Improving the Chemistry Laboratories by Integration of Modern FT-IR Spectrometers

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This project implements an innovative laboratory and field based Environmental Chemistry Option and initiates the development of an Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program. The goal is to prepare students for careers in environmental research, education and/or in the areas of environmental analyses, monitoring and assessment. The project is adapting components from Susan Libes', Coastal Carolina University, laboratory manual supported by NSF award 9750477, and from Maureen Seviny's, Oregon Institute of Technology, NSF project 9752662. A number of laboratory methods and experiments are being adapted from other published environmental texts. Time is devoted to the curriculum development of the courses such that the experiments are pre-tested (by science education students as directed studies projects) for their educational value and include cooperative and collaborative learning methods. By adding specific instrumentation such as an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) and kits for field work, which are dedicated to the environmental and analytical sciences, the following four aims can be accomplished. (1) Development of an Environmental Chemistry Laboratory Course to cover: i) environmental chemistry using instruments as diagnostic tools, ii) environmental analysis using instruments as quantitative tools, and iii) environmental modeling using STELLA, minteqa2 and EXCEL software. (2) Development of a Field-Based Environmental Science Capstone Course combining i) geography (Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and remote sensing (RS)), ii) chemistry (chemical analyses), and iii) biology (biological analyses) in order to develop an environmental impact assessment of a given area. Both biology and chemistry students take this second course and work in teams to develop the environmental assessment and impact statement. (3) Undergraduate environmental research projects are using the modern instrumentation. (4) The Instrumental Analysis Course is being improved with the addition of a new AAS.