Enhancing Chemistry Curricula through Molecular Modeling: A Multi-Campus Consortium Approach

通过分子建模增强化学课程：多校区联盟方法

• 批准号: 0088882
• 负责人: John Keller
• 金额: $ 8.89万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-01-01 至 2004-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0088882&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Enhancing; Chemistry; Curricula; through; Molecular

Chemistry (12) This project is a joint effort by four chemistry departments in the University of Alaska system to improve the access of UA chemistry students to modern computational chemistry tools. Chemistry faculty at these sites, which include UA campuses at Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, do have some experience using molecular modeling software. However, most of these small chemistry departments by themselves lack experience using molecular modeling in the teaching setting, they lack colleagues within their sub-disciplines to discuss specific molecular modeling issues, and they lack the financial resources and technical background to install the necessary hardware and software on a department-wide scale. Thus the UA consortium was formed to provide mutual technical support concerning how to solve specific molecular modeling problems, to exchange ideas and methods for incorporating molecular modeling in the chemistry curriculum, and to choose the best hardware and software for installation in undergraduate computer labs. The PIs settled on a common hardware standard and the HyperChem molecular modeling system to facilitate communication throughout the UA system. Communication also is fostered by setting up a Web site (www.hyperalaska.edu) as a centralized information exchange site for Alaska chemistry faculty, or others nationwide, regarding teaching or research applications of molecular modeling. UA chemistry faculty are adapting molecular modeling methods in their curricula in various ways. These are designed to: (1) enhance the mental picture of molecularity among introductory level students (Jones, ChemConf 96), (2) create unifying cross-disciplinary connections among upper division students enrolled in discipline-specific chemistry and (in some cases) biology classes (Martin, J. Chem. Ed., 75, 241, 1998), and (3) critically benchmark computational chemistry results against experimental results, such as those obtained in NMR, IR, thermochemical, chromatographic, kinetic or other experiments (Yarger, J. Chem. Ed., 74, 243, 1997; Wolfson, J. Chem. Ed. 73, 1026, 1996). The across-the-board implementation of molecular modeling described here is expected to significantly strengthen chemistry learning by providing new motivation for students to undertake learning, a new conceptual route to learning, and significant and interesting learning goals for both students and teachers.

化学（12）该项目是由阿拉斯加大学系统的四个化学系共同努力，以提高UA化学学生获得现代计算化学工具的机会。这些地点的化学教师，包括费尔班克斯、安克雷奇、朱诺和马塔努斯卡-苏西特纳山谷的大学校园，确实有一些使用分子建模软件的经验。然而，大多数这些小的化学系本身缺乏在教学环境中使用分子建模的经验，他们缺乏同事在他们的子学科讨论具体的分子建模问题，他们缺乏财政资源和技术背景，以安装必要的硬件和软件在整个部门的规模。因此，UA联盟的形成，以提供相互的技术支持，关于如何解决特定的分子建模问题，交流思想和方法，将分子建模在化学课程，并选择最好的硬件和软件安装在本科计算机实验室。PI确定了一个通用的硬件标准和HyperChem分子建模系统，以促进整个UA系统的通信。通过建立一个网站（www.hyperalaska.edu）作为阿拉斯加化学系或全国其他人关于分子建模的教学或研究应用的集中信息交换网站，也促进了交流。UA化学系正在以各种方式在其课程中调整分子建模方法。其目的是：（1）在入门级学生中增强分子性的心理图像（Jones，ChemConf 96），（2）在注册学科特定化学和（在某些情况下）生物学课程的高年级学生中创建统一的跨学科联系（Martin，J. Chem. Ed.，75，241，1998），和（3）将计算化学结果与实验结果进行严格的基准测试，例如在NMR、IR、热化学、色谱、动力学或其它实验中获得的那些（Yarger，J. Chem. Ed.，74，243，1997; Wolfson，J.Chem.Ed.73，1026，1996）。本文所描述的分子建模的全面实施预计将通过为学生提供新的学习动机，新的学习概念路线以及学生和教师的重要和有趣的学习目标来显着加强化学学习。