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Problem Based Learning in Teaching Chemistry: Proposed Module for Teaching Analytical Chemistry.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Alobaidi, Amina Hamed Alsalihi, Ferah Ghali Amine, Seham |
| Copyright Year | 2018 |
| Abstract | Problem based learning [PBL] approach for 3 rd year students in the department of Chemistry, College of Science in the analytical chemistry course. The activities involved cover the area of analytical chemistry and students must use their judgment in order to come to an acceptable conclusion. It is possible to compare this course with a conventional parallel course and to monitor the longer-term effects of students' approaches to studying. Background: PBL is a curriculum design and a teaching / learning strategy that was developed in the west over the last 50 years. It is also a learning environment that embodies most of the principles that the student know to improve learning [1]. In this type of learning the students are being active and cooperative learners, and receiving prompt feedback. A teaching which is tailored to students' learning preferences and promoting student empowerment and accountability [2]. It aims to help students develop higher order thinking skills and a substantial disciplinary knowledge base by placing students in the active role of practitioners (or problem solvers) confronted with a situation (illstructured problem) that reflects the real world [3]. Rather than focusing on facts, PBL encourages active learning and self-directed learning , is contextbased using 'real life' situations; focuses on thinking skills ( problem solving, analysis, decision making, critical thinking), requires integration of interdisciplinary knowledge or skills or behaviors and develops lifelong learning skills [4]. Many studies have argued that PBL makes students more engaged in learning because they are hard wired to respond to dissonance and because they feel they are empowered to have an impact on the outcome of the investigation (i.e. assume more responsibility for learning); PBL offers students an obvious answer to the questions 'why do we need to learn this?' and 'what does what I am doing in school have to do with anything in the real world?' [1,2,5-9]. PBL promotes higher order thinking because the ill-structured problem scenario calls forth critical and creative thinking by suspending the guessing game of 'what's the right answer the teacher wants me to find?'. PBL promotes metacognition and self-regulated learning by asking students to generate their own strategies for problem definition, information gathering, data-analysis, hypothesisbuilding and testing, comparing these strategies against, and sharing them with other students' and mentors' strategies [2]. PBL engages students in learning information in ways that are similar to the ways in which it will be recalled and employed in future situations and assesses learning in ways which demonstrate understanding and not mere acquisition. Many studies also show that PBL method not only enhances students' knowledge of the basic principles, but also has the potential to increase students' ability to solve real IJMS August 2018;1(3):73-81; ISSNe 2527-7386 74 world problems and to increase students' motivation for learning [10]. Many disciplines have used problem-based learning (PBL) to achieve the balance of knowledge, qualities and skills [11]. Many universities use PBL to teach students [12]. PBL in analytical chemistry is also not a new concept. In the mid-1960s, Herbert Laitinen began to focus undergraduate analytical chemistry curriculum development at the University of Illinois on problem solving [7]. In recent years, PBL has been successfully applied in analytical chemistry in the west [8,13]. A report from the USA has recommended that PBL methods should be used to teach all analytical science [14]. Course description : Course structure Analytical chemistry is a subject which is broad in its scope whilst requiring a specialist and disciplined approach. It includes: qualitative analysis (what is it?); quantitative analysis (how much is it?); and structural analysis (which structure is it?). An overview of the approach to analytical procedures is set out below: Analytical problems and their solution Analytical samples may come from any part of the environment and the significant stages on the analytical process are: Our current teaching system Analytical Chemistry is a course for 3rd year (5th semester) undergraduate students majoring in chemistry, chemical engineering, applied chemistry, biotechnology, environmental science and material science at College of Science , Tikrit University It usually involves 72 hours of lectures and 56 hours of laboratory work as well as occasional tutorials. At the end, there is a final assessment that is carried out by written examination. The main course objectives are to: 1. Provide a basic understanding of the principles, instrumentation and applications of chemical analysis as it is currently practiced; 2. Demonstrate the to students the analytical chemistry context; 3. Teach students how to design, carry out, and measurements interpretation within the context of the fundamental technological problem with which they are presented; 4. Give students an overview