In 2003 a Macquarie University Flagship grant of $50,000 was awarded to staff of the (then) Department of Chemistry and the Centre for Professional Development, Macquarie University to undertake the project "Addressing Laboratory-Based Teaching and Learning in the Chemistry Curriculum". The specific outcomes of the project were to be:
- an increase in the awareness of pedagogical issues relating to laboratory-based teaching and learning amongst staff in the Department of Chemistry;
- an emphasis on student-focussed teaching and learning methods;
- an engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning;
- high-quality teaching experiments for the full Chemistry curriculum that will improve the student learning experience (better learning and greater personal satisfaction);
- tools and methods for improving teaching methods in the laboratory in all disciplines;
- establishment of ongoing quality assurance of laboratory-based teaching and learning in the Chemistry curriculum;
- a basis of extension of the project to other Departments that use laboratory-based teaching and learning;
- a collection of experiments that will be eligible for submission to the ACELL project, and hence for publication in the Australian Journal of Education in Chemistry;
- a contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning through the distribution of high quality experiments through ACELL, publication in the Australian Journal of Education in Chemistry, and by improving the tools and methods previously developed;
- an improvement in retention of students within the Chemistry curriculum.
As part of this project in 2004 the (then) Department of Chemistry conducted a survey of its undergraduate teaching experiments. Students were asked to evaluate the experiments they undertook against the following questions:
- Did this experiment help you to understand the concepts of accuracy and precision in measurement? If so, how, or if not, why not?
- Do you think this experiment will be useful to you in the practical components of your studies? If so, how, if not, why not?
- Did you find this experiment interesting? If so, what aspects of this experiment did you find of interest? If not, why not?
- Can the experiment be completed comfortably in the allocated time? Is there time to reflect on the tasks while performing them?
- Does this experiment require teamwork and if so, in what way? Was this aspect of the experiment beneficial?
- Did you have the opportunity to take responsibility for your own learning, and to be active as learners?
- Does this experiment provide for the possibility of a range of student abilities and interests? If so, how?
- Did the laboratory notes, demonstrators’ guidance and any other resources help you in learning from this experiment? If so, how?
- Are there any other features of this experiment that made it a particularly good or bad learning experience for you?
- What improvements could be made to this experiment?
- Any Other Comments
The survey instrument is here
The results of the surveys are given here. Since the surveys were taken, the Department of Chemistry has merged with former Department of Biological Sciences members to form the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences. There has been a substantial reorganisation of the 1st year offereings, with the delation of some experiments and the inclusion of others. Some unit designations have changes and some offereings have been substantially modified.
CHEM101: Introductory Chemistry
- Experiment 1:
- Experiment 2: Physical and Chemical Changes
- Experiment 3: Stoichiometry
- Experiment 4: Seperations and Purifications
- Experiment 6: Conductivity of Aqueous Solutions and Simple Acid-Base Reactions
- Experiment 7: Calorimetry and Oxidation-Reduction Reactions
- Experiment 8: Precipitation Reactions and Redox Reactions
- Experiment 9: Reversible Reactions, Equilibria And pH
CHEM102: Atoms, Molecules and Chemical Change
- Experiment 1: Stoichiometry and Volumetric Analysis
- Experiment 2: Chemical Kinetics
- Experiment 3: Dissociation Constants of Weak Acids and Bases
- Experiment 4: Solubility and Complex Equilibria
- Experiment 5: Qualitative Analysis
- Experiment 6: Redox Reactions
CHEM103: Organic and Biological Chemistry
- Experiment 1: Safety Exercise
- Experiment 2: Finding other elements: Sodium-fusion method
- Experiment 3: Identification of Hydrocarbons
- Experiment 4: Organic Compounds Containing Halogens
- Experiment 5: Reactions of Alcohols, Phenols, Ethers and Carboxylic Acids
- Experiment 6: Carbon-Oxygen Double Bonds: Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic acids
- Experiment 7: Nitrogen Containing Compounds: Amines, Amides, Nitriles and Nitro-Compounds
- Experiment 8: Synthesis of Acetylsalicylic Acid (Aspirin)
- Experiment 9: Separation of Acidic and Basic Substances
CHEM207: Spectroscopy, Kinetics and Macromolecules
CHEM208: Chemical Analysis I
CHEM329: Topics in Physic Chemistry
- Experiment 1: Heat Capacity of Gases
- Experiment 2: Preparation and Infrared Spectrum of Peroxyacetylnitrate
CHEM331: Organic and Biological Chemistry B
- Experiment 1: Carbohydrates – Chemical Properties
- Experiment 2: Protection of the 3'-Hydroxyl Group of Uridine
- Experiment 3: Synthesis and Metallation of 5,10,15,20-Tetraphenylporphyrin
CHEM332: Separation and Analysis of Biomolecul
The project has developed a tool to aid in the pedagogical analysis of a teaching experiment. This tool can be found here.