Transforming Advanced Chemistry Laboratories to Prepare Students for Challenges in Nanotechnology, Energy and the Environment

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Chemistry (12) "Transforming Advanced Chemistry Laboratories to Prepare Students for Challenges in Nanotechnology, Energy and the Environment" at the University of Maryland is testing the hypothesis that extended and repeated exposure to modern instrumentation is effective for teaching upper-level chemistry laboratories. Current scientific problems are increasingly complex and solving them requires the use of increasingly sophisticated instrumentation. As the number and complexity of modern tools for chemical measurements increases, it is increasingly impractical to train undergraduates on every possible technique they might encounter in the workplace or in postgraduate studies. The intellectual merit is to develop methods to (a) enable students to become sophisticated at accomplishing open-ended, problem-based exercises and (b) provide transferable skills that allow students to quickly master new instrumentation in later laboratory courses. The project outcomes include (a) improving students' understanding of the concepts of physical and analytical chemistry, (b) providing aspiring chemists and biochemists with problem solving skills that will enable them to answer modern experimental problems, (c) fostering an appreciation of the experimental basis of chemical and biochemical knowledge and (d) introducing students to modern interdisciplinary problems in relevant areas. The innovations that prove most effective will serve as the basis for designing an advanced laboratory curriculum in chemistry. The project results will have broad impact by serving as a model for enhancing student learning that can be adapted to other university-level chemistry programs. The results will be disseminated throughout the chemical education community and are likely to be of use to the broader STEM community.