The goal of this project was to create curricular materials for an inquiry-based solid-state chemistry course for undergraduate and teach the course. A web site and online database of crystal structures was also planned as a means of engaging the students online, making the course materials more accessible during the course, and making them available for future courses and other projects involving a broader audience across multiple institutions.

A total of 5 undergraduate students at Hamilton College and Columbia University participated in literature research and experimental projects in support ofcurriculum development during and after the grant period. Through their activities, they developed knowledge and expertise in various topics involving solid state materials and web site programming. A total of 10 students traveled to conduct materials research at other institutions, and 2 students attended scientific meetings to present their work, which was published in ACS Proceedings. One international also participated in the research. Currently, the PI is engaging several undergraduates in hands-on research in the growth of crystals, an expansion of the crystal-related projects undertaken during this project. 

With prospects of the course reaching only small numbers of students in solid-state chemistry courses hindering its growth and assessment, use of the course materials was expanded beyond the originally-proposed projects into courses in physical chemistry and general chemistry at Hamilton College, two materials science courses at Columbia, and general chemistry, physical chemistry, and chemistry for non-majors courses currently taught at SUNY College at Old Westbury. Roughly 400 students have taken these courses. These course materials also inspired some of the experiments in a physical science laboratory manual recently co-authored by the PI and being used for the first time at an HBCU in Louisiana, and a laboatory manual for nursing students currently under development.

One particularly promising activity has been broad incorporation of course materials into chemistry courses for non-science majors at SUNY Old Westbury, taking general chemistry as a distribution requirement in science. The non-science majors have experienced significant demonstrative strengthening of their scientific literacy in ways that enable them to understand the materials they encounter in their daily lives as foods, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, understand the importance and use of solid-state materials in technology, consider the impact of natural and man-made materials in the environment, and tdiscuss the national and global significance of the use of the world's natural resources.

The web-based instructional methods and materials currently in use in the PI's courses have evolved from the web site originally developed for the project in consultation with a professional web developer. The first web site received limited use for the course, however, subsequent web sites created by the PI based in part on the original design have become an enormous asset in a wide range of courses, materials chemistry for engineering majors, general chemistry and physical chemistry for chemistry and biochemistry majors, and general chemistry for non-science majors. To date, more than 10 web sites have been created based on the original site and used for courses; web statistics show thousands of visits to the sites overall. The PI also created a web site that was shared with students at a grade school in NY city during the International Year of Crystallography; the students went on to take second prize in a national crystal-growing contest. Sustainability of the web sites was an issue originally, when programming was written solely by contractors and research students, but it has been improved by the PI taking a more active role in the design, programming, and image production in addition to serving as editor of the sites. The PI's interest in this area has expanded into the production of videos, most notably, a series of videos on the crystallography and lattice vibrations of a material known as graphene.

An ongoing challenge in this project is the recovery of electronic data and manuscripts reference materials, data, and computer programs created and accumulated as the products of this project that were lost due to computer failure. These files, including 3 manuscripts for publication, 2 book chapters, 30 laboratory experiments and assignments, and over 200 crystal structure data files and images, were stored on one computer and one backup hard drive. Both drives were lost within several weeks and the materials were unrecoverable. Paper copies of most of the manuscripts, reports, student assignments, drafts and final version of instructional materials, notes on assessment, and screen captures of web-based file directories are available in storage and are facilitating the recovery. Some of these items are also recoverable from web site files stored on external servers of web site service providers. The process of recovering the materials and putting into place a more robust archival system remains in progress. Many of the curricular materials currently in use have been recreated during this ongoing recovery effort. 

Last Modified: 10/09/2017
Modified by: Camille Y Jones