Videos in Chemistry Education: Applications of Interactive Tools (ACS Symposium Series) 0841234922, 9780841234925

Citation preview

Videos in Chemistry Education: Applications of Interactive Tools

ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES 1325

Videos in Chemistry Education: Applications of Interactive Tools Jessica Parr, Editor Department of Chemistry University of Southern California Los Angeles, California, United States

Sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Education

American Chemical Society, Washington, DC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Parr, Jessica (Jessica Anne), editor. | American Chemical Society. Division of Chemical Education, sponsoring body. Title: Videos in chemistry education : applications of interactive tools / Jessica Parr, editor. Description: Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, [2019] | Series: ACS symposium series ; 1325 | "Sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Education." | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019026985 (print) | LCCN 2019026986 (ebook) | ISBN 9780841234925 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780841234895 (ebook other) Subjects: LCSH: Chemistry--Study and teaching--Audio-visual aids. Classification: LCC QD49.6.C6 V54 2019 (print) | LCC QD49.6.C6 (ebook) | DDC 540.71/1--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019026985 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019026986

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48n1984. Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society All Rights Reserved. Reprographic copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act is allowed for internal use only, provided that a per-chapter fee of $40.25 plus $0.75 per page is paid to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Republication or reproduction for sale of pages in this book is permitted only under license from ACS. Direct these and other permission requests to ACS Copyright Office, Publications Division, 1155 16th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036. The citation of trade names and/or names of manufacturers in this publication is not to be construed as an endorsement or as approval by ACS of the commercial products or services referenced herein; nor should the mere reference herein to any drawing, specification, chemical process, or other data be regarded as a license or as a conveyance of any right or permission to the holder, reader, or any other person or corporation, to manufacture, reproduce, use, or sell any patented invention or copyrighted work that may in any way be related thereto. Registered names, trademarks, etc., used in this publication, even without specific indication thereof, are not to be considered unprotected by law. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Foreword The purpose of the series is to publish timely, comprehensive books developed from the ACS sponsored symposia based on current scientific research. Occasionally, books are developed from symposia sponsored by other organizations when the topic is of keen interest to the chemistry audience. Before a book proposal is accepted, the proposed table of contents is reviewed for appropriate and comprehensive coverage and for interest to the audience. Some papers may be excluded to better focus the book; others may be added to provide comprehensiveness. When appropriate, overview or introductory chapters are added. Drafts of chapters are peer-reviewed prior to final acceptance or rejection. As a rule, only original research papers and original review papers are included in the volumes. Verbatim reproductions of previous published papers are not accepted. ACS Books Department

Contents Preface .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

ix

1. Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Nicolas Cage, Harry Potter, Pulp Fiction, and More: The Key Ingredients in Teaching Biochemistry to Nonscience Majors .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Sean P. Hickey

1

2. CHEMTERTAINMENT: Using Video Clips from Movies, Television Series, and YouTube To Enhance the Teaching and Learning Experience of an Introductory Chemistry Lecture Class .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21 Elmer-Rico E. Mojica 3. Teaching with Videos and Animations: Tuning in, Getting Turned on, and Building Relationships .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35 Laurie S. Starkey 4. What To Do with Class Time? .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  53 Jessica Parr 5. Use of Multimedia Tools in the Chemistry Classroom To Foster Student Participation.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  69 Rebecca M. Broyer 6. Video Assessment of Students’ Lab Skills .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  87 Catherine Skibo 7. Videotaping Experiments in an Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Course at Pace University .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  97 Elmer-Rico E. Mojica and Rita K. Upmacis 8. Impact of Student-Created Mechanism Videos in Organic Chemistry 2 Labs .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  107 Nirzari Gupta and Jacqueline Nikles 9. Final Thoughts on Videos in Chemistry Education.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  119 Jessica Parr Editor Biography .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  123 Indexes Author Index .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  127 vii

Subject Index .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  129

viii

Preface This symposium series book is inspired by the Using Videos in Teaching symposium organized for the 255th ACS National Meeting held in New Orleans, Louisiana in March of 2018. During this symposium there were talks highlighting how faculty take advantage of videos and other multimedia tools to augment their instruction. The talks focused on practical uses of the videos and other tools, offering tips on how to implement such things in other classroom environments. This volume expands on that discussion, providing a guide for faculty who wish to use these types of tools in their classrooms. In this volume you will be presented with best practices and genuine reflections on the use of these tools in real classrooms. The techniques include faculty created videos and details of the various platforms for delivery (i.e., YouTube, publisher platform, and learning management systems such as Blackboard). There will be a whole chapter devoted to using student-created videos as a pedagogical tool. Another chapter will be discussing the use of popular films and television programs to highlight chemistry and how it is used appropriately or inappropriately. The courses in which these materials are used include general education class for non-science majors, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and analytical chemistry, as well as instruction of the laboratory portion of the courses. The lessons learned from this book can be applied to any course at any level, from introductory or preparatory courses to graduate courses. This text is intended to supplement the previous ACS symposium series books on videos and multimedia tools in chemistry classrooms: The symposium series book Online Approaches to Chemical Education (1) discusses delivering chemistry instruction through the web, the text focuses on courses that are delivered completely online. While the previous volume does have some chapters that discuss flipped or blended classes, there are others that look at classes that do not meet in person at all. The chapters presented here introduce how videos can be integrated into the conventional classroom setting. Not all colleges and universities are equipped or have a desire to move their courses online, or to move to a completely flipped model. This volume will also present other uses of videos and multimedia tools that have not been discussed in the previous text, including the use of student-produced videos and the use of lightboards to highlight problem-solving. There is some overlap between the volume that follows here and the ACS Symposium Series book Teaching and the Internet: The Application of Web Apps, Networking, and Online Tech for Chemistry Education (2), which covers the use of videos and other multimedia tools in the chemistry classroom. This text acts as a complement to the previous volume by introducing new technologies, such as SMART boards, that have not been discussed in previously published volumes. This volume places a focus on the preparation, the mechanics of using the multimedia tools, and the integration of the material into a traditional classroom model. The text will serve as a helpful user’s guide to what worked and what did not work for faculty who are using the strategies presented. One obstacle for faculty interested in introducing videos and multimedia into their classrooms is just getting started; this volume will provide an additional steppingstone to help educators along their way. ix

Much of the literature focuses on the gains that can be made by changing our instructional models, which can offer wonderful insights into how we can help our students succeed. What is often missing however, is the narrative behind how the new tools and pedagogy are integrated into the classroom. This volume should fill in some of the gaps. I hope that you find something useful in the text that follows and that, as a community, we continue to provide all our students with the best educational experience possible.

References 1. 2.

Online Approaches to Chemical Education; Sörenson, P. M., Canelas, D. A., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017; Vol. 1261. Teaching and the Internet: The Application of Web Apps, Networking, and Online Tech for Chemistry Education; Christiansen, M. A., Weber, J. M., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017; Vol. 1270.

Jessica Parr Department of Chemistry University of Southern California Los Angeles, California 90089, United States

x

Chapter 1

Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Nicolas Cage, Harry Potter, Pulp Fiction, and More: The Key Ingredients in Teaching Biochemistry to Nonscience Majors Sean P. Hickey* Department of Chemistry, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana 70148, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

The introduction of a new class called CHEM 1001, Lights, Camera, ACTION: The Chemistry of Movies and TV at the University of New Orleans in the spring 2014 semester offered the opportunity for a unique pedagogical approach to teaching chemistry to nonscience majors. The course was developed to follow a thematic approach (based on movies and TV shows) rather than a traditional topical approach (based on a standard general chemistry textbook). Broad themes for this course included the chemistry of Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek, Jurassic Park, Breaking Bad, classic movies (such as Frankenstein and The Invisible Man), science fiction movies, and superhero movies. The correctness, or, more often, the incorrectness, of the chemistry portrayed in each of those TV shows or movies would be analyzed. In the process, basic principles of general, medicinal, and analytical chemistry and biochemistry would be explored. Additionally, the critical and skeptical thinking skills of the students would be developed by problems of the day that encouraged higher levels of Bloom’s-taxonomy thinking. This chapter focuses on the development and execution of one lesson in the Game of Thrones chapter of this course. Initial data analysis and some anecdotal evidence show students are more engaged and have better retention of material using this intensive, interactive pedagogical approach as opposed to the more traditional lecture approach.

