Laboratory Computers for Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Nonscience Majors

《塑造未来》(NSF 96-139)要求我们以一种强调科学过程的方式为所有人提供科学素养。今天，如果不让学生接触计算机及其用途，就不教科学，尤其是化学，这在教学上是不合理的。我们最早接触到使用实验室计算机进行数据采集和还原的是LIMSports项目(库兹敦大学维茨)。这是一个基于DOS的系统，现在正在Windows环境下发展。通过NSF资助的计算机化学实验室教学计划开发的研讨会和材料为这个项目提供了进一步的动力。我们的项目涉及将NSF支持的计算机应用于化学实验室教学计划的成果。我们目前的工作需要对入门化学实验室进行现代化改造，配备数据采集硬件、传感器和软件。这种现代化使我们的学生能够更好地准备迎接新千年的挑战。三个入门化学实验室使用硬件为不同的学生群体提供服务。在我们的一年级课程中，我们教授化学专业、工程师、其他理科和健康前科学专业的学生，以及非理科专业的学生。在这一群体中，60%是女性，33%是少数民族(21%的非裔美国人)或国际人。在普通化学实验室(CHE L101-L102)，我们让学生接触到平衡的实验体验：那些主要使用计算机进行数据采集和还原的实验；那些只需要天平、烧瓶和刻度圆柱体的实验；以及那些两者的混合体。工程师在材料科学实验室面临材料问题(CHE/EGR L122)。对于非理科专业，化学与社会实验室(CHE L110)的实验使用计算机来测量环境水样的电导率和pH值，一些燃料和食物的热含量，以及有色溶液的光谱。我们使用这项技术的目标不仅是教授化学原理，而且要激发我们的学生，激发他们的好奇心，使他们成为批判性思考者，帮助他们发展解决问题的技能，并有望鼓励他们学习更多关于科学，特别是化学的知识。

Shaping the Future (NSF 96-139) challenges us to provide science literacy for ALL in a way that emphasizes the processes of science. It is pedagogically unsound today to teach the sciences in general and chemistry in particular without exposing students to computers and their uses. Our early exposure to the use of laboratory computers for data acquisition and reduction was the LIMSport project (Vitz, Kutztown Univ.). This was a DOS based system that is now evolving under the Windows environment. A workshop and materials developed through the NSF-sponsored Computers in Chemistry Laboratory Instruction Initiative provided further impetus for this project.Our project involves the adaptation of the gains from the NSF supported Computers in the Chemistry Laboratory Instruction Initiative. Our present work entails the modernization of the introductory chemistry laboratory with data acquisition hardware, sensors, and software. This modernization enables our students to be better prepared their challenges in the new millennium. Three introductory chemistry laboratories use the hardware to serve a diverse student population. In our first-year courses we teach chemistry majors, engineers, other science and pre-health science majors, and nonscience majors. In this group 60% are female and 33% are minority (21% African American) or international. In General Chemistry Laboratory (CHE L101-L102) we expose students to a balanced mix of experimental experiences: those that primarily involve a computer for data acquisition and reduction; those that require nothing more than a balance, a flask, and a graduated cylinder; and those that are a hybrid of the two. Engineers confront materials problems in Materials Science Laboratory (CHE/EGR L122). For nonscience majors, experiments in Chemistry and Society Laboratory (CHE L110) use computers to measure the conductivity and pH of environmental water samples, the heat content of some fuels and food, and the spectra of colored solutions. Our goal for the use of this technology is not only to teach the principles of chemistry, but to excite our students, arouse their curiosity, make them critical thinkers, help them develop problem solving skills, and hopefully encourage them learn more about the sciences in general and chemistry in particular.