Designing and Evaluating Organic Chemistry Curricular Resources for Green and Sustainable Chemistry

该项目旨在通过改进本科有机化学教育来服务于国家利益。 具体而言，它将使有机化学学生学习绿色和可持续化学。 绿色和可持续化学的目标是以减少或消除从产品生产到产品处置的所有阶段的危险化学品的方式生产化学产品。 化学工业以及政府和其他组织越来越强调需要采用绿色和可持续的化学方法。 因此，了解绿色和可持续发展的化学是本科化学教育的关键。 作为一个可持续发展学生学习一级项目，该项目将设计和测试案例研究和基于项目的实验室活动，建立学生在绿色和可持续化学的知识和技能。在案例研究中，学生将被要求解释现实世界问题的基础化学，例如在环境中更容易降解的塑料材料的开发。 他们将使用化学来指导相关可持续性问题的探索，并设计潜在的解决方案。在实验室活动中，学生将作为团队工作，计划和开展调查，例如使用环境安全或可持续的源材料设计产品的合成。每个团队成员将研究不同的合成路线，然后团队将评估他们的汇总结果，以确定最符合绿色和可持续化学标准的方法。 该项目将产生一系列案例研究和基于项目的实验室，这些实验室将绿色和可持续化学原理结合在一起，并已证实对学生学习有机化学产生了积极影响。该项目将采用基于设计的研究方法，设计、改进和评估课程材料，包括实验室项目和案例研究，将绿色和可持续化学结合在一起。在整个基于设计的过程的迭代周期中，材料的对齐，有效性和修订将通过试点测试和与学生的访谈进行评估。将制定规则来描述学生在应对与实验室项目和案例研究同时开发的评估提示时所达到的复杂程度。这些课程材料，评估，标题，相关的研究结果，以及一套基于理论的设计原则将提供给化学界。 预计这些资源将被教育工作者和课程设计者使用或改编，或作为制作新资源的指南，从而可能影响各种机构环境和学生群体。借此，本计画旨在促进学生对绿色化学理解的进一步研究。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate organic chemistry education. Specifically, it will engage organic chemistry students in learning about green and sustainable chemistry. The goal of green and sustainable chemistry is to produce chemical products in ways that reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals at all stages, from product production to product disposal. Chemical industries, as well as governmental and other organizations, are increasingly emphasizing the need for green and sustainable chemistry approaches. As a result, learning about green and sustainable chemistry is critical for undergraduate chemistry education. Funded as an Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project, this project will design and test case studies and project-based laboratory activities that build students’ knowledge and skills in green and sustainable chemistry. In the case studies, the students will be asked to explain the underlying chemistry of a real-world issue, such as the development of plastic materials that degrade more easily in the environment. They will use the chemistry to guide explorations of related sustainability issues and design potential solutions. In the laboratory activities, students will work as teams to plan and carry out investigations, such as designing the synthesis of a product using environmentally safe or sustainable source materials. Each team member will investigate a different synthetic route, and the team will then evaluate their pooled findings to identify the approach that best meets green and sustainable chemistry criteria. The project is expected to produce a set of case studies and project-based laboratories that incorporate green and sustainable chemistry principles and that have verified positive effects on student learning in organic chemistry.Using a design-based research approach, the project will design, refine, and evaluate curricular materials, including laboratory projects and case studies, that incorporate green and sustainable chemistry. Throughout the iterative cycles of the design-based process, the alignment, effectiveness, and revision of the materials will be evaluated through pilot testing and interviews with students. Rubrics will be developed to characterize the levels of sophistication achieved by students in response to assessment prompts developed concurrently with the laboratory projects and case studies. These curricular materials, assessments, rubrics, the associated findings, and a set of theory-based design principles will be provided to the chemistry community. It is expected that these resources will be used or adapted by educators and curriculum designers, or as guides to produce new ones, thus potentially impacting a variety of institutional contexts and student populations. In this way, this project aims to promote further research on students’ understanding of green chemistry. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.