Ohio REEL Project
Research Experiences to Enhance Learning
Bill Donovan, The University of Akron
Prabir Dutta, The Ohio State University
Pat Woodward, Director (OSU)
‘Vinnie’ Subramaniam, Assoc. Director (OSU)
Prabir K Dutta, The Ohio State University, PI
Bill Donovan , University of Akron, Co-PI
Allen Hunter, Youngstown State University, Co-PI
Larry Mayer, Columbus State Community College, Co-PI
Richard Taylor, Miami University, Co-PI
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Where we started:
Most faculty colleagues can agree on two impressions
from teaching introductory chemistry courses:
• Students do NOT learn as much as we would like.
• When we get these students involved in (traditional)
undergraduate research projects, they respond very
differently with thoughtful and productive involvement.
Could ALL students in the introductory chemistry
courses reap some of the benefits of involvement in
research?
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Ohio REEL Project
Research Experiences to Enhance Learning
Partner Institutions
University of Akron (UA)
Bowling Green State University (BGSU)
Capital University (CU)
Central State University (CtlSU)
University of Cincinnati (UC)
Cleveland State University (CSU)
Columbus State Community College (CSCC)
University of Dayton (UD)
Kent State University (KSU)
Miami University of Ohio (MU)
Ohio University (OU)
University of Toledo (UT)
Wright State University (WSU)
Youngstown State University (YSU)
The Ohio State University (OSU)
One of 3 NSF fully funded Undergraduate
Research Collaboratives (URC)
http://ohio-reel.osu.edu/
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Undergraduate Research Collaboratives:
NSF Objectives
1. To expand the reach of undergraduate research to include first- and
second-year college students
2. To enhance the research capacity, infrastructure, and culture of
participating institutions, thereby strengthening the nation’s
research enterprise.
Research should be in the chemical sciences (including interdisciplinary
areas) and should provide exposure to research of contemporary
scientific interest that is addressed with modern research tools
and methods.
“Projects should allow students to create new knowledge that is
potentially publishable by providing exposure to research of
contemporary scientific interest that is addressed with modern
research tools and methods.”
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Goals: Ohio REEL Project
1.
Increase the retention and graduation rates in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fields.
•
STEM baccalaureate grads (FY 2003) 8943 in Ohio (78/100,000
residents)
•
Ohio has consistently lagged the region: 12.9% below the national
average and 36th in the nation
•
Number of STEM graduates in Ohio improved from 1980 to 1990,
but dropped in 2000 (compared to national average), increasing
2000-2003
2.
Introduce laboratory-based research into 1st and 2nd year
chemistry courses, impacting 15,000-17,000 students
statewide by 2010.
3.
Generate new knowledge in the chemical sciences.
4.
Establish statewide faculty and student teaching and learning
communities.
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Ohio: 8th Grade Student Performance
Ohio is a national leader in science performance at the 8th grade level.
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Ohio: Science and Engineering
Graduates
Ohio is 12.9% behind the national average, and ranks 36th in the nation
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Goals: Ohio REEL Project
1.
Increase the retention and graduation rates in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fields.
2.
Introduce laboratory-based research into 1st and 2nd year
chemistry courses, impacting 15,000-17,000 students statewide
by 2010.
•
Experience Science
•
Develop, implement, and evaluate two generations of
research modules
•
Integrate the research modules into the curriculum at all the
partner institutions
3.
Generate new knowledge in the chemical sciences.
4.
Establish statewide faculty and student teaching and learning
communities.
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Innovation
Research faculty take leadership to develop module
• Several institutions participate in developing modules: develop new
collaborations
• Research modules have local flavors
• Ownership by faculty
Ownership by students
• Students write and critique proposals
• Relevance to subjects of societal interest (pollution & the environment,
biological chemistry, green chemistry, energy, etc.)
• Student creation of the research proposal is critical
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Innovation
Build research capacity: students and faculty
• Generate new knowledge: interest to faculty
•
Research Experience motivates students
•
Introduce more technology experience
Transform teaching and research culture
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Characteristics of a Research Module
• Research exploration
– Outcome is not known in advance
– Results can be used to guide higher level research explorations
• Natural integration with existing course structure
– Reinforces concepts that are currently being taught
• Involves all phases of the research process
– Emphasis on the scientific method
• Engages students with problems of societal interest
– Show the relevance of chemical research to modern problems
• Involves both group and individual work
– Create student learning communities
• Variations allow for multiple iterations & transferability
– Transform the culture of teaching chemistry to the masses
– Long term sustainability and widespread adoption are critical
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Goals: Ohio REEL Project
1.
Increase the retention and graduation rates in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fields.
2.
Introduce laboratory-based research into 1st and 2nd year
chemistry courses, impacting 15,000-17,000 students statewide
by 2010.
3.
Generate new knowledge in the chemical sciences.
4.
