Development of demonstration-enhanced courses throughout the chemistry curriculum and a comparative study of student response

Chinhyu Hur

doi:10.17918/00001480

A set of demonstration materials was designed to teach chemistry concepts in the lecture setting. A database of overhead demonstrations was created based upon papers published in the Journal of Chemical Education from 1960 to current. All existing demonstrations were examined and categorized as being ready for overhead projection, adaptable for overhead projection or unsuitable for use on the overhead. New overhead projector demonstrations were developed along with new devices and methods to adapt standard experiments and bench-top demonstration to the overhead projector. All demonstrations were tested and organized according to concepts covered in the typical general chemistry curriculum. Each demonstration was designed with special attention paid to simplicity of equipment, ease of performing, and ready availability of chemicals, as well as organization according to topics presented in general chemistry texts. A manual of all overhead demonstrations was created including short descriptions, list of chemicals and equipment, instructions for performing, and useful information such as formulas, data, and equations. Evaluation of the lecture demonstration enhanced course was studied by obtaining information on students' attitude toward selected lecture demonstrations. This experiment involved a single large lecture section of general chemistry with mostly science and engineering majors. Evaluations were performed over a period of two years with two independent groups of students. Survey questions were designed as one means of obtaining information about students' attitude toward each demonstration. In addition, in-class writing assignments, classroom observation, and personal interviews were conducted. Results of the surveys indicated that in general, students found demonstrations to be interesting. In most cases they also found them to be informative, as long as the demonstrations were clearly connected to a single concept. The survey results were used to improve each demonstration, sometimes to remove a demonstration from the course, and to guide development of new demonstrations. Students felt that chemical demonstrations in lecture enhanced learning and should be expanded and should cover more topics. Overall, there was a strong recommendation for increasing the use of demonstrations in chemistry lectures, creating new demonstrations to cover under represented topics, and including material covered in advanced courses such as organic chemistry, physical chemistry and analytical chemistry.

Development of demonstration-enhanced courses throughout the chemistry curriculum and a comparative study of student response

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Development of demonstration-enhanced courses throughout the chemistry curriculum and a comparative study of student response

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