Seeding the Laboratory Curriculum In Physical and AnalyticalChemistry with Interdisciplinary Applications

通过这个项目，该大学正在为其物理和分析化学的高年级本科实验课程提供精选的跨学科应用。学院的专业知识被用于开发新的应用程序，展示化学测量在解决生物化学、材料化学和环境化学等主题问题中的作用。仪器分析方法的学生正在使用荧光探针对生物和环境基质中的物种进行分析。在物理化学实验一中，学生们对生物化学（合成生物膜）和材料化学（液晶显示材料）中感兴趣的液晶材料进行量热测量。在物理化学实验II中，学生们使用荧光方法探索活性酶位点的化学模型上的复杂形成。通过为学生提供机会，对公众视野和与社会直接相关的化学系统进行测量，该大学正在激励其多样化的学生群体。这些实验为研究更复杂的化学系统提供了机会，而不是那些通常在本科实验课程中研究的。该部门正在采购两台荧光分光光度计，一台高效液相色谱荧光检测器和两台差示扫描量热计。该工具对于开发和实现这些新应用程序至关重要。这些新应用对学生动机和化学推理的影响为高校课程的进一步发展提供了合理的指导。

Through this project, the university is seeding its upper-division undergraduate laboratory courses in physical and analytical chemistry with selected interdisciplinary applications. Faculty expertise is being used to develop new applications that demonstrate the role of chemical measurements in addressing topical problems in biological chemistry, materials chemistry, and environmental chemistry. Students enrolled in Instrumental Methods of Analysis are using fluorescent probes of species in biological and environmental matrices. In Physical Chemistry Laboratory I students are performing calorimetric measurements on liquid crystalline materials of interest in biological chemistry (synthetic biomembranes) and in materials chemistry (liquid crystal display materials). In Physical Chemistry Laboratory II students are using fluorescence methods to explore complex formation on chemical models of active enzyme sites. By offering students the opportunity to perform measurements on chemical systems that are in the broad public view and of direct relevance to society, the university is motivating its diverse student population. These experiments are providing opportunities for investigations on more complex chemical systems than those typically studied in undergraduate laboratory curricula. The department is purchasing two fluorescence spectrophotometers, one fluorescence detector for the HPLC, and two differential scanning calorimeters. This instrumentation is essential for developing and implementing these new applications. The impact that these new applications have on student motivation and chemical reasoning provides a rational guide to furthering curricular development at colleges and universities.