No Corequisites

20 Jun 2009

Developing student learning goals and assessments for VIPEr learning objects

Submitted by Joanne Stewart, Hope College

Description:

All VIPEr learning objects are supposed to include clear student learning goals and a suggested way to assess the learning. This "five slides about" provides a brief introduction to the "Understanding by Design" or "backward design" approach to curriculum development and will help you develop your VIPEr learning object.

Prerequisites:

No Prerequisites

Course Level:

First year

Topics Covered:

Professional skills development

Corequisites:

No Corequisites

Subdiscipline:

Science Skills, Practices, and Resources

Learning Goals:

Faculty will

understand the "backward design" concept
learn to write learning outcomes and assessments using the verbs ("activities") and "products" provided
learn how a rubric can be used to discriminate students' levels of achievement

Implementation Notes:

These slides are a quick and dirty summary of a longer hands-on faculty development workshop I do. They provide an introduction to the Understanding by Design process, help in writing learning goals, suggestions for developing assessments of student learning, and helpful hints for preparing a VIPEr learning object.

Time Required:

15 minutes to read the slides; a lifetime to practice the skill :)

Evaluation

Evaluation Methods:

I hope that faculty will use these slides to aid their writing of learning goals and assessments for the VIPEr site.

21 May 2019

Organometallics

Submitted by Brian Anderson, Keene State College

21 May 2019

Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Brian Anderson, Keene State College

15 May 2019

Rates of Chemical Reactions

Submitted by Will, Bucknell University

Evaluation Methods:

A short problem set is assigned with the video

Evaluation Results:

Most students are able to learn the content in this video independently

Description:

Part 9 of the Flipped Learning in General Chemistry Series. This video explores the concept of reaction rate and shows how the rates of change of reactant and product concentrations vary during the course of a reaction.

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Course Level:

Topics Covered:

Subdiscipline:

Introductory Chemistry

Learning Goals:

After watching this video and completing the assigned problems, students should be able to define the rate of a chemical reaction, determine a rate (average or instantaneous) from a plot of concentration vs time data, and understand how the overall rate of a reaction is related to a balanced chemical equation.

Time Required:

10-15 minutes

Web Resources:

Rates of Chemical Reactions

6 May 2019

Drawing, visualizing and interpreting 3-D molecular structure (2019 Community Challenge #2)

Submitted by S. Chantal E. Stieber, Cal Poly Pomona

Evaluation Methods:

The instuctor walked around the classroom to help students individually as needed for immediate assessment.
At the end of the class period, students submitted their work to Blackboard for grading.
Assignments were graded based on accuracy and quality of the drawings.

Evaluation Results:

Students generally were able to determine the molecular formula and generate connectivity drawings of the displayed 3-D structures, but really struggled with 3-D drawing. Although this was developed for a course with second year students who had completed general chemistry, even older students in the course struggled with this component. However, by the end of class, all students greatly improved in their ability to understand, interpret, and convey 3-D structure.

Many students were surprised and many jokes were made about this being a chemistry art class. Although some students didn't particularly enjoy drawing, all understood the value and felt like they had learned something useful. At the end of the semester, many students remarked that the chemical drawing section was the most useful or interesting.

Description:

This in-class activity was designed for a Chemical Communications course with second-year students. It is the first part of a two-week segment in which students learn how to use Chemdraw (or similar drawing software) to create digital drawings of molecules.

In this activity, students are given a blank worksheet and 5 models of molecules were placed around the classroom. Students interpreted the 3-D models to determine molecular formulas, connectivity, and generate drawings that convey the 3-D elements. Once students completed the worksheet by hand, they generated the whole worksheet using Chemdraw.

Learning Goals:

Students will be able to:

1. Write the formula for a molecule based on a 3-D structure.

2. Draw a molecule based on a 3-D structure.

3. Convey 3-D structure of a molecule in a drawing.

4. Translate molecular connectivity to a drawing that conveys 3 dimensions.

5. Create digital drawings of molecules using Chemdraw or similar chemical drawing software.

Equipment needs:

Molecular model set for the instructor to prepare structures before class.
One computer per student with chemical drawing software such as Chemdraw.

Topics Covered:

Bonding models: Discrete molecules

Communication skills

Professional skills development

Visualization

Prerequisites:

No Prerequisites

First Semester Inorganic Chemistry / Foundation Course in Inorganic Chemistry

General Chemistry

Corequisites:

No Corequisites

General Chemistry

Subdiscipline:

Molecular Structure and Bonding

Science Skills, Practices, and Resources

Course Level:

First year

Second year

Related activities:

Literature Introduction to Coordination Complexes

A Stable Monomeric SiO2 Complex with Donor-Acceptor Ligands: Foundational Application of VSEPR for Understanding Crystallographic Data

Implementation Notes:

Prior to the activity, students were given a brief presentation with an introduction to basic Chemdraw elements using the Chemdraw manual and existing tutorials (see links provided). VSEPR was also reviewed.

For the activity, students were given 3-D models of molecules, and the color key for atom identity was written on the board (eg. blue = oxygen, black = carbon...). The activity was conducted in a class of 24 students, in which each student had access to a computer. The entire class period was 1 hour 50 min, but the activity could be shortened if fewer molecules are included.

Before class, the instructor built models of molecules using a molecular model kit. It is helpful to have multiple copies of each molecule, especially for a larger class, but not critical. The molecules used for the acitvity can be seen in the faculty-only key, and were chosen to have a range of 3-D structures, but other molecules could be chosen. For example, a coordination chemistry or upper division course could have 3-D printed models of crystal structures used as the starting point.

