Introducing Polymer Science Across the Chemistry Curriculum

化学（12）聚合物科学和其他材料相关学科代表了化学毕业生工作和学术研究的重要领域。此外，由于其无处不在的性质，即使在聚合物不是主要焦点的领域，对其化学，结构和性能的理解通常也很重要。然而，许多小型学院和大学的化学课程，缺乏学生人数和资源，以证明专门用于聚合物化学的课程。该项目的目标是在整个化学课程中建立一个聚合物重点，为学生提供适当的知识基础和经验，以便将来在商业或学术环境中使用聚合物材料。根据研究人员的专业背景和经验，以及与过去开发类似项目的NSF-ILI项目研究人员的讨论，决定实现这一目标的有效方法是通过将差示扫描量热仪（DSC）引入实验室计划。各种聚合物相关的实验室实验使用DSC设计和适应新生通过高级化学课程。该实施计划为化学专业的学生提供了一个机会，可以介绍与结构，合成和物理性能有关的聚合物主题的高级研究。DSC的收购也允许更显着的学生对原创研究的贡献的机会。非化学科学专业的学生也将通过为普通和有机化学课程设计的实验室练习受到该项目的影响。DSC还提供了一个额外的工具，用于说明和研究基本的化学概念，如焓，热容，相变和动力学在化学程序的所有级别。

Chemistry (12)Polymer science and other materials related disciplines represent important areas of work and academic research for chemistry graduates. Also, due to their ubiquitous nature, even within fields where polymers are not the principal focus, an understanding of their chemistry, structure and properties is often important. Yet, many small college and university chemistry programs, lack the student numbers and resources to justify a course dedicated to polymer chemistry. The goal for this project is to establish a polymer emphasis across the chemistry curriculum that would provide students an appropriate knowledge base and experience for future work with polymer materials in commercial or academic settings. Based upon the professional backgrounds and experiences of the investigators as well as discussions with past NSF-ILI project investigators who have developed similar projects, it was decided that an effective approach for accomplishing this goal is through the adoption of a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) into the laboratory program. A variety of polymers related laboratory experiments using DSC is designed and adapted into freshmen through senior level chemistry courses. The implementation plan provides chemistry students the opportunity for introductory to advanced level study of polymer topics relating to structure, synthesis and physical properties. The acquisition of a DSC also permits the opportunity for more significant student contributions to original research. Non-chemistry science majors are also expected to be impacted by this project through laboratory exercises designed for the General and Organic Chemistry courses. The DSC also offers an additional tool for the illustration and study of fundamental chemical concepts, such as, enthalpy, heat capacity, phase transitions and kinetics at all levels of the chemistry program.