Academic Exchange Quarterly
Fall 2008 ISSN 1096-1453 Volume 12,
Issue 3
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An Air Quality TPSL
Module for General Chemistry
Jack F. Eichler,
Eichler,
PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Division of Natural Science
and Mathematics.
Abstract
This article describes a way to teach general
chemistry for majors and non-majors through the unsolved problem of air
quality. This study, conducted in
introductory chemistry courses for non-science majors, is focused on the
measurement of ground level ozone. As
part of this project, students have created ozone detectors, helped design a long-term
study that monitors local ground-level ozone concentrations, collected
ground-level ozone concentration data with area middle school students, and
reported the results of this study to local civic and environmental organizations.
Introduction
During the early part of my
professional career as an educator, my philosophy of teaching focused on demonstrating
my enthusiasm for chemistry to the students.
The thought was that I could transfer my joy of the subject to the
learner by overwhelming force. If they
saw how much I loved chemistry and realized how “cool” it was, how could they
not become enchanted? Perhaps in a way
this may have worked; I believe I was considered a popular teacher by most of
the students and they routinely did well on the end-of-course exams. However, after a couple of years passed by, I
sensed that small groups of students did not buy into my excitement. This really disappointed me. If some of my students were not learning to
love chemistry, or at least beginning to appreciate it, then what were they
taking away from my class?
My philosophy of teaching
shifted then to not only demonstrating how interesting chemistry was, but began
to also concentrate on having my course provide a set of skills that my
students could use later in their lives.
Even though they likely would not remember how to draw chemical
structures or calculate the theoretical yield of a chemical reaction, perhaps
they would take with them the ability to design a sound experiment or correctly
analyze and interpret data. Therefore,
even if a student did not develop a passion for the subject matter, at least
s/he would gain some practical skills in my class. This approach helped provide a more
meaningful reason to study chemistry, but I felt the general chemistry
curriculum remained an abstract set of information for most students. Something was still missing.
When I arrived at
However, there were some
limitations to the water quality study however.
Most of the water quality testing required the use of manufactured kits
which did not clearly demonstrate the actual chemistry involved in the test,
there was still some disconnection between the water quality at a local stream
and the effect this might have on our students’ drinking water, and I was not
sure this approach could easily be used in an introductory course for chemistry
majors.
In an effort to address these
problems, I began to think about how I could refine the TPSL
module. Luckily I stumbled across a
paper by J.V. Seeley which described a simple method
for measuring ground level ozone, the major component of photochemical smog
(Seeley 2005). I felt air quality was a
problem that had a much more direct impact on the students (we could measure
the quality of the air they actually breathed), and the method of detection
reported by Seeley required the students to use many of the chemistry concepts and
skills learned in an introductory course.
I decided this would be a convenient way to carry out TPSL activities in both majors and non-majors general
chemistry.
Described herein is a summary
of how air quality has been used to frame the learning goals and outcomes in my
general chemistry course for non-majors, the nature of the TPSL
activities, an initial qualitative assessment of this program and how it has
impacted student learning in our general chemistry courses, and why I feel it
will be applicable in our chemistry courses for science majors.
Focusing the Learning Goals on Air Quality
One of the arguments I have
heard against implementing TPSL activities,
especially among faculty who teach courses intended for science majors, is that
the service or community outreach activities will infringe upon the successful
completion of the canonical course content.
The appeal to framing the curricular content of our first semester
general chemistry course around the issue of air quality lies in the fact the
method reported by Seeley requires the students to apply most of the major
concepts covered in this course. Table 1
summarizes the major concepts covered in our “traditional” general chemistry,
those covered in our “air quality” version of general chemistry, and those
required to understand the concept of ground level ozone and how to complete
the measurement of its concentration.
To see table-1,
send email request to
It is clear that course
content is not sacrificed, at least given the manner in which we teach general
chemistry at
In order to frame the course
around the issue of air quality, a problem-based case study was done the first
week of class. This case study was
centered around a scenario in which someone blames their breathing problems on
ground level ozone. The students were
required to identify the major issues in the case and generate questions that
needed to be answered in order to resolve the problem. These questions were then documented, and acted
as the content learning goals for the remainder of the semester. As the semester proceeded, the students were
reminded about how each topic related to the problem of ground level ozone and
how the specific content for each unit allowed them to answer some of the
questions generated in the case study.
At the end of the semester, three weeks were devoted to the problem of
ground level ozone. The students
completed research on the background information related to how ground level ozone
forms, why it is a potential public health hazard, and how we were to measure
it in lab. We also did three labs where
the students actually measured the concentration of ground level ozone on
campus, and then all of the background information and new data were summarized
and analyzed in a written report.
Anecdotally, I have receive
extremely positive feedback from the students, and representative comments from
student reflective statements indicate that using this approach has been an
effective way to engage the students in learning science (see Table 2). Almost by consensus, comments indicate that
this project was successful in helping the students achieve the course learning
goals and a clear connection between chemistry and the students’ lives has been
made.