Teaser Alert! Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (1) is in an isolation chamber with a suspicious crate, a co-worker, and a box of cockroaches. Inside the crate, marked “Aid to Bosnia,” are a doll, dirty magazines, and a gas mask. The crate is suspected to have sarin gas inside. While opening the crate, Dr. Goodspeed is testing his co-worker to make sure he knows what and how dangerous sarin is as a toxin. The co© 2019 American Chemical Society

worker picks up the doll and “plays” with it like a child would play with the doll, moving the arms and legs. That movement activates the doll and a stream of gas comes out. The gas is corrosive and threatens the integrity of their isolation suits. There is a C4 bomb in the doll that can blow up the whole room and expose everyone to the toxic gas. The cockroaches start to explode and…

Preface Hopefully, reading the previous paragraph will get you interested in reading the rest of this chapter. This type of teaser is how movies and other media (e.g., books, TV) often get people hooked. Studios will create a trailer to get you to go see a movie, or the opening scene of a pilot will be so exciting that you want to continue watching the show, or a book will start off with an explosive opening (that will only be resolved 300 pages later). As communicators (and lecturers), we need to take this to heart. Why start a lecture with a boring description of a reductive amination reaction when you could show a clip from Breaking Bad (2) (Walter in his tighty-whities in the desert, cooking meth) and say at the end of the lecture, “You will be able to see how Walt cooked his meth and understand the chemistry behind it. But don’t cook meth!” When I start my lecture on the poisons used in Game of Thrones, I show the video clip from The Rock I described in Teaser Alert! previously. At the end of this short 3-minute clip, I will say, “There is a ton of science in that clip we just watched. At the end of class today, you should be able to understand the science and what they got right and what they got wrong. Are you ready to begin?” I am much more likely to keep their attention for the lecture by starting with The Rock clip than I would by starting lecture-style. For example, if I started a lecture like this: “Today, we are going to talk about the poisons in Game of Thrones. Belladonna is a real-world poison that comes from a plant found in North Africa. The plant contains chemicals that are called alkaloids, which are nitrogencontaining chemicals, such as morphine, quinine, atropine, and strychnine, which are derived from plants (3). Are you nodding off yet? Imagine how film majors, English majors, or business majors in their first university science class would feel about this approach. Would those students rather watch the teaser clip or listen to the boring recitations of facts? I feel confident that I know which way they would prefer; I have seen the difference between starting class in each of those ways (4). Now, that is not to say that traditional lectures do not have a place in today’s university. My organic class is a much more traditional lecture. I still try to bring some excitement to the class. But I have a ton of material to teach and I have found that the traditional lecture, with some active learning (5, 6), is a very good method for communicating with and keeping the attention (7–10) of organic students, who are mostly preprofessional students, chemistry majors, or similar. Most STEM majors are expecting a traditional type of communication in organic chemistry and are open and understanding of that method of teaching. However, for nonscience majors, I have found a need to employ a different type of communication entirely. For those of you reading this book chapter (and thank you for reading it), I need to use yet another type of communication. But, no matter to whom we are communicating, we need to make that connection. Hopefully, I got you connected with that teaser at the beginning. We will come back to the teaser at the end. But in between, we do need to take care of some other things. So, as you read through this chapter, this is what to expect: • Teaser Alert (you have already seen that); • Preface (you just read it); • An Introduction (Welcome to My Creative Process) (not as fun as the teaser but not too boring); 2

• • • • • •

The Round Table of Science Communication (to quote Yoda “Intrigued you are!”); The Creation and Evolution of a Game of Thrones Lesson (getting closer to the end now); Using YouTube Videos in Lecture (a necessary evil); An Overview of My Lecture on This Topic (now we are having fun); The Payoff (big bang of fun with some data thrown in); and Conclusion and Future Work (all good things must come to an end).

Sit back and enjoy the ride. Thank you for coming this far, and I hope to see you on the other side. That is, please read the rest of my process, and do not just skip to the end! You do not get a book and turn to the end to see who did it, do you? Do you? I didn’t think so. Happy reading!

An Introduction (Welcome to My Creative Process) In 2013, I submitted proposals to create two new chemistry courses at the University of New Orleans. The first would be CHEM 1001: Lights, Camera, Action: Chemistry of Movies and TV. The second would be CHEM 1002: Life, the Universe and Everything: Chemistry of Our Daily Lives. The goal of these courses was not to teach a general chemistry course or a liberal arts chemistry course or to disguise a general chemistry course in window dressing. The goal was not to recruit new chemistry majors or convert nonscience majors to science majors. The goal was to simply provide a fun and innovative way to communicate to nonscience majors some simple basics of chemistry. Just as important, I wanted to show those students how to think scientifically and critically and be skeptical about everything. The creation of these courses is another story for a different book. But suffice it to say that although it was not quite as bad as a Stephen King novel (Jack from The Shining (11, 12) or Paul from Misery (13, 14)), it was no walk in the park. When I was done, I definitely felt like I had been beaten up. To quote Roger Zelazny (15), “Coffee break for Sisyphus.” As expected, there were a few hiccups and missteps that occurred the first time or two I taught the course. But with time, the course has improved, and that lump of clay, which was the first iteration of the course, has been turned into something quite wonderful on the potter’s wheel. Hopefully, my students over the last 4 years have gained an invaluable experience that was totally unexpected but thrilling and greatly appreciated. Because the potter (me) has certainly had a great time in shaping that clay into something wonderful. Creating these courses has provided me with a chance to learn all sorts of new pedagogical approaches. I was blindingly unaware of some of these methods. Others I had never taken the time to delve more deeply into, but I am now very glad that I was forced to explore these topics. The creation process also sharpened my own observation and critical thinking skills and, most important, made me take that first awkward, tentative step on the pathway of learning how to communicate science effectively to nonscience majors and the general public. More often than I (or probably you) would think, I will be watching a movie or a TV show and come across something that will be a great topic for this class. Many of the topics I talk about in class were discovered in this or some other serendipitous way. There were a few shows or movies that I had in mind when I created this class, such as Game of Thrones, Star Trek, Breaking Bad, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But many topics and lessons for the class were joyfully discovered in the process of creating these courses or from just watching a good movie (or bad movie) or TV show. There were a select few books I found that were unbelievably helpful (16–18) in the creative process. Without the amazing people who came before me, this course would not have been possible. I proudly stood on the shoulders of these great chemists (and communicators) to come up with my courses. Many of the topics and lessons were “borrowed” quite liberally from their efforts and 3

research, with proper citation, of course (I am a scientist, after all). However, the lessons and topics that I discovered (or adapted) on my own bring a certain joy and pride to this old chemist’s heart. This chapter is about one of those topics. Specifically, teaching the chemistry of neurotransmitters. So where do we start, you inquire. I know you are ready to investigate the chemistry of Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Pulp Fiction! So, we will start with one of those juicy topics, of course…won’t we? Not quite yet. Instead, we start with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table or, more specifically, let us start with his round table!

The Round Table of Science Communication I think of science communication as similar to a round table (Figure 1). Sitting around the table are chairs that represent all the groups to whom scientists communicate. The round table itself represents a blank slate from which we can build a compelling narrative to communicate to our target audience. The narrative is built upon strong foundational supports that represent the tenets that I think all science communicators must adhere to in order to be most effective. The narrative will be tailored to the group(s) to whom we are communicating (i.e., those chairs around our science communication round table). This means that one topic can be presented five different ways, depending on to whom we are communicating.

