By Jane Maxwell on October 28, 2015
An article describing the development, testing, and evaluation of a new guided-inquiry experiment for UBC’s second-year analytical chemistry course (CHEM 211) has just been published in the Journal of Chemical Education!
The CHEM 211 labs have seen many exciting changes over the past few years, including the introduction of several guided-inquiry experiments in which students research and develop their own designs and procedures for tackling an analytical problem. In the “Build your own Photometer” experiment, students research fundamental concepts in spectrophotometry, then apply their findings to design, build, and test a submersible photometer that can be used to monitor colour-change reactions such as titrations. You can read all about the experiment here.
This experiment and article are the products of a collaboration between Instructional and Research Faculty, students, and the CWSEI. Dr. José Rodríguez Núñez (CHEM 211 lab director) and Dr. Russ Algar (CHEM 211 instructor and research faculty) developed the concept and basic plan, Jessie Wang (a UBC chemistry undergraduate) developed and refined the procedures, and I interviewed and surveyed students in order to evaluate the success of the experiment. I’m very proud of the resulting article, and of the fantastic collaboration that made it happen.
Continue reading “New article: Build Your Own Photometer: A Guided-Inquiry Experiment To Introduce Analytical Instrumentation”
Posted in Articles | Tagged with analytical chemistry, DIY, guided inquiry, labs
By Jane Maxwell on October 23, 2015
Photo by Jeff Pioquinto, SJ via Flickr
Now available in the UBC Chemistry learning resources section: “Examining Exams”. This workshop, which was originally offered as a part of our Chemistry Education Brown Bag Lunch series, combines results from the research literature with some local expertise to addresses the following questions:
- How can the design of an exam affect what it measures?
- How can we tell if an exam has met its goals?
- What can we learn from an exam once it’s over?
Full slides from the workshop are available here: Examining Exams.
Posted in Resources | Tagged with exams, workshop
By Jane Maxwell on October 23, 2015
Did you know that the UBC Chemistry Learning Lab Notebook hosts one of the world’s best* collections of analytical chemistry demonstrations?
This past June, analytical chemistry faculty from across Canada and the US gathered in a special session at the 2015 CSC to share their favourite teaching demonstrations. They also produced a series of videos that provide detailed instructions for anyone who would like to try these demonstrations themselves.
You can find all the videos and more information on our Analytical Chemistry: Teaching with Demonstrations page in our resources section.
* (in my opinion)
Posted in Resources | Tagged with analytical chemistry, demonstrations, videos
By Amber Richardson on October 2, 2015
Editor’s note: This guest post comes from Amber Richardson, a UBC chemistry undergraduate who spent part of the past year researching study strategies for organic chemistry.
One of the products of her research is a fantastic study guide! Students interested in using the guide can download a copy for personal use (not for distribution) here: Richardson 2015 – student guide to studying organic chemistry
It’s midterm season. For students, it’s a time for studying, countless cups of coffee, and lots of stress. For some students, their late nights pay off and they achieve good scores on their exams. For others, their methods don’t produce the grades they desired. Some may say that those students didn’t study enough, while others say that the students were studying ineffectively.
Now you may think, “How can someone study ineffectively? They’re studying– that can’t be ineffective.” I tackled this question last year while completing a Research Learning Experience project with Dr. Jackie Stewart. It turns out that chemistry students use a variety of strategies1, including some that many instructors, and the literature, don’t consider to be effective2.
Continue reading “Students going insane? Maybe a guide on study strategies could help.”
Posted in Strategies | Tagged with organic chemistry, study strategies
By Jane Maxwell on June 5, 2015
“An improved design for in-class review,” has just been published in the Journal of College Science Teaching! I will post more on this later, but for now you can access the full text here.
Abstract: We present the theory and implementation of a review strategy based on testing rather than lecturing. We also show the results of a beginning-of-course review using the format of a two-stage examination, in which students complete a set of questions individually, then again as a group. This format offers several benefits compared with the typical lecture review: (a) students engage with the review topics much more deeply and more accurately gauge their own preparation; (b) students receive immediate, corrective feedback from their peers and clarify their understanding through discussion during the group stage; and (c) the instructor receives detailed information on students’ background understanding that can be used to tailor instruction. These proposed benefits are supported by the improved performance of groups during the second stage and by student opinions collected by survey several days after the review activity. The two-stage review therefore serves to both diagnose and remediate deficiencies in background understanding, leaving students and instructors better prepared for the course.
An Improved Design for In-Class Review
E. Jane Maxwell (Chemistry, UBC), Lisa McDonnell (Zoology, UBC), & Carl Wieman
Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 44(5), pp. 48-52 (2015)
Posted in Strategies | Tagged with collaborative learning, review, two-stage
By Jane Maxwell on June 4, 2015
Thanks to everyone who attended the workshop on this topic on June 2! The following post summarizes the major points of the workshop (minus the truly awful demonstration by Jane). You can also download a pdf version of this resource here.
Make a prediction: Which of the following resources will lead to the most learning: an animation of a dynamic process (e.g. a heart pumping blood), or a set of static images and descriptions for the same process?1
No really – make a prediction before you read any further!
Ready? It turns out that there is no significant difference in the learning gains achieved using animations and static images, so long as the two resources include the same content.2,3,4 To understand this counter-intuitive result, consider the reasons why students may fail to learn from a demonstration, video, animation, or simulation (referred to from now on as demo/video).
Continue reading “Making the most of demonstrations, videos, animations or simulations”
Posted in Strategies | Tagged with demonstrations, lecture, videos
By Jane Maxwell on June 1, 2015
Welcome to the Chemistry Learning Lab Notebook! We’ll be using this space to share ideas about teaching and learning Chemistry at UBC.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged with
An article describing the development, testing, and evaluation of a new guided-inquiry experiment for UBC’s second-year analytical chemistry course (CHEM 211) has just been published in the Journal of Chemical Education! 
