Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy to Enhance the Undergraduate Laboratory Science Curriculum

埃奇伍德学院最近购置了一台原子吸收光谱仪，使学生能够进行实验，并开展涉及生物和环境样品中微量金属的项目。在一门为非科学专业和师范专业学生开设的综合跨学科课程中，学生开展的项目涉及微量重金属污染物（植物中的铅吸收和人类头发中的汞）的分析。在化学课程中，学生确定生物流体中的金属离子，并从事学生发起的项目，调查威斯康星州水道中供水和鱼类的汞污染。学习地球科学的非科学专业学生通过研究自然水域中的微量无机营养物质和测定岩石和矿石样品中的微量金属化学，了解原子吸收光谱作为地球化学和化学海洋学的有力工具。本项目有助于满足以仪器为基础的实验室体验的需求，激发非理科生的想象力，并改善我们未来教师的科学教育。直接受影响的学生中约75%是女性。发表所进行的实验将扩大该项目的影响。

The recent acquisition, at Edgewood College, of an atomic absorption spectrometer allows students to perform experiments and undertake projects involving trace metals in biological and environmental samples. In an integrated, interdisciplinary course for non-science and teacher education majors, students carry out projects involving the analysis of trace amounts of heavy metal pollutants (lead uptake in plants and mercury in human hair). In chemistry courses, students determine metal ions in biological fluids, and pursue student-originated projects to investigate mercury contamination of water supplies and fish in Wisconsin waterways. Non-science majors studying geoscience gain an appreciation for atomic absorption spectroscopy as a powerful tool in geochemistry and chemical oceanography by investigating trace inorganic nutrients in natural waters and determining the trace metal chemistry of rock and ore samples. This project helps to meet a need for instrumentation-based laboratory experiences which excite the imagination of non-science majors and improve the science education of our future teachers. About 75% of the students directly impacted are women. Publication of experiments developed will extend the impact of the project.