically
“Effective communication is vital to a scientist.”
Industry has identified “outages” in new-hire bachelor-degree chemists, especially
Communication skills
Team skills
What Do Students Need To Demonstrate?
COMMUNICATION
Present information in a clear and organized manner
Use appropriate technology ( e.g.
, poster preparation,
PowerPoint, word processing, chemical drawing programs)
Write well-organized and concise reports in a scientifically appropriate style
Respond effectively to questions in an oral presentation
“The ability to work in multidisciplinary teams is essential for a welleducated scientist.”
Enhances student learning
Is social, less competitive —not a solo race
Allows for sharing of ideas; increases listening, learning, and communication skills
Develops cooperation and reciprocity
Uses active/interactive learning techniques
Stimulates interpersonal collaboration
Develops people skills
Industry uses the team approach to solve problems.
What Do Students Need To Demonstrate?
TEAM SKILLS
Work effectively in a group to solve scientific problems
Able to lead portions of an activity and be effective followers
Interact productively with a diverse group of peers
ETHICS: Professional Conduct of Research
Chemistry, like any discipline, has a social structure with a code of practices that govern acceptable/unacceptable behaviors.
Progress in chemistry, as in all sciences, relies on complete honesty, openness, trustworthiness, and reproducibility of experimental results.
ACS has recognized the importance of ethics in chemistry by
Adopting an ACS Code of Conduct.
Constituting a Council Committee on Ethics.
What Do Students Need To Demonstrate?
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS & SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
• “Ethics should be an intentional part of the instruction in a chemistry program.”
Display high personal standards and integrity
Demonstrate an awareness of contemporary issues related to chemistry
Recognize applications of chemistry in industrial, governmental, and/or societal settings
How Can Chemistry Programs Impart and
Assess These Skills and Abilities?
Incorporate into existing courses throughout the curriculum
Design a culture of safety into all lab courses
Consciously design team projects into courses
Require some use of the literature in early chemistry courses
Design exams that go beyond knowledge to demonstrate integration and utilization of information
Emphasize the absolute importance of ethics
All instructional staff must be role models and exemplify responsible conduct in their teaching, research, and all other professional activities.
How Can Chemistry Programs Impart and
Assess These Skills and Abilities?
Develop separate “mini” courses
Safety
Writing and/or use of the literature
Ethics
Capstone seminars
Use advanced courses to assess skills
A senior lab course
Poster session based on project, with literature component
How Can Chemistry Programs Impart and
Assess These Skills and Abilities?
Undergraduate research: a unique opportunity to develop and assess student skills
Written and oral reports
Poster presentation
Critical use of the literature
Team skills
Advanced literature searching
Scientific ethics, with case studies
Writing a scientific paper
Effective oral scientific presentations
Effective poster presentations
Societal impacts of chemistry
Graduate school considerations
Job searching
Resume preparation
Interviewing skills
*Such Courses Are Not Usually Considered as In-Depth by CPT
Departments are expected to
Define important student process skills.
Describe activities that will develop these skills.
Evaluate whether (and how well) these skills are being developed.
CPT does not look at individual student outcomes, but rather at how a department imparts and accesses process skills.
See Student Skills Supplements at acs.org
[Education CPT ACS Guidelines/Supplements]
“Effective advising and mentoring of undergraduates are central to student achievement.”
Successful mentors provide guidance for a student’s
Ethical behavior
Development of independence
Networking
Ability to apply what she has learned
Career planning
Career preparation