Incorporation of modern gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry in a process-oriented guided learning laboratory

CHED 751

Michael R. Bukowski, mrb32@psu.edu, Division of Math and Natural Sciences, Penn State Altoona, 3000 Ivyside Park, Altoona, PA 16602 and Marta K. Maurer, mkm20@psu.edu, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University - Altoona College, 3000 Ivyside Park, Altoona, PA 16601.
The increase in science-based procedural crime dramas on television has lead to a surge in student interest in forensic science. To encourage this interest we have designed a 2-week experiment where teams of students use gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry to “solve” a hypothetical arson case. Students are given four crime scene samples at various stages of combustion as well as four possible accelerants. Using process-oriented guided learning students discover how state-of-the-art scientific techniques rely on general chemistry fundamentals, in this case GC-MS using intermolecular forces to separate a complex mixture. The lab was incorporated into a first-semester general chemistry lab and a second-semester general chemistry lab to determine the appropriate audience for this experiment.