Figure 1. Representation of the round table of science communication. Created with ChemDraw by the author. The chairs around the table represent children, students, the general public, legislators, our colleagues, and, of course, us, the scientists (Table 1). The children represent all the youth (e.g., K–12 students, Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, kids at National Chemistry Week) who attend any outreach activity looking to have fun and be thrilled by the possibilities of science. The students 4

represent all our students, whether they are middle school, high school, undergraduate, or graduate students. The general public is all the people that we communicate with in op-ed pieces, YouTube videos, Science Café events, popular literature, or any other way that we communicate with the general public. The legislators represent anyone affiliated with local, state, or federal government we advise or consult with on the science that affects the laws that they will be enacting or deliberating. Our colleagues represent our peers at universities, research institutes, chemical companies, pharmaceutical companies, and more. The communicators are us, the scientists, the chemists, and the professors. When we are lecturing, writing, recording a video, posting on social media, or engaging in any other form of communication, we are communicating scientific truths to our audience, and we must do so in the best possible method for that particular audience to whom we are communicating. Table 1. Five Different Target Audiences for Science Communication and Pedagogical Level and Example Communication of Each Audience The Chairs of the Round Table (Target Audience) Audience

Examples of audience

Pedagogical level

Example communication

Children

Outreach events

Very low

Demonstrations

Students

Any student

Low to high

Lectures, active learning, notes

General public

Citizens, entertainment, consumers, Internet

Low to medium (occasionally high)

Town halls, YouTube videos, movies or TV, op-ed or literature

Legislators

Legislators, legislative aides, Low to medium science advisors (occasionally high)

Colleagues

Faculty, researchers

Very high

Specific and topical, responding to questions, explanation of information Journal articles, presentations, seminars

In general, our communication with legislators and colleagues is more formalized and often has stricter rules (journal formatting, for example). But when we talk to young children, students, and the general public, we are able to talk less formally and incorporate different methods and media in ways that we normally cannot use when communicating with our colleagues and legislators. Supporting the table are strong foundational supports (Table 2) that represent scientific facts and truths, creativity, logical passion, and respect and cordiality. When communicating, our main supporting foundation must be scientific facts or truths. We need to always couch any presentation or argument or video or lecture in the foundation of scientific facts. But we can use creativity to make that presentation interesting, important, persuasive, and powerful for that target audience. We must always give the presentation with forceful passion, but that passion must be logical. The passion of the presentation or argument cannot be so heated that the fundamental truth or facts are lost. Just as important, we must treat the audience with respect and cordiality. If we are talking to a group that is anti-vaccinations or anti-GMO, we cannot be condescending or dismissive. The goal is to present the facts in a creative and passionate way while still being respectful of our audience’s opinions, faith, and background. A powerful, persuasive, and creative scientific communicator can take a topic (any topic) and tailor it to a particular audience to have the most impact on that audience. So, as we stand (metaphorically) at the lectern and deliver our “lecture” (whatever the format), we must always remember the audience (chair) to whom we are communicating. You can provide the most 5

compelling, fact-filled, perfect message ever and still not reach your audience if you forget who that audience is in the first place. The communication method we use for a classroom of 20 graduate students is not the same method we would use to reach a class of middle schoolers or a roomful of legislative aides. Table 2. Four Foundational Supports of the Round Table of Communication and the Reason Each Support Is Vital Foundational support

Reason

Scientific facts or truths

Without the support of scientific facts, our communications efforts are doomed to fail.

Creativity

Without creativity, we run the very large risk of losing our audience and failing to communicate effectively with them.

Logical passion

Without passion, we run the very real risk of losing them from the start. Why should they care if we are not passionate enough to care? But without logic, we run the risk of going off message, or worse, becoming too passionate and losing our objectivity.

Respect or cordiality

Without respect and cordiality, our communication, no matter how passionate, creative, or factual, will just offend and turn off our audience.

This is not an earth-shattering revelation; it is common sense. But that “lecturer” inside of me (and probably most faculty) is sitting on my shoulder, twirling his halo, telling me that I learned by listening to someone at the front of the room lecture to me, so that is how I should “teach.” I was very aware of active learning and different pedagogical approaches to teaching (and used some in my lectures), but not until I was confronted with teaching a nonmajor chemistry course did I truly begin to understand the importance of properly communicating to my audience—a lesson that I now apply even more to my organic chemistry lectures. Now that we have our round table, you are probably asking yourself (or shouting at me), “Can we please talk about Game of Thrones now?” Yes, we can. Let us begin.

Creation and Evolution of a Game of Thrones Lesson How did this unique pairing of Game of Thrones and chemistry come together? It was part logic, part serendipity, part luck, and a bunch of hard work and experiences, both good and bad. When designing the course, starting with the chemistry and science of Game of Thrones seemed a no-brainer. Imagine the first week of a course talking about poisoning, incest, death, destruction, wildfire, and much more instead of a dry, historical telling of the periodic table (19). The other exciting must-have topic for my class was Breaking Bad. I decided to put Breaking Bad at the very end of the course as a bookend to the exciting Game of Thrones start of the course. Game of Thrones is an extremely popular show with students (and most everyone else). It would be an exciting way to start the course and get students to buy into the concept of the course. Moreover, there is a surprising amount of chemistry and science in Game of Thrones. Having decided to start with Game of Thrones, I had to figure out what to cover. Unfortunately, this is not something that can be researched easily. You cannot go to the ACS publications page and look up “Game of Thrones” and get results (20); at least in 2013, you could not. So, I had to rely on pop culture searches (21), a handful of YouTube videos (22), and my own obsession with the show. A book on the science 6

of Game of Thrones (23) came out in 2016. But by then, I had already researched almost all the items covered in the book, and the book only confirmed what I had already discovered through my own research. There are some obvious candidates for talking about the science of Game of Thrones. Specifically, there is the giant ice wall, the erratic weather, all the different poisons and medicines, wildfire, and Valyrian steel. The first time I taught the course, these were the main topics I talked about. Over the years, I have added topics on diseases, such as greyscale; a taxonomy of animals, beasts, and monsters; genetics; and even psychological and medical disorders that are found in Game of Thrones. Part of this evolution was because more television seasons of Game of Thrones were produced with more cool topics, and part was just the natural progression of teaching a course a second or third or fourth time. The lesson presented in this chapter took about three times through the course to develop. The very first time I taught the course, I had just a PDF study note and a clip from the show that took maybe 10 minutes of class time. By the third time through, this had become an entire lesson that takes 45 to 60 minutes to present fully. In developing this lesson plan, the first thing I did was to get as much information from the show as I could about the topic. Then I scoured textbooks and articles (if possible) for credible information about this topic. Finally, I looked for video clips from the show and other videos to enhance the presentation. Now, it would be nice to say this was all happening at the same time, but it was not. At various times when teaching or not teaching the course, I would find videos of interest and put them away to be used the next time I taught the course. For example, one of the first videos I found was from the ACS Reactions’ YouTube channel. Next, I found a great video from Periodic Videos’ YouTube channel. At some point, I added video clips from The Rock to show the use of atropine. SciShow’s YouTube channel provided a great video on sarin gas. Pulp Fiction provided a good use of the needle-in-the-heart trope (24, 25) that I talked about in lecture. Before long, I had 13 videos to enhance this lesson.

Using YouTube Videos A quick note about the YouTube videos that I used in class. The first semester I used videos, I would go to YouTube and play the videos directly from YouTube in the class. This had the benefit of being the most legal and ethical way to show the videos. However, I had to rely on internet connectivity (sometimes an issue at colleges) and watch ads (got to pay for the videos), and there was the chance the video would disappear from YouTube. During that first semester, a film student came up after class and told me that there is a great little browser add-on you can install to download the videos. I investigated this add-on and decided to start downloading videos to use in class. It turns out there are tons of these add-on extensions, and if you are using YouTube videos, I highly suggest you get one. What about the legal ramifications of downloading the videos? There, it gets murky. For personal use, it seems somewhat OK. For using in an education setting, it seems to be legal. I contacted YouTube, the movie studios, and some of the YouTube channels to ask their permission and opinions. Studios never responded (as expected). All other responses I got (just a couple) were positive. For the studios, I always tried to find YouTube clips directly from the studio or authorized clips (such as Movieclips’ YouTube channel). Our initial projector system would not allow me to play my own copies of the movies from iTunes or via Blu-ray, but our newer system does, so I also made my own clips from the movies or TV shows that I owned. 7

Figure 2. Excerpt (with permission) of textbook page from the Game of Thrones chapter from the Chemistry of Movies and TV by Sean Hickey. Textbook available at TopHat.com. As part of the requirements for the class, students had to create their own YouTube videos about chemistry found in a movie or TV show. I uploaded these student-created videos to our YouTube channel (26), and any time there was a claim for using copyrighted materials, I appealed to YouTube and was always allowed to use the material. In the end, I felt that I had the legal right to download these for educational purposes based on the fair use and transformative clause of U.S. copyright law (27) and YouTube’s fair-use policy (28). I also considered the ethical ramifications of using this copyrighted material, and I determined that it was all ethical. I gave full credit to each channel or studio. I encouraged my students to subscribe to channels that we used if they liked the material. All in all, the channels probably got more ad views from my students subscribing than they would have from me playing the video with ads once per semester. I provided the students with a main study guide for each lesson. I also created a textbook for each course in TopHat (29) that provided much more in-depth looks at the chemistry and science involved in the course. In the textbook, I linked out live to the YouTube videos (so more ad money for those channels). There are detailed sets of instructor notes, example problems, and downloads of all 8

the videos for anyone who might want to use these lessons (or the entire course) at their school (30). Now, let us move on to the main event!