To see table-2,
send email request to
TPSL Activities
In addition to simply framing
the course around the topic of air quality, service and community outreach has
been integrated into some sections of our general chemistry courses for non-majors. One of the service components is modeled on
what was previously done with the water quality lab modules (Patrick 2003). We spent three lab periods with students from
a local middle school and provided them with background information on ground
level ozone.
A second piece was added for
the air quality study. The students were
given the option of completing volunteer activities with one of two local environmental
organizations; Keep Covington/Newton Beautiful or The Center for Urban Planning
and Preservation. Students who completed
eight hours of service outside of the classroom were given extra credit. Most of the class completed this service
requirement (14 out of 18 students), and most of them participated in the
community awareness projects associated with Keep Covington/Newton
Beautiful. Only a few students completed
these activities with The Center, which involved doing some basic background
research regarding local traffic and development patterns. Some of the student reports were also given
to these organizations in an effort to publicize the results from the air
quality study.
Qualitative Assessment of the TPSL
Activities
To see table-3,
send email request to
Overall, the TPSL activities seemed to have a greater impact on
perceived student
Learning and on student
confidence in relating how science can be used to solve social issues. The comparison of pre- and post-course
surveys indicates that the TPSL version of the air
quality course had a greater effect in achieving high levels of confidence in
designing lab experiments, and confidence in understanding how science can be
used to solve societal issues/problems.
It is clear that more students in the TPSL
section had significantly improved confidence in designing lab experiments and
understanding how science can be used to address societal issues (more students
changed their response to 4 or 5 in the post-course survey for these questions;
see Table 3). It is noted however, that
a large number of students in both courses made some gains, particularly in
gaining confidence in designing lab experiments. Representative results from the student
reflective statements also indicate that the work done with the middle school
students had a positive impact on student learning, though the volunteer work
done outside of class seemed to have less value to the students (see Table 3). As many of the students noted in their
reflective statements, the work done in collaboration with the local middle
school may have contributed to a deeper understanding of the major concepts and
experimental design involved in the project.
This may have arisen due to the fact that my students are responsible
for explaining the project, and demonstrating the specific lab techniques and
calculations to the younger students. The
volunteer work with the local environmental agencies most likely had less
impact on the students because there was less direct application of the chemistry
concepts learned in class.
Future work will involve
doing a more rigorous statistical analysis of the current, and subsequent
survey data, as well as evaluating the results of American Chemical Society (ACS) end-of-course examinations for students taking general
chemistry for science majors. The
performance of our students will be compared to the at-large pool of ACS exam scores, and it is the hope that these future data
will indicate that teaching the first semester general chemistry course with
the air quality and/or TPSL component does not dilute
the content covered in the course. In
fact, it is hypothesized this approach will reinforce the content.
Conclusion
Teaching introductory
chemistry through the unsolved problem of air quality has enabled me to make a
strong connection between science and the students’ lives, without sacrificing
important curricular components that teach chemistry concepts needed for future
courses. In addition, this approach has
allowed me to teach non-majors “real chemistry.” Though this course does not have the same
depth of information as a major’s course, most of the fundamental chemistry
concepts are retained, and by addressing the problem of ground level ozone as
described here, the non-science majors are able to learn how a chemist would
solve a problem.
Results from a pre- and
post-course survey, as well as free response reflective statements indicate
that students feel they have achieved the course goals and made gains in
acquiring new skills, particularly experimental design and using scientific
knowledge to solve social problems.
Given these outcomes, I feel confident that this approach will prove to
be an effective approach to teaching general chemistry for science majors, and
that educators in all fields of science should consider teaching their
introductory courses through an unsolved social problem [3].
Endnotes
[1] The formation of ground
level ozone is dependent on the presence of nitrogen oxide compounds (NOx), which are primarily emitted from automobiles
and fossil fuel combustion power plants.
There are a variety of resources that describe in detail the formation
of ground level ozone, but the reader may want to consult the reference book, Encyclopedia of global change: environmental change and human society
(Andrew Goudie, editor, 2002, Oxford University
Press,
[2] The journal article by
Seeley, et al. gives a detailed
description of the aqueous chemical reactions involved in measuring ground
level ozone, how standard solutions are prepared and used to determine the
amount of ozone detected, and how the ideal gas equation is used to calculate
the moles of air sampled.
[3] For more information on
this approach to teaching science, the reader is referred to www.sencer.net (SENCER
= Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities).
References
H.R. Patrick, M.M. Ali, and B.B. Harmon,
“Forming bonds: Chemistry and
community.” Abstracts of Papers, 225th ACS
National Meeting,
S.L. Ash, P.H. Clayton, and M.P. Atkinson, “Integrating reflection and assessment to
capture and improve student learning.”
J.V. Seeley, et al.,
“A simple method for measuring ground level ozone in the atmosphere.” Journal
of Chemical Education, 2005, 82(2), pg. 282-285.