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级本科实验室课程提供精选的跨学科应用。教师的专业知识正被用来开发新的应用，展示化学测量在解决生物化学、材料化学和环境化学中的热点问题方面的作用。选修仪器分析方法的学生使用生物和环境基质中物种的荧光探针。在物理化学第一实验室，学生们正在对生物化学(合成生物膜)和材料化学(液晶显示材料)感兴趣的液晶材料进行量热测量。在物理化学实验室II中，学生使用荧光方法探索活性酶位点的化学模型上的络合物形成。通过为学生提供在广泛的公众视野中对与社会直接相关的化学系统进行测量的机会，该大学正在激励其多样化的学生群体。这些实验为研究比本科实验室课程中通常学习的更复杂的化学体系提供了机会。该部门正在购买两台荧光光谱仪，一台用于高效液相色谱的荧光探测器，以及两台差示扫描量热仪。这种工具对于开发和实现这些新的应用程序是必不可少的。这些新的应用对学生的学习动机和化学推理的影响，为进一步推进高校课程建设提供了理性的指导。

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.