•
Organic/Biological – Combinatorial synthesis of new small
molecule organics, catalysis, etc.
•
Environmental/Analytical – Water, Air and Soil quality
•
Inorganic/Materials - Combinatorial synthesis of new
pigments, phosphors, etc.
Establish statewide faculty and student teaching and learning
communities.
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Module Design Teams (MDT)
• Organic/Biological Chemistry
–
–
–
–
–
Miami University (Rich Taylor)
Ohio State University (Chris Callam)
Ohio University (Klaus Himmeldirk)
University of Cincinnati (Deborah Lieberman)
University of Toledo (Xuefei Huang, Steve Sucheck, Treasure Sucheck)
• Analytical/Environmental Chemistry
–
–
–
–
–
Ohio State University (Susan Olesik, Ted Clark)
Cleveland State University (Robert Wei)
Central State University (Suzanne Seleem, Anthony Arment)
Wright State University (Suzanne Lunsford)
Bowling Green State University (John Cable)
• Inorganic/Materials Chemistry
–
–
–
–
–
Ohio State University (Patrick Woodward)
Youngstown State University (Allen Hunter, Tim Wagner)
University of Akron (Bill Donovan)
University of Dayton (Howard Knachel)
Kent State University (Roger Gregory, Scott Bunge)
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Goals: Ohio REEL Project
1.
Increase the retention and graduation rates in Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fields.
2.
Introduce laboratory-based research into 1st and 2nd year chemistry
courses, impacting 15,000-17,000 students statewide by 2010.
3.
Generate new knowledge in the chemical sciences.
4.
Establish statewide faculty and student teaching and
learning communities.
–
Forge partnerships through module design teams
–
Seed and encourage innovations in teaching 1st & 2nd
year courses
–
Research is planned and carried out in groups
–
Publish student results through the web, as well as local
and statewide conferences
–
Through evaluation and feedback best practices are
identified and shared
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Challenges
Inspiring students
• Value derived from utility
• Value derived from choice and control
Total faculty involvement
• Chairs on board
• Success motivates
Curricular adjustments
• Replace 30% of laboratory with modules
Instructional Associate training
Infrastructure growth
Sustainability??
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Module Design Considerations
Practical
Research Oriented
Are the costs, waste, manpower,
and instrumentation demands
reasonable and sustainable?
Do the experiments lead to the
generation of new research
results and knowledge?
Educational
Motivational
Do the students understand the
underlying concepts? Does it
reinforce the existing course
material? Does it build critical
thinking skills?
Do the students get excited about
research? Do they develop a sense
of ownership of the project?
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Non Toxic Inorganic Pigment Design
OSU Chem 123 – General Chemistry
CdS
Pb3O4
Red Lead
Cadmium Yellow
HgS
Vermillion
Inorganic Pigments – Most red and orange, and many yellow inorganic
pigments contain toxic heavy metals, such as Cd, Hg and Pb. There is a
strong movement to replace these pigments with more environmentally
benign alternatives (this is dictated by law in Europe).
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Implementation
• Spring, 2006 - 150 students in 6 sections.
• Approximately 80-90% were honors students (unintended
scheduling consequence).
• One instructor and six TA’s
• “Control Group” of 275 students in 11 sections, also taught
by the same instructor. These students had the same
lectures and exams, but traditional labs.
• New labs extended over six laboratory sessions
• Students work individually, but results are shared within
groups (red, orange and yellow) and throughout the class
prior to final presentation and report
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Pedagogical Rationale
•
•
•
•
Precipitation Reactions and Stoichiometry (Ch 4)
Molecular Orbital Theory & Electronic Structure (Ch 9 & 24)
Periodic Trends: Electronegativity & Orbital Overlap (Ch 7 & 23)
Origins of Color (Ch. 24)
– Ligand-to-metal charge transfer excitations
– Band-to-band transitions in semiconductors
– d-to-d transitions in transition metal compounds
– f-to-d transitions in lanthanide compounds
– HOMO-LUMO excitations in conjugated organic molecules
• Periodic Crystal Structures & Unit Cells (Ch. 11)
• X-ray Diffraction & Bragg’s Law (Limited coverage)
The research module combines concepts from throughout the entire
121-123 sequence, as well as some material not traditionally covered.
The net result is a capstone experience.