An Overview of My Lecture on This Topic In the following section are screen captures from my textbook (Figure 2), my class notes (Figure 3), and the instructor guides (Figures 4 and 5) that I use for this lecture. The notes from the textbook are more thorough (as expected) than the lecture notes. The students can access the textbook chapter on Game of Thrones any time to get more information. They can also view clips or link out to other content from the textbook. All the information is cited, and only public domain artwork (via Wikimedia Commons or similar) and verified YouTube channels are included. The instructor guide notes are a detailed listing of how I present this material and are available for all lessons that I use in both of these courses (30).

Figure 3. Excerpt of student notes from the nightshade lesson of the Game of Thrones chapter. The lesson on essence of nightshade poisoning uses 13 videos in class (31–43). For the Game of Thrones chapter, I have more than 70 videos, most of which are shown in class during the 2 to 3 weeks we spend on this chapter. The videos are also loaded on TopHat for students to view and are available for other instructors to use.

The Payoff

See, math can be fun too! But does this equation really add up to an understanding of neurotransmitters? Yes! But it takes a little creativity to wrangle the facts and the media together to bring forth a compelling lesson. Luckily, much of the hard work was done already by Hollywood (Game of Thrones, The Rock, and Pulp Fiction) and the fine folks at ACS Reactions, Periodic Videos, and SciShow YouTube channels. Before all is done, Breaking Bad and Harry Potter will join this lesson

9

and make for a strange, unexpected concoction that somehow forms a very unlikely but fantastic lesson.

Figure 4. Excerpt of instructor notes from the nightshade lesson of the Game of Thrones chapter. As previously stated, I start the lecture with a scene from The Rock about a sarin gas attack. After this video, I do not go over the science but state, “We will come back to this.” I then go over the use of medicine and poisons in Game of Thrones by starting with the essence of nightshade episode and how nightshade is used to calm nerves, induce sleep, or cause death. Next, I will show the videos from ACS Reactions (31) and a clip from Game of Thrones in which Cersei is about to kill all the women and children with poison rather than let them be kidnapped, raped, or killed by the enemy (32). In the ACS Reactions video, Raychelle Burks explains how chemists say, “The dose makes the poison.” I make special note of this because atropine in nightshade is what kills because, at a certain dosage, it is toxic. We will go over the chemistry (and biochemistry) of the real-world equivalent of nightshade, which is Atropa belladonna or deadly nightshade. I talk about the toxicity of nightshade and the alkaloids in nightshade, which are atropine and scopolamine. We will go over how atropine is toxic 10

and can be fatal when ingested in a high enough dose. This leads back to one of the main points of our lesson, which is “the dose makes the poison.” At this point, you could bring in other examples of chemicals that are poisonous by their dosage, such as water or formaldehyde. I do this in my other nonscience majors’ course when we talk about the amount of formaldehyde in a vaccine versus in an apple or a pear. I also talk about the amount of toxic chemicals in fruit pits (amygdalin, which converts to hydrogen cyanide). But, in this course, I just focus on atropine. At this point, I transition the lecture to neurotransmitters. I first show a video about neurotransmitters (33) and talk a little about how neurotransmitters work. Next, I show an amazing video from Periodic Videos (34) and a SciShow video (35), time permitting. The Periodic Videos video is almost 13 minutes long and transitions back and forth from Professor Poliakoff talking about his father’s gas mask and chemical test kit from WWII to Professor Stockman talking about the toxicity and mode of action of sarin gas. I have edited this video to show only Professor Stockman’s talk. I show the edited video in class but make the full, unedited video available in the textbook. In the video, Professor Stockman gives a quick but comprehensive model of neurotransmitters and how acetylcholinesterase is responsible for clearing acetylcholine out from the synaptic cleft of the neuromuscular junction so that muscles can relax. Professor Stockman explains how sarin bonds to the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, the Pac-Man molecule, and prevents muscles from relaxing. Thus, your arm is always flexed, or, in the case of sarin gas, your lungs cannot relax. This leads to the gasping for air and eventual death for the individual who was exposed to sarin gas. Professor Stockman explains how sarin is a small molecule, so it can exist in gaseous form. He also explains about the fluorine in the sarin gas and how it bonds covalently to the enzyme, effectively shutting off the enzyme. This allows for a good discussion of intermolecular forces, boiling points, and melting points, as well as covalent bonding, fluorine reactivity, and uses in medicine. Students will revisit the chemistry of fluorine when we discuss the incorrect method that Walter White uses to dispose of bodies in Breaking Bad (i.e., hydrofluoric acid). As the video explains, there is an antidote for sarin gas. So, after the video, I will recap neurotransmitters and talk about the antidote for sarin gas. After a sarin gas attack, the first antidote that is given is usually atropine. Atropine competes with acetylcholine at the receptors. By flooding the system with atropine, acetylcholine will be removed from the receptors, and muscles (lungs) will relax. This is only a temporary fix because the synaptic cleft is flooded with acetylcholine. Pralidoxime is the other antidote that is administered. Pralidoxime helps reactivate the acetylcholinesterase, which then clears the synaptic cleft of acetylcholine. This leads into a good discussion again about how atropine is toxic at certain doses (and circumstances). But atropine can also be an antidote for sarin gas at certain dosages (and circumstances). We also talk about how the difference between a drug and a poison is all semantics. If a chemical is ingested and does something beneficial, we will call it a drug. But if a chemical is ingested and does something harmful, we will call it a poison. Often the drug and the poison are doing the same thing in the body, such as shutting down an enzyme, but the result is much different. At this point, we will revisit the scene from The Rock (36). I will discuss how the writers had the science right about how sarin works. They had also correctly identified atropine as the antidote (or one of the antidotes) for sarin gas poisoning. But they were deadly wrong about how the atropine needed to be injected directly into the heart. Atropine needs to be injected into a vein, not the heart. Only trained professionals (and in very rare circumstances) should ever think about injecting anything directly into the heart. When needed, it is done very carefully and under supervision. It is not done by stabbing a needle into the heart willfully.

11

I usually show a scene from Pulp Fiction next (38). This is the famous scene in which Uma Thurman is overdosing, and Eric Stoltz shows John Travolta how to inject the adrenaline directly into her heart by plunging the needle as hard as he can to break through the breastplate and inject into the heart. Wrong on so many levels! Do you think a needle will break through bone? Even if it could, the bone would deflect it and you would miss the heart. If you hit the heart, you will then tear a hole in the heart. Do you think that is a good thing? This is a good point to show students how movies like to use, reuse, and overuse devices like this to tell a story. This is what is known as a movie or TV trope (24). Tropes like this are why any time a chemistry lab is shown in a movie (without using a science consultant), the chemicals are all blue and red and boiling, with smoke billowing everywhere. Time permitting, I will show a few videos on VX nerve agent (37, 39, 40). VX is also part of the plot of The Rock. The writers again have some of the science information about VX correct, but they vastly overexaggerated the dermatological face-melting effects of VX. The really interesting thing about VX (and the Periodic Videos video I show) is how VX is thought to have been used in the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s half-brother. This topic is great because it can show how two substances that are not dangerous on their own can be mixed together to create a very dangerous substance. It is theorized that the assassination was carried out by duping two females to separately swab a liquid on the victim. Each liquid on its own was innocuous, but mixed, they produced VX, which killed him. Next, I will show the SciShow video (41) about how these nerve agents were made in Nazi Germany. If there is not time, I will let the students watch all of these videos on their own from the textbook link. What I really love about this lecture is how different movies and lessons are threaded together to build a bigger lesson and also to force the students to synthesize knowledge to answer questions. This method of teaching is often referred to as framing or scaffolding (44, 45) pedagogy. The lesson started with a clip from The Rock and then went into use of poisons in Game of Thrones. From there, an introduction to “dose makes the poison” was followed by detailed explanations of neurotransmitters and sarin gas. Next, the film tropes about “needle to the heart” were followed by VX gas, binary poisons, and history of nerve agents. The students were exposed to a ton of material, but a special emphasis was placed on how neurotransmitters work and how drugs or poisons can affect those neurotransmitters. Student saw how atropine (a drug and a poison) can displace acetylcholine and temporarily stop the effects of a sarin gas attack. If the lesson had been carried out effectively, students should be able to synthesize that knowledge to answer a question on a topic about neurotransmitters they have not seen before. I now introduce a POD to the students. POD is my acronym for “problem of the day.” This is usually a “thinking” question that relates to the day’s lesson or sometimes is just a question to get them to think critically. At the end of my Game of Thrones lesson (this may be the end of that day’s lecture or the start of the next lecture), I show them a clip from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (42). In the clip, the students at Hogwarts are shown taking an herbology class under the direction of Professor Sprout. She is showing them how to repot mandrake. In the scene, Neville Longbottom is knocked out by the scream of the juvenile mandrake. After the clip, the students are given the following POD (Figure 5). A good student will recognize that a sarin gas attack causes the muscles to always be “on.” If your arm is extended, it will stay extended. If you are breathing out, you will stay breathing out. It is like you are petrified—stuck in that muscle contraction. If you are petrified by the Basilisk, maybe that is some sort of sarin-like attack on your neurotransmitters. So, if atropine can clear off the acetylcholine from the receptors following a sarin gas attack, then mandrake restorative draught (made from a plant 12

in the nightshade family), probably contains atropine or a similar compound and can serve as an antidote to being turned to stone.

