Organic chemistry laboratory for chemistry majors: Writing to enhance critical thinking

CHED 469

Richard T. Taylor, taylorrt@muohio.edu1, Michael Novak, novakm@muohio.edu1, James W. Hershberger, hershbjw@muohio.edu1, David R. Marado, maradodr@muohio.edu2, and Paul V. Anderson, anderspv@muohio.edu2. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, (2) Center for Writing Excellence, Miami University, 323 Bachelor Hall, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056
For many years, Miami University has operated a separate organic chemistry laboratory for Chemistry and Biochemistry BS majors. Our recent focus, as part of our efforts in a statewide NSF-supported undergraduate research consortium (REEL), has been to incorporate more research-like experiences into the lab. As the program expands, an increased reliance on writing as a method for data dissemination and as a measure of critical thinking will become a central component. In collaboration with Miami University's Center for Writing Excellence, we revised the syllabus to incorporate writing assignments. Our efforts included the use of drawing software (ACD Labs Chem Sketch, freeware version), modeling software (Hyperchem Lite), LabWrite (NCSU), Chemistry Is IN The News (Missouri-Columbia) and enhanced notebook evaluation. Some assignments in the lecture course also drew on this resource base. This paper will present examples of the assignments, evaluate the effectiveness of the various tools and describe revisions to the approach for the subsequent year. The aspects of the course that can be transported to larger classes will be discussed.
 

Writing in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum
1:30 PM-4:20 PM, Wednesday, 13 September 2006 San Francisco Marriott -- Salon 10, Oral

Division of Chemical Education

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006