Time Required:

60 min

Web Resources:

Chemdraw 16.0 manual

Introduction to Chemdraw-Mt. Holyoke

25 Apr 2019

Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Gary L. Guillet, Armstrong State University

26 Mar 2019

Redox-switch polymerization catalysis

Submitted by Chip Nataro, Lafayette College

Evaluation Methods:

I am really unsure at this point. I may use the 1FLO version of this as a series of exam quesitons, or I may have the students work on this literature discussion in class. Either way, I am excited to see what they will do with it.

Description:

This is the full literature discussion based on a communicaiton (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 9278). This paper describes a redox-switch yttrium catalyst that is an active catalyst for the polymerization of _L-lactide in the reduced form and inactive in the oxidized form. The catalyst contains a ferrocene-based ligand that serves as the redox active site in the catalyst. This full literature discussion is an extension of the one figure literature discussion that is listed below. In addition to presenting all of the same questions as that learning object, this includes interpretation of the XANES spectra presented in the paper. It also asks the students to identify the monomer and polymer in the reaction of interest. A possible extension of this learning object would be to have students examine and take measurements from the crystal structure presented in the paper in order to support the apparently low electron count on the yttrium catalyst. The Covalent Bond Classification system for counting electrons is used in this learning object.

Prerequisites:

First Semester Inorganic Chemistry / Foundation Course in Inorganic Chemistry

Corequisites:

Topics Covered:

Electronic spectroscopy

Electronic structure

Kinetics

Molecular structure

Organometallic chemistry

Physical methods / analytical techniques

Synthesis and reactivity

Course Level:

Upper Division

Learning Goals:

A student should be able to apply their knowledge to

describe and interpret a plot of conversion vs. time
count electrons and determine valence states in organometallic compounds
determine if an organometallic compound is an oxidizing or reducing agent
decipher a first-order kinetic plot
interpret XANES spectra to determine the valence of iron in the catalyst

Subdiscipline:

Organometallic Chemistry

Related activities:

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and its applications to LFT

1FLO: Redox-switch polymerization catalysis

CBC (Covalent Bond Classification) Method of Electron Counting

Web Resources:

cif for the crystal structure

22 Mar 2019

1FLO: Redox-switch polymerization catalysis

Submitted by Chip Nataro, Lafayette College

Evaluation Methods:

I am really unsure at this point. I could certainly see this being used as a series of exam questions or have students take a few minutes to think about the questions individually and then have them share with a small group and present their thoughts in class. This is actively interpreting a figure from the literature with almost no context. As such, it is certainly going to be indicative of their understanding of other ideas and concepts.

Description:

This is what I hope will be a new classification of learning object called a one figure learning object (1FLO). The purpose is to take a single figure from a paper and present students with a series of questions related to interpreting the figure. This literature discussion is based on a paper (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 9278) from Paula Diaconescu's lab in which a yttrium polymerization catalyst with a ferrocene-based ligand can effectively be rendered active or inactive depeneding on the valence state of the ligand. The figure chosen from the paper shows the conversion of the monomer (_L-lactide) to polymer over the course of time. During the reaction, the valence state of the ligand is changed and the rate of polymerization is significantly impacted. While the purpose of this LO was to limit consideration to a single figure, there is so much to mine from this communication that a companion literature discussion was developed to go into more of the details that were presented. Certainly this 1FLO can stand alone or be used in conjunction with the companion literature discussion. The Covalent Bond Classification system for counting electrons is used in this learning object.

Topics Covered:

Organometallic chemistry

Physical methods / analytical techniques

Synthesis and reactivity

Corequisites:

No Corequisites

Prerequisites:

First Semester Inorganic Chemistry / Foundation Course in Inorganic Chemistry

General Chemistry

Organic Chemistry

Subdiscipline:

Organometallic Chemistry

Learning Goals:

A student should be able to apply their knowledge to

describe and interpret a plot of conversion vs. time
count electrons and determine valence states in organometallic compounds
determine if an organometallic compound is an oxidizing or reducing agent
decipher a first-order kinetic plot

Course Level:

Upper Division

Related activities:

CBC (Covalent Bond Classification) Method of Electron Counting

Redox-switch polymerization catalysis

Guiding questions for: Redox-Controlled Polymerization of Lactide Catalyzed by Bis(imino)pyridine Iron Bis(alkoxide) Complexes

Implementation Notes:

I have yet to use this but I anticipate doing so in the fall. I hope it works as well as I think it can. It is such a simple plot and yet it is so rich in chemistry. I have a feeling I am going to have a very hard time containing myself to just this LO and not using the companion full Literature Discussion.

Time Required:

Unknown but I think it could be as short as 15 minutes

Web Resources:

The paper

Supporting Information for the paper

3 Mar 2019

Supramolecular Chemistry Videos

Submitted by Shirley Lin, United States Naval Academy

Additional Authors:

Shirley Lin, United States Naval Academy

Evaluation Methods:

I have yet to use this resource with students and therefore have no assessment of student learning to share at this time.

Evaluation Results:

I have yet to use this resource with students.

Description:

The Rebek Laboratory homepage contains information on and molecular visualizations of a variety of host-guest systems developed by the research group over several decades. The theme behind this set of examples is the use of hydrogen-bonding to achieve self-assembly. Under the "Research" tab, one can find four videos with narration: an introduction to molecular assembly and three videos of specific examples of self-assembled host systems (the cavitand, the cylinder and the volleyball). In addition, at the bottom of the tab, there are links to JSmol files for 5 host systems (tennis ball, jelly donut, cylindrical capsule, softball, and tetrameric capsule) that allow the assemblies to be visualized interactively.

This is a great resource for faculty looking for ways to incorporate the new ACS Committee on Professional Training guidelines to discuss macromolecular, supramolecular, mesoscale and nanoscale systems within the framework of their existing curricula.

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Course Level:

Topics Covered:

Intermolecular interactions

Nanoscience

Visualization