Figure 5. Copy of POD3 from Chemistry of Movies and TV Class. This question can be modified to give the students more or fewer hints, depending on the level of the class. If this were an upper-level biochemistry class, I would just show the video clip and ask them, “Using what you have seen in this lesson, propose how mandrake can be a cure for being petrified by the Basilisk.” For my nonscience majors’ class, I give them the questions as seen in Figure 5. During the next lecture, we will discuss the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, such as Prozac). Just as atropine can be a poison or a drug, they now learn that removing an enzyme that degrades neurotransmitters can be toxic (sarin destroying acetylcholinesterase) or beneficial (SSRI neutralizing SSR to flood the synaptic cleft with serotonin). I think this level of understanding is so important for students. Students need to understand that in medicine (but in many other things also) doing something will not always have the same outcome, depending on where, what, how, and when it is done. Shutting off an enzyme can be very bad (sarin) or can be very beneficial (SSRIs). Drugs can be used to increase neurotransmitters or decrease neurotransmitters as needed. We can target enzymes to be deactivated (SSRIs) or to be activated (pralidoxime). Students need to understand that knowing how a biochemical pathway in the body works can allow us to both increase or decrease that pathway at any step in the pathway depending on the need. This is one of the tenets of medicinal chemistry. At this point, they have seen two examples of drugs affecting neurotransmitters. In subsequent lectures, they will see how dopamine affects brain chemistry as we talk about Parkinson’s (using Awakenings, Muhammad Ali, and Michael J. Fox). Later in the semester, they will be introduced 13

to Breaking Bad and we will again talk about how neurotransmitters are affected by drugs such as methamphetamines. The lesson on neurotransmitters will spiral around again and again, each time reinforcing what the students need to know. Table 3. Analysis of POD and Thinking Questions on Exams from the Six Semesters This Course Has Been Taught Comparing Performance vs Teaching Pedagogy Semester

Students

Teaching method

Performance on POD3

Exam performanced

Spring 2014

74

Traditional

N/Aa

Average (61%)

Fall 2014

97

Traditional

N/Aa

Average (74%)

Fall 2015

118

Interactive

87%

Excellent (89%)

Fall 2016

78

Interactive

87%

Excellent (88%)

Fall 2017

87

Interactive

71%b

Average (79%)e

Fall 2018

101

Textbook only

N/Ac

Below Averagef

a Spring

2014 and fall 2014 did not have a POD on neurotransmitters. b In fall 2017, an adjunct taught the course and covered Game of Thrones but did not do the extensive coverage and the scaffolding. c In fall 2018, an adjunct taught the course and did not cover Game of Thrones in lecture. Instead, he had the students read the units in the textbook. d Data is based on exam performance on all thinking questions (not just neurotransmitters) for exams. Analysis of neurotransmitter questions has not been done yet. e Two exams had thinking questions but the third was all multiple choice. Only the two exams with thinking questions are summarized in the exam performance category. A partially interactive methodology was used, and the course was taught by an adjunct who had never taught a course like this and had very little time to prepare before the semester started. f Exams were not used in the fall 2018 course. But performance overall in the class on thinking questions (in-class quizzes) were way down this semester. This is all anecdotal because the data has not been compiled yet from the instructor who taught the course. However, his class averages were much lower and student evaluations were not good, but that could be due to a difference in teaching methodology and many other factors.

I use these PODs throughout the semester, including the very first day of lecture. At the end of the first lecture, I show them a video from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in which Smaug is breathing fire (46). Without any explanation, I ask them to explain how a dragon could breathe fire. They are asked to think critically and analyze how a real fire-breathing animal could exist. I collect their PODs, dismiss them, and tell them next class we will discuss. At the beginning of the next class, I talk them through how they should think about this. Where does the fuel come from? Where does the spark come from to set the fire? What type of protective tissue must cover the esophagus and mouth of the dragon? We discuss this, and then I show them examples of hypergolic liquids and bombardier beetles, and we build up how a real living creature could actually (possibly) breathe fire. I show them a clip of the tanker bug from the movie Starship Troopers. It supplies a little campiness but I also explain that the creature from the film was based on the bombardier beetle.

14

Conclusion and Future Work In the end, have we “proved” our math equation? Do The Rock, Game of Thrones, Periodic Videos, and SciShow YouTube videos minus the bad trope from Pulp Fiction lead to an understanding of neurotransmitters? The answer is yes!

How effective is this as a teaching method? As summarized in Table 3, there are six semesters of data that show that the intensive, interactive lesson is an effective method. The performance is especially notable because during the spring 2014, fall 2014, fall 2017, and fall 2018 semesters, the intensive, interactive lesson on neurotransmitters was not used and students’ understanding of neurotransmitters was much poorer than in the two semesters (fall 2015 and fall 2016) when it was used fully. Data for the first four semesters are most important because all four semesters were taught by me. During the spring 2014 and fall 2014 semesters, I used the traditional lecture format without all the videos. During the fall 2015 and fall 2016 semesters, I used the more intensive, interactive lesson format described in this chapter. The data seem to indicate that students did much better in the fully immersive lecture than in the traditional lecture. For the intensive, interactive semesters, the class test average was 88.5% versus a class test average of 67.5% during the traditional lecture semesters (Table 3). A 31% improvement in scores on “thinking” questions was seen on exams in the interactive, intense lecture format compared with the traditional lecture format. In fall 2017, an adjunct taught the course for the first time and had very little time to prepare. The adjunct used a partially interactive format when teaching this lesson. But because it was his first time teaching this course, and the Game of Thrones lecture was early in the semesters, he was not able to use the fully immersive lecture. During the fall 2018 term, the course was taught by another new instructor who was given the course only 1 day before classes started. Because of this and other reasons, that adjunct did not cover the Game of Thrones unit in class but instead made the students read it and watch the videos from the chapter. Additionally, assessment was done solely by attendance, in-class quizzes, and out-ofclass projects. This meant that a direct correlation between type of lecture and understanding of the material cannot be made. Only anecdotal analysis of student performance in the class and student evaluations will be available. The data are not yet available at the time of this chapter publication. Based on the impressions of the instructor, the students did not seem to make a connection or gain a true understanding of the material. This is very tentative and nonscientific, of course, but future semesters will offer a clearer impression of student understanding versus pedagogical method. Due to these factors, the fall 2017 and fall 2018 data are seen as incomplete and do not offer substantial value to this discussion. So only the first four semesters were analyzed for performance. The fall 2017 course does offer some interesting possibilities for future work. There was an online cohort who watched recordings of the in-class lecture and completed all their work online, including tests. As the tests were done online, analysis of individual neurotransmitter questions can be done easily. Figure 6 shows the neurotransmitter questions from the online cohort’s exams. The analysis of question and exam performance is compiled in Table 4.

