One goal of this project was to develop active learning materials for use in the undergraduate analytical chemistry classroom and laboratory.  There are very few active learning resources available to instructors of these courses.  All of the materials developed in the project are free to instructors throughout the world under the Creative Commons Copyright.  The materials are available on the Active Learning Site of the Analytical Sciences Digital Library (ASDL).   Funding for the routine maintenance of ASDL is provided by the Analytical Division of the American Chemical Society. 

A project team consisting of 23 faculty members from a range of institution types within the United States developed eleven in-class curriculum modules, six contextual modules, and five laboratory activities.  Most of these modules consist of multicomponent activities that in the aggregate, cover almost all the topics that are usually taught in undergraduate analytical chemistry courses.  Instructors can use an entire module or more likely modify a portion of the entire module for use in a course.  The project team also developed a wide variety of textual materials to augment the modules.  These textual materials, which are also free to anyone, cover the entirety of topics typically covered in undergraduate chemistry courses.

Another goal of the project was to encourage more analytical chemistry instructors to use active learning in their classrooms and laboratories.  Professional development activities on the effective use of active learning were held for the 23 faculty participants at our yearly curriculum development workshops.  In addition, we offered two workshops for faculty members at historically Black and Hispanic-serving institutions.  These workshops were attended by a total of 52 different faculty members.  The 75 faculty members directly impacted by the project teach a total of over 3,000 students each year in their courses. 

Assessment data collected from faculty participants indicate significant improvements in student learning outcomes.  Many participants also noted significant improvements in student course evaluations after introducing active learning into the classroom and/or laboratory. 

A final goal was to disseminate the outcomes of the project to faculty members beyond those who had participated in the module development or two workshops.  The intent was to encourage more instructors to use active learning and to use curricular materials available on the ASDL site.  We organized a symposium each year of the project at either a national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the Pittsburgh Conference (the largest conference devoted exclusively to analytical chemistry), or the Pacifichem Conference.  Members of the development team and participants at one of our workshops gave several of the talks at these sessions.  We held several invited active learning workshops at specific institutions.  We held a number of networking sessions on active learning at the Pittsburgh Conference.  We published a number of articles that described curriculum materials and active learning outcomes developed through the project.  Members of the curriculum development team gave over 100 presentations at conferences on outcomes of the project.  At these various activities we keep encountering analytical chemistry instructors who mention their use of materials from the ASDL site in their courses.  We are encouraged that this project is having a positive impact on the community.

Last Modified: 07/07/2017
Modified by: Thomas J Wenzel