Development of an Interdisciplinary Course, Chemical Analysis in Chemical Ecology

化学生态学中的化学分析跨学科课程的开发

• 批准号: 0942570
• 负责人: Thomas Arnold
• 金额: $ 19.99万
• 依托单位: Dickinson College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-12-01 至 2014-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0942570&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Interdisciplinary; Course; Chemical; Analysis

Intellectual merit Global warming. Overpopulation. Renewable energy. National security. Access to clean water. Targeted therapeutics. The grand global challenges facing the 21st century world are complex and necessitate the creation of new educational models for training undergraduate scientists. To better prepare students to meet these challenges requires educators to radically re-think and restructure the way students experience the process of science in the laboratory. Current models no longer serve students well because they ignore fundamental realities of how science is conducted beyond the campus walls: in collaborative research teams comprised of scientists who bring multiple fields of expertise to the issues at hand. Student learning should no longer be artificially compartmentalized within disciplinary boundaries without providing students an opportunity to experience a more authentic model of the process of science early in their educational careers. To address this need, an upper-level interdisciplinary laboratory course entitled "Chemical Analysis in Chemical Ecology" is being created. The course is team taught by an analytical chemist from the Chemistry Department and a chemical ecologist from the Biology Department. The course enrolls 24 students per semester (12 registered through the chemistry department and 12 through the biology department) who work together in research teams of six students (3 biologists/3 chemists) each. The teams learn a set of common analytical techniques to investigate four current research questions in chemical ecology, culminating in the application of this knowledge to an original research question utilizing these techniques. Broader impact A guiding principle in the development of the course is the recognition that undergraduate scientists need authentic research experiences early in their undergraduate careers to help develop the critical-thinking skills needed to solve the world's most pressing problems. Furthermore, the course is expected to: 1) generate excitement for science and its relevance in students' lives; 2) provide students with realistic research experiences involving collaborative team-based problem solving approaches; 3) help students to develop confidence in the hands-on use of state-of-the-art HPLC instrumentation; 4) provide opportunities to cross disciplinary boundaries in seeking more complete answers to scientific questions; and 5) provide opportunities for students to clearly communicate their results to diverse audiences. The outcomes of this interdisciplinary course will be presented at two conferences. One, the annual meeting of the International Society for Chemical Ecology (ISCE), will introduce scientists in the field of chemical ecology to these efforts. The second, the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, will disseminate the results to chemists familiar with new initiatives in undergraduate education.

全球变暖。人口过剩。可再生能源。国家安全。获得干净的水。有针对性的治疗。21世纪世界面临的巨大全球性挑战是复杂的，需要为培养本科科学家创造新的教育模式。为了让学生更好地应对这些挑战，教育工作者需要从根本上重新思考和重构学生在实验室中体验科学过程的方式。目前的模式已经不能很好地为学生服务，因为它们忽视了在校园围墙之外如何进行科学研究的基本现实：在由科学家组成的合作研究团队中，他们将多个领域的专业知识带到手头的问题上。学生的学习不应该再被人为地划分为学科界限，而不给学生提供在其教育生涯早期体验更真实的科学过程模型的机会。为了满足这一需求，正在开设一门名为“化学生态学中的化学分析”的高级跨学科实验课程。本课程由化学系的分析化学家和生物系的化学生态学家共同授课。该课程每学期招收24名学生（12名通过化学系注册，12名通过生物系注册），他们组成6人（3名生物学家/3名化学家）的研究小组。这些团队学习了一套常用的分析技术来调查化学生态学中目前的四个研究问题，最终将这些知识应用于利用这些技术的原始研究问题。更广泛的影响本课程发展的指导原则是认识到本科科学家在本科生涯早期需要真实的研究经验，以帮助培养解决世界上最紧迫问题所需的批判性思维技能。此外，本课程的目标是：1)激发学生对科学的兴趣及其与生活的相关性；2)为学生提供现实的研究经验，包括基于协作团队的问题解决方法；3)帮助学生培养动手使用最先进的高效液相色谱仪器的信心；4)为寻求科学问题的更完整答案提供跨越学科界限的机会；5)为学生提供机会，向不同的受众清楚地传达他们的结果。这门跨学科课程的成果将在两次会议上发表。第一，国际化学生态学学会（ISCE）年会将向化学生态学领域的科学家介绍这些努力。第二届是两年一次的化学教育会议，将把结果传播给熟悉本科教育新举措的化学家。