15

Figure 6. Neurotransmitter questions from online cohort exams. Question 38, which is a more straightforward memorization question, showed an excellent 87% success rate, whereas Questions 39, 40, 41, and 50 showed much poorer results. These questions required a higher level of thinking from the students. The data cover only the cohort of online students because the traditional exam has not been analyzed for question-by-question performance. A question-by-question analysis of each printed exam is underway. The hypothesis is that the performance on the higher-level thinking questions will be better when an intensive, interactive format is used instead of a traditional lecture. Comparison of the in-class cohort versus the online cohort can also be done. Additionally, a comparison of students who were present for the intensive Game of Thrones lecture versus those who were absent that day can also be performed. Full data analysis of these (and other data points) will be performed and reported at a later date. The neurotransmitter lecture is not the only intensive, active learning lecture in the class. There are many other lessons in Game of Thrones (e.g., wildfire, genetics, illness), Breaking Bad (e.g., drug production, phosphine, magnets, dilution, disposal of bodies by hydrofluoric acid), superhero chemistry, and Jurassic World that can be analyzed to compare outcomes when using different pedagogical methodology. Additionally, I have been working on a group exercise in which students 16

will play the parts of the neurotransmitters, vesicles, and receptors to understand even better how neurotransmitters work. Table 4. Analysis of POD and Thinking Questions on Exams from the Six Semesters This Course Has Been Taught Analysis of Student Performance on Thinking Questions Course

Students

Question number Performance on question

Exam performance

Traditional

112

N/A

N/A

79%

Online

14

38

87%

83%

Online

14

39

66%

83%

Online

14

40

63%

83%

Online

14

41

63%

83%

Online

10

50

52%

83%

Thank you for reading to the end. Hopefully, this gave you a glimpse of how to create a more fun but still highly educational lesson using nontraditional sources of material.

References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

The Rock; Buena Vista Pictures: Burbank, CA, 1996. Breaking Bad; TV Show, AMC, 2008–2013. This is a paraphrase of how I started this lecture for the first two semesters I taught the course. Unfortunately, I did not collect data on this, but anecdotally, I could see that starting with the clip was much better than a dry recitation of facts, and students were much more engaged. Crouch, C.; Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: Ten Years of Experience and Results. Am. J. Phys. 2001, 69, 970–977. Peer Instruction Website. https://blog.peerinstruction.net (accessed March 5, 2019). Johnstone, A.; Percival, F. Attention Breaks in Lectures. Educ. Chem. 1976, 13, 49–50. Wilson, K.; Korn, J. Attention During Lectures: Beyond Ten Minutes. Teach. Psychol. 2007, 34, 85–89. Bradbury, N. Attention Span During Lecture: 8 Seconds, 10 Minutes or More? Adv. Physiol. Educ. 2016, 40, 509–513. Bunce, D.; Flens, E.; Neiles, K. How Long Can Students Pay Attention in Class? A Study of Student Attention Decline Using Clickers. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87, 1438–1443. King, S. The Shining; Doubleday Publishing: New York, 1977. All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy—The Shining, Movieclips. YouTube. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=4lQ_MjU4QHw (accessed March 5, 2019). King, S. Misery; Viking Press: New York, 1987. Hobbling—Misery, Movieclips. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tURhk5mDpE (accessed March 5, 2019). Zelazny, R. Nine Princes in Amber; Doubleday Publishing: New York, 1970. Griep, M.; Mikasen, M. ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies; Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2009. 17

17. Nelson, D.; Grazier, K.; Paglia, J.; Perkowitz, S. Hollywood Chemistry: When Science Met Entertainment; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2013; Vol. 1139. 18. Stocker, J. Chemistry and Science Fiction; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998. 19. Game of Thrones; TV Show, HBO, 2011–2019. In the first two scenes, we have multiple examples of chemical poisoning, an investigation of the true paternity of the King’s offspring via genetics (hair color), and almost-total destruction of a fleet with wildfire (analogous to Napalm and Greek Fire). 20. A search of ACS publications on Jan 7, 2019, brought up four journal articles, one C&EN article, and one book chapter, all published in 2017 and 2018. Only two involve the Game of Thrones TV show, and they do not impart any useful research. 21. Most of the citations used were from entertainment sites (e.g., variety.com, ew.com, i09.com) or aggregating sites (e.g., Wikipedia.com, gameofthrones.wikia.com). I would most often have to find the science and then make sure that my analysis was correct using textbooks and articles. 22. A list of all YouTube videos I used on this lecture is in references 31–43. I want to note these YouTube channels because they were the inspiration and start for my Game of Thrones unit in the course: ACS Reactions, PBS It’s OK to Be Smart, Because Science with Kyle Hill of Nerdist, SciShow, and Periodic Videos YouTube channels. 23. Keen, H. The Science of Game of Thrones; Little, Brown and Company: Columbus, GA, 2016. 24. Tropes. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes (accessed March 5, 2019). 25. Shot to the Heart Trope. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShotToTheHeart (accessed March 5, 2019). 26. My Class YouTube Channel for Students to Upload their Videos, CHEM 1001 and 1002. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WVjpGmMynNelUqjabKJtA/playlists (accessed March 5, 2019). 27. Copyright Law, U.S. (Title 17). https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107 (accessed March 5, 2019). 28. YouTube’s Fair Use Policy. https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/copyright/fair-use/#ytcopyright-protection (accessed March 5, 2019). 29. The textbooks will be available on TopHat for use in courses but are still being finished, so they are not yet available on the TopHat marketplace https://tophat.com/marketplace/. Anyone wishing to view the textbook can contact me at [email protected] or [email protected]. 30. For a list of topics and lesson plans, student notes, instructor notes, list of videos, early access to the textbooks, or any other inquiry about the Chemistry of Movies and TV course or Chemistry of our Daily Lives, please contact Sean Hickey at either [email protected] or [email protected]. 31. Raychelle Burks on Poisons, Medicine, and Communicating Science, ACS Reactions. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-XDGcAuLM (accessed March 5, 2019). 32. Essence of Nightshade, Game of Thrones; TV Show, HBO, Season 2, Episode 9. 33. CLD Inc., Neurotransmission, Customlearningdesign. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=aMzOKpF0zuQ (accessed March 5, 2019). 34. Sarin, Periodic Table of Videos. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jozozH09XSs (accessed March 5, 2019). 35. What Is Sarin Gas, SciShow. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3sJEbcT7IE (accessed March 5, 2019). 18

36. The Rock Lab Scene, The Rock; Buena Vista Pictures: Burbank, CA, 1996. 37. The Rock VX Scene, The Rock; Buena Vista Pictures: Burbank, CA, 1996. 38. A Shot of Adrenaline—Pulp Fiction, MovieClips. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ZOoJoTAXDPk (accessed March 5, 2019). 39. VX Nerve Agent, Periodic Table of Videos. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 62f PW-5TR-M (accessed March 5, 2019). 40. VX and Binary Weapons (Extra), Periodic Table of Videos. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=n7uJoi8DXiA (accessed March 5, 2019). 41. How the Nazis Invented Nerve Agents Like Sarin, ACS Reactions. YouTube. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=3te1o6dYmLI&t=14s (accessed March 5, 2019). 42. How Do Antidepressants Work, Bogdan Paul. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= G4r3qCkLUDQ (accessed March 5, 2019). 43. POD3-Mandrakes in Herbology, Wizarding World. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=G17jQg_pUJg (accessed March 5, 2019). 44. Puntambekar, S.; Kolodner, J. L. Toward Implementing Distributed Scaffolding: Helping Students Learn Science from Design. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 2005, 42, 185–217. 45. Pea, R. D. The Social and Technological Dimensions of Scaffolding and Related Theoretical Concepts for Learning, Education, and Human Activity. J. Learning Sci. 2004, 13, 423–451. 46. For the fire-breathing POD, I use videos from The Hobbit, Periodic Video on hypergolic liquids, multiple YouTube videos on bombardier beetles, and clips from Starship Troopers. I am happy to share these with anyone.

19

Chapter 2

CHEMTERTAINMENT: Using Video Clips from Movies, Television Series, and YouTube To Enhance the Teaching and Learning Experience of an Introductory Chemistry Lecture Class Elmer-Rico E. Mojica* Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University, One Pace Plaza, New York, New York 10029, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

The use of videos in teaching has been found to be beneficial in the learning process. In this chapter, using video clips from movies, television series, and YouTube to enhance the teaching and learning experience of different concepts in an introductory chemistry once-a-week lecture was evaluated. Short clips depicting different concepts were made available either by showing in class during lecture or by posting on Blackboard so students could watch outside of class hours. A questionnaire-based survey was given to students at the end of the semester to evaluate the effectiveness of movie clips as a learning tool. The majority of students considered the use of video clips to be useful as they found them to be exciting, educational, and helpful for their learning process.