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Training Labs
solid state model kits
Synthesis &
Color observation
Institute for Chem. Education
MO Calculations (Gaussian)
7
CdS
6
ZnS
ZnSe
Reflectance
5
CdSe
4
3
2
1
0
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Wavelength (nm)
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance
X-ray Powder Diffraction
Module Timeline
Task
Background Information
Lecture
1
2
X
MO Calculations
X
Solid State Structures
X
X-ray Diffraction
X
UV-Visible Spectroscopy
X
Pigment Synthesis
Data Interpretation
Presentations/Reports
4
5
X
X
6
X
Precipitation Reactions
Pigment Design
3
X
X
X
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Unexpected, but nonetheless
attractive result (CoCO3)
Students preparing samples
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Red – “The color of death”
X-ray Diffraction
Student Designed
Pigments
Annealed
Monoclinic
BiVO4
as-Precipitated
Tetragonal
BiVO4
Pb1-xSnxI2
Pb1-xSnxI2
Pb(MoO4)2-x-y(CrO4)x(SO4)y
“Chrome Orange”
PbI2 + PbICl + Amorphous
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Student Opinions
•
What aspects of the project did you like?
Freedom & flexibility to think on your own
Being a part of research to create a new pigment
•
68%
28%
Would you be interested in undergraduate research in a different
area? If so, what area?
Yes80%
No
4%
No Comments 16%
Cancer
Biological
Veterinary
Nuclear Chemistry
Forensic Science
Chemical Fuel Cells
Nutritional
Medical
Pharmaceuticals
Zoology
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
I just wanted to thank you for a great quarter. I am majoring in biology and Spanish and
for the past 2 quarters, due to professors and TAs perhaps, I have become very
disinterested in the science part of my curriculum and seriously considered dropping the
biology major. However, I feel like my interest in science has been restored this quarter!
You were so much more engaging than my other professors which made such a difference!
I think you have probably received a great deal of criticism of the REEL labs from
everyone, but I did enjoy it. Planning and doing the lab was very frustrating, and at first I
thought that I hated it. But, getting the data back and analyzing my own pigment creation
was very cool. Having to do this and learn at the same time, and wanting to understand
something that I had made really enforced the material! So, please do not be too
discouraged with everyone's comments; I think it is great that the chemistry department is
trying to revise its labs and even though REEL lab could probably use some revision, of
course, it was a great tool to learn more about what we were doing in class.
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Shortcomings and Solutions
• The labs were too rushed and not always in-synch with the lecture
material (jumping around in the text)
– Some of the “training lab exercises” will be moved to Chemistry 121
and 122 (where they naturally fall in the text), and more time will be
provided for their completion
• The scope of research possibilities was too large, which led to some
confusion
– Different origins of color (d-to-d transitions, charge transfer
transitions, organic dyes, etc.) will be specifically targeted, but the
target will change from year to year
• Demands on student time are very high toward the end of the quarter
– Pigment design project will be shifted to fall earlier in the quarter
• Demands on faculty, staff and TA time were high and unsustainable
– Utilize undergraduate lab assistants/mentors to assist in data
collection and student mentoring (from pool of previous students who
went through the experience)
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Conclusions
• Most students get excited at the idea of research, but they can
also become easily frustrated and confused if the research
project is not carefully thought out and well defined
• A second trial, where the bugs have been worked out, is
needed to ascertain what level of frustration and confusion is
inherent to the process.
• Implementation of the REEL program will have a big impact on
the way almost all of our 1st and 2nd year courses are taught.
Critical thinking will be entrenched in the curriculum.
• Student publication is possible, even with 1st year students (4
students are working on this over the summer)
• It is important to find the right balance between student
ownership/design and efficient research results
• Instrumentation issues (including computations) require
imaginative thinking (& additional funding) to implement in
large classes
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Dinuclear Lanthanide Complexes
Howard Knachel, Shawn Swavey – Dayton (Spring ’06)
• Synthesis of bimetallic lanthanide complexes (six
terminal ligands + 1 bridging ligand)
• Chem Majors General Chem Lab (14 students)
• Students worked individually, but duplicate assignments
• 3 lab sessions
• Samples sent out for C/H/N analysis
X
L
X
M
L
L
M
X
X
L
Results are now being written up for a regular paper!
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
Mixed Transition Metal Fluorides
Tim Wagner - Youngstown State (Summer ’06)
• Synthesis of pigment materials of general formula KMF3,
where M will be a combination of two or more metals
• General Chem Lab (14 students and 5 lab sessions)
• Students worked in pairs
• 7 new compounds characterized by X-ray diffraction
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
External Evaluation
Jane Kahle, Bill Boone & Stacey Bretz - Miami Univ.
• Evaluation will be carried out at each institution as new
modules are tested and implemented. The following
aspects of the program will be evaluated:
• Student attitudes and backgrounds (questionnaire)
• Course content (comparison of laboratory content
before and after implementation of REEL)
• Student learning (module specific tests)
• Classroom observation, instructor & student interviews
• Student tracking (retention, STEM majors, STEM
graduates, participation in traditional undergraduate
research)
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division
More Information….
P117: Environmental chemistry research
in the quantitative chemical analysis
course
Susan Olesik and Ted Clark, OSU
Monday at 10:15, STEW 310
© 2005 Ohio Undergraduate Research Consortium. REEL is funded by the National Science Foundation, Chemistry Division