such that they can choose and utilise suitable chemical procedures or an appropriate analytical technique for a specific problem including defining the problem, determining any constraints, choosing the best method, identifying alternatives and other modern analysis methods: Chemical analysis Instrumental analysis Gravimetric analysis Volumetric analysis Spectrometric analysis Electrochemical analysis Radiochemical analysis Mass spectrometric analysis Chromatographic analysis Thermal analysis IJMS August 2018;1(3):73-81; ISSNe 2527-7386 75 Samples Method validation Choice of method Final measurement Separation Preliminary sample treatment The assessment of results Sampling comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each; 5. Help students to learn how to use basic scientific theory to solve real world chemical problems and develop critical thinking skills. Teaching method at present : Traditionally, teaching and learning of analytical chemistry in Iraq is carried out using a didactic approach. Teachers deliver formal lectures to transmit knowledge; students receive it passively and are then expected to reproduce it accurately in examinations. The duration of each lecture is about 1 hours during which students listen and take notes. Within lectures, in order to force students to think more, some lecturers insert some interesting questions relating to the content and ask students to think about answers to them. But even so, this kind of teaching strategy still mostly leads to a surface level approach to learning and an over-dependence on the lecturer in learning. It is also unsatisfactory with respect to the learning outcomes and the feedback received from students. Proposed Modification In order to : 1. Overcome the deficiencies in the above teaching strategy. 2. Help students to take a deep level approach to their learning. 3. Make students become more independent, lifelong and active learners. The major goal of this trial is to have students learn the theory of analytical chemistry by lectures combined with problem solving projects rather than by just getting information from lectures only. Module of PBL : Since PBL is a relatively accepted concept in our University, since Tikrit University College of Medicine [TUCOM] use this approach of learning in their curriculum performance [15] . However, it is difficult to use this approach throughout the whole course in other colleges in Tikrit University. The analytical chemistry course will continue to be taught mainly in the format of lectures, but a plan that there will be other exercises related to PBL, including a semester long problem solving project and several smaller problem solving projects, as well as laboratory based experiment phases. Teacher lectures will generally provide only part of the information or ideas that students need to deal with the problems, so requiring students to go to other resources to pursue more knowledge rather than just reading their textbooks. The course supervisor will assign some supplementary reading materials related to the problems [ Journals, internet sites] or the development of some new analytical techniques to the students, such as environmental chemistry, environmental monitor, applied spectroscopy. This kind of supplementary reading provides more IJMS August 2018;1(3):73-81; ISSNe 2527-7386 76 opportunities to help the students not only to improve their academic English but also stimulate their interests in research work. The big problem solving project: Duration need: one semester. In recent years there is an increase in carcinoma of urinary bladder in desert population. The resident of these areas consumed well water. It may be there is a link between chemical contamination of water and the increase in incidence of carcinoma of the bladder. However, other explanation for this pattern of increased incidence may be present, of these is the pesticides that used in agriculture . Usually, the population resident in the desert areas in Salah Al-din Governorate drunk well water , and the water is full of a rich micro-amount of elements which are needed for human health. Many people like to drink it and indeed it is considered healthy to do so. But, unfortunately this water may be contaminated by some source of pollution. The students, now a group of specialists in analytical chemistry, are employed by the local people in the desert region and are asked to develop a proposal to analyze the water in order to show why the it cannot be drunk and how to make it safe to drink. The solution to this big problem will include the students gaining an understanding of: 1. what is 'clean' water? what is 'contaminated' water? what is the standard for drinking water? 2. what is in the water (ions, bacteria, pH value, toxic substances, color degree, etc.)? how to measure them using the best methods? what amounts are present?; and 3. how to make the water clean (water purification)? |
| Starting Page | 73 |
| Ending Page | 81 |
| Page Count | 9 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.32441/ijms.v1i3.107 |
| Volume Number | 1 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.isnra.com/ojs/index.php/M/article/download/107/68 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.32441/ijms.v1i3.107 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