Introduction Teaching chemistry is not easy. Based on a survey published by the American Chemical Society, entering college students rated chemistry as the most relevant science course and highly relevant to their daily lives. However, the same survey also reported 83% of students thought chemistry was a difficult subject (1). Because of this, chemistry instructors are challenged to make the course interesting, knowing that most students taking the course are neither motivated nor interested. One way chemistry faculty make the course appealing to students is to relate the course to everyday material. Since chemistry touches all aspects of our lives, it is easy to connect this field with material found all around us. For abstract concepts, which are plentiful, one way of doing this is by using analogies, in which an abstract concept is compared to something more concrete or familiar to which students can relate. Another way of making the course more attractive is by using video clips from movies and television series during class discussion. One study has reviewed the use of multimedia teaching © 2019 American Chemical Society

with video clips and argues that the literature to date reveals that auditory/verbal and visual/pictorial stimuli increase students’ memory and comprehension, and encourage deeper learning of a topic than when either stimulus is used by itself (2). With fast-paced changes in technology such as the advent of Internet Web sites that can host and stream videos (such as YouTube), greater access to the Internet, and cell phone upgrades that allow anybody to watch videos, there is a shift in higher education influenced by technological trends. In this shift, videos are starting to play an important role, adding value and enhancing the quality of the learning experience. The new generation of students, who are familiar with all these technological advances, can easily understand a concept if it is delivered in videos as compared to the traditional approach. The use of movies in education and scientific teaching has a tradition going back decades; movies have a tremendous ability to engage people around the world. The practice of using popular movies or movie clips as a teaching and learning tool is prevalent in adult education, particularly in the field of medicine. Dubbed “cinemeducation,” this teaching method has been successfully incorporated in teaching topics such as psychiatry, bioethics, pharmacology, and mental illness treatment (3–11). This mode of teaching has also been adapted in other fields such as law enforcement and biology and is also used to enhance the public understanding of science (12). In chemistry classes, movies such as Jurassic Park (13), Apollo 13 (14), Lorenzo’s Oil (15), and the James Bond movie series (16) have been utilized as teaching tools. Other publications have also reported the use of movie clips to convey certain concepts (17–19). These clips can be used to animate a chemical topic during a lecture to capture students’ attention in a way that gives them a strong anchor upon which they can contextualize the rest of the lesson (20). Frey et al. established a set of criteria for choosing movie clips that can be used to capture students’ attention and maximize learning (20). This mode of teaching has increased in popularity with the advent of television series such as CSI and its spin-offs; Breaking Bad; and The Big Bang Theory. In this chapter, the practice of using video clips as teaching and learning tools for an introductory general chemistry class in a once-weekly night class will be discussed, from the class’s conception through the analysis of results from surveys and personal interviews with student participants to determine the effectiveness of such tools. This chapter also attempts to give an opportunity for these developed materials to be used in other teaching institutions to enhance the teaching and learning experience of both faculty and students.

Course Content The introductory general chemistry courses at Pace University (CHE 111 and CHE 112) are divided into two semesters and are taken by students majoring in chemistry, forensic science, biochemistry, biology, environmental sciences, and psychology. Students who are majoring in computer science have the option to take the course together with another course(s) in biology or physics to satisfy their science requirements. General Chemistry I (CHE 111) is offered during the entire academic year with the fall semester being the regular semester and spring considered the off-semester. In the past, the fall semester offering, catering to around 150 students, was divided into two classes (one large standard section and one honors section). But, starting in the fall of 2017, it was divided into three sections, each with an equal number of students. The spring semester offering, on the other hand, has only one lecture section with at most 50 students (equivalent to two laboratory sections). The spring offering of CHE 111 is an evening class that meets only once a week in lecture compared to that offered during the regular semester, which meets twice a week. 22

The same schedule applies to CHE 112, which is regularly offered during the spring semester, with fall considered the off-season semester. The number of students usually drops from CHE 111 to CHE 112, with only one lab section (24 students) offered during the off-season semester. Both courses are also offered during the summer. In addition, these off-season courses usually cater to nontraditional students. About 10–20% of the students taking CHE 111 are working part-time or full-time, and this drops to 5–10% in CHE 112. Table 1 shows the 10 chapters covered in CHE 111. Until spring 2017, the sequence of the topics was sequentially based on the chapter numbers of the general chemistry textbook by Ebbing and Gammon (2011) (21). Changes were made to the sequence starting in the fall of 2017 when the organic chemistry professor suggested covering bonding concepts in detail, especially the hybridization concept, which introduced the students to the unique property of carbon. Because Chapter 10 is the last topic covered, few details are discussed since the semester is almost over and most students do not fully understand the concept. The one-semester or one-year (if off-season) gap worsens the situation. Hopefully, changing the sequence so that the bonding concepts are taught earlier will improve student performance in organic chemistry. Putting the chapters “The Gaseous State” and “Thermochemistry” at the end of the semester is very helpful as these topics can be refreshed in the next general chemistry course (CHE 112) when the other states of matter and thermochemistry are covered. Table 1. Full Semester Lecture Schedule Week

Spring 2014–Spring 2017

Spring 2018

1

Chapter 1: Chemistry and Measurements

Chapter 1: Chemistry and Measurements

2

Chapter 2: Atoms, Molecules, and Ions

Chapter 2: Atoms, Molecules, and Ions

3

Chapter 3: Calculations with Chemical Formulas Chapter 3: Calculations with Chemical and Equations Formulas and Equations

4

Chapter 4: Chemical Reactions

EXAM I: Chapters 1, 2, and 3

5

EXAM I: Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4

Chapter 4: Chemical Reactions

6

Chapter 5: The Gaseous State

Chapter 7: Quantum Theory of the Atom

7

Chapter 6: Thermochemistry

Chapter 8: Electron Configurations and Periodicity

8

Chapter 7: Quantum Theory of the Atom

EXAM II: Chapters 4, 7, and 8

9

Chapter 8: Electron Configurations and Periodicity

Chapter 9: Ionic and Covalent Bonding

10

EXAM II: Chapters 5, 6, and 7

Chapter 10: Molecular Geometry and Chemical Bonding Theory

11

Chapter 9: Ionic and Covalent Bonding

Chapter 5: The Gaseous State

12

Chapter 10: Molecular Geometry and Chemical Bonding Theory

Chapter 6: Thermochemistry

13

EXAM III: Chapters 8, 9, and 10

EXAM III: Chapters 9, 10, 5, and 6

14

FINAL EXAM: Chapters 1–10 (Cumulative)

FINAL EXAM: Chapters 1–10 (Cumulative) ACS Exam

23

Although one chapter is scheduled to be covered per weekly meeting, this seldom happens as some chapters (Chapters 3 and 4, for instance) need more than one session while others (such as Chapter 8) can be covered in less than one meeting. For weeks with long exams scheduled, only the first half of the period is used for the exam; the latter half is used to cover topics not finished in the given schedule.

CHEMTERTAINMENT Starting in spring 2014, CHEMTERTAINMENT (chemistry entertainment) was implemented to change the monotony of a once-a-week 3 h evening class. CHEMTERTAINMENT is a practice that adds entertainment value to a chemistry class with the objective of removing any boredom felt by students during discussion of chemical concepts, especially in a 3 h lecture. From time to time during class, the chemical concepts being discussed were supported by examples from current events and information from popular culture such as entertainment (movies, music, television, and video games), sports, news, and politics. The most popular and useful practice is showing clips from movies, television series, and YouTube videos that contain scenes that can reinforce the concepts being discussed. This is usually done during class, particularly before or after a break. In addition to entertainment-based pop culture, sports events such as Deflategate (22–24) have successfully been used in the gas laws discussion. Lastly, posts and memes from social media such as Facebook and Twitter related to a particular chemical concept were also found to be exciting examples. The use of movies or movie clips to help teach chemistry is not new, as discussed in the introduction. When I started my teaching career in 1998 in the Philippines, this concept had already been used in my teaching routine. The only difference is that no video clips were shown then because of limited resources (absence of multimedia materials). There was only a mention of a certain scene in a movie and how it related to a chemical concept being discussed. Easier access to movies allowed video clips to be more readily available by the time I started teaching in the United States in 2005. The advent of Web sites such as YouTube made more videos readily available to the public, while movie rental companies such as Blockbuster, Redbox, and Netflix made movies readily available in disc or streaming format (although video clips are utilized from time to time in most of the courses). A course-based collection of movie clips for selected topics covering General Chemistry I was first implemented starting in spring 2014. Although different video clips have been used since then, the collection of video clips for every chapter was only completed in spring 2018 with the addition of the video “The Molecular Shape of You” for Chapter 10. Table 2 shows the complete list of video clips shown or made available to students since spring 2018. It is more difficult to find video clips that relate to abstract concepts such as thermochemistry and bonding; hence these chapters usually did not have any clips being shown when this idea was implemented in spring 2014. Either the video clips from movies listed in Table 2, or their links, are posted on Blackboard, and they are available on YouTube (links posted in the table). From time to time, additional video clips are shown to students, especially if they are related to some of the topics being discussed. Most of these clips are from new movies or new episodes of a TV series. The video clips selected were chosen based on comments and recommendations of previous students who expressed excitement after watching the clips. When looking at the list, the video clips used can be classified into either a straightforward scene or a thought-provoking one. A straightforward scene usually has a character explaining the concept, such as the one from Breaking Bad in which the main character, Walter White, is lecturing on the definition of chemistry. On the other hand, a thought-provoking scene invokes deeper learning or critical thinking about the concept, where the student will think about what the scene is all about.

24

For instance, the gold scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark makes students think and understand more about density. Based on the list, the first day is usually heavily loaded with videos. It is during this time that class policies are being discussed and the introductory chapter is presented. For video clips dealing with class policies, only one clip is shown until the fourth meeting of the semester. Usually, this is done before the break or class dismissal. Table 2. Movie and Video Clips Used in Teaching General Chemistry I Concepts Movies, series, clips

Idea concepts

Class policies and motivation Larry Crowne (2011)

The teacher emphasizing what students need to do to pass the course and another teacher telling his class about his policy on the use of cell phones.

Thai weight loss commercial

A YouTube commercial advertisement video on weight loss that hopefully motivates the student to fill up the well (of knowledge), hoping they learn something in every meeting. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gitdkuksc28

Emma, Le Trefle

A YouTube commercial advertisement video on tissue paper with the hope that students do things the old-school way (paper and pen instead of electronic devices). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRDSj62tlvQ

Chapter 1: Chemistry and measurements Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

The main character, Walter White, is telling students what chemistry is.

Spare Parts (2015)a

A student explains the difference between weight, mass, and density.

World War Z (2013)

The main character observes the behavior of the zombies and presents a hypothesis and theory on how to solve it.

Taken 3 (2014)a

The sense of touch (observation) is used to analyze a case.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) The concept of density is shown, where Indiana Jones failed to account for the difference between a golden statue and the bag of sand used to replace it. Charlies Angels: Full Throttle (2003)a

Knowledge of density is used to separate a specific metal from the other metals.

Chapter 2: Atoms, molecules, and ions The Last Airbender (2010) and Introduction scene of both movie and animation series showing the four Avatar: The Last Airbender elements of which Greeks believe all materials are made. (2005–2008) Allied (2016)a

Mentions phosphate.

Oz the Great and Wonderful (2013)

Mentions sulfur and nitrate in preparation for how to attack.

Chapter 3: Calculations with chemical formulas and equations Apollo 13 (1995)

Mentions how lithium hydroxide reacts with carbon dioxide.

Chapter 4: Chemical reactions

25

Table 2. (Continued). Movie and Video Clips Used in Teaching General Chemistry I Concepts Movies, series, clips

Idea concepts

Chemical Party (2018)a

YouTube video that shows the reaction of elements (in the form of people interacting with one another) just like chemicals having a party. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDw4gk5pYl8&t=30s

Chapter 5: The gaseous state The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019) Mythbusters (2003–present)

The episode that shows how the difference in gases’ molecular mass (helium vs sulfur hexafluoride) affects voice (Darth Vader vs Donald Duck voice). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XbjFn3aqE

Chapter 6: Thermochemistry Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

The main character mentions thermite reaction and how it was used in World War II and how they can get the same reaction using materials that are readily available.

Chapter 7: Quantum theory of the atom Breaking Bad (2008–2013)

The name Heisenberg was adopted by the main character, similar to the uncertainty principle in which you cannot determine the position and momentum of the particle at the same time.

Fantastic Four (2004)

Cosmic rays give the characters superpowers.

Hulk (2003)

Gamma rays result in the transformation to the Hulk.

Game of Thrones (2011–present)b

Dragons (fire from normal dragon vs ice dragon).

Chapter 8: Electron configurations and periodicity Evolution (2001)

Properties of elements in the periodic table were used to come up with the element (selenium) that will be toxic to the alien lifeform (i.e., carbon-based with arsenic as poison and the alien is nitrogen-based, so selenium is poison to them).

“Periodic Table” song (2018)a

A YouTube video updated in 2018 about the elements in the periodic table. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz4Dd1I_f X0

Chapter 9: Ionic and covalent bonding 21 Jump Street (2012)

A student mentions covalent bond; another scene asks the question, “How is covalent bond different from ionic bond?”

Chapter 10: Molecular geometry and chemical bonding theory “The Molecular Shape of You” (2017)b a Not shown in class.

A YouTube parody video by accapellascience replacing the lyrics of Ed Sheeran’s “The Shape of You” to that of the concept of molecular shape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8FAJXPBdOg&t=58s

b Added during spring 2018.

Methodology The effectiveness of the use of video clips was formally determined starting in spring 2017. Students were asked to rate four statements posted on Blackboard before the end of the semester. Students were given five choices (strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and 26

strongly disagree) for the four statements. A Likert-scale rating (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) was used to measure the effectiveness of the intervention on the student. The four statements are: 1. 2. 3. 4.

The videos posted to Blackboard are helpful in learning the concepts related to them. I like the videos posted at Blackboard. I love to see videos posted in all chapters as long as they are related. I prefer videos to be shown in class rather than posted on Blackboard.

In addition, they also have to answer a fifth item, the question, “What is your favorite video?” For spring 2019, the entire video list was posted to Blackboard at the start of the semester and the students were asked to watch the videos well ahead of time, before they were shown in class. A survey was also used to determine the effectiveness of this practice, and this time, nine statements were used. Students were asked to add commentary on each statement. The nine statements are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

I am interested in chemistry courses. I have a strong background in chemistry. I am familiar with the sources of the video clips shown. I would like these clips to be used in any chemistry course. I would like these clips to be shown during class. Which video(s) do you prefer to be shown? Not to be shown? I understand the concepts being discussed in these clips. This use of video clips makes the class more entertaining. This use of video clips makes the class more engaging. These videos have been used before in a chemistry class.

In addition, they must answer the question, “What can you say about this practice of using video clips in chemistry classes?” Another group of students made up of selected juniors and seniors majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, and forensic science were also asked to watch the same set of video clips and take the survey. The rationale for doing this was to compare the responses between two sets of students (majors with advanced chemistry knowledge after taking several chemistry courses in comparison to freshmen or new students just starting to take chemistry courses). Personal interviews with selected students were also conducted to determine the effectiveness of this practice.

Results The ratings of the initial survey (N = 86) for the two spring semesters (2017–2018) are shown in Table 3. For the first statement, 78% of the students agree with the statement (22 strongly agree and 56 agree). This could only mean that more than a quarter of the class learned something about some concepts discussed with accompanying videos. However, this statement has the lowest rating of the four statements. For the second statement, 84% agree (49% agree and 35% strongly agree) with the statement of liking the videos posted on Blackboard. Not all videos are posted at Blackboard; some are available on YouTube, but the links to these videos are posted on Blackboard for easier access. The third statement, which deals with having video clips shown in every chapter, received the highest positive reply as 89% agree (49% agree and 40% strongly agree) with the statement. This is testament to the fact that the idea of using video clips in class is working in spite of some setbacks that were encountered (see the section on Limitations) during implementation. The last statement 27

has the highest percentage of strongly agree on answers (67%) in addition to 19% who agree with the statement, resulting in the highest rating among all statements. The students want all videos shown during class rather than posted only on Blackboard. As seen in Table 2, not all the videos are shown in class. To force the students to watch these videos (as most of them will not watch them outside class hours), some quizzes are taken directly from these posted videos. This forces students to watch them outside of class hours. The main reason they prefer to watch videos during class is they will be able to relate the concepts being presented or discussed in the given clip right away. For instance, after viewing the clip from Taken 3 (2014) students were asked on a quiz what sense the investigator used that made him doubt that the killer is the main character. Students had a hard time answering it correctly even when the clip was shown during the quiz. The clip shows the investigator removing his glove and touching the bagel and then biting a bit of it. Although it is confusing whether it is the sense of touch or the sense of taste, another clip from the same movie is posted showing the correct answer (this clip is not shown to the students during class but posted on Blackboard). Table 3. Results from the Survey (2017–2018) Concerning the Use of Video Clips To Enhance the Learning and Teaching Experience Rating (N = 86)

Statement 1. The videos posted on Blackboard are helpful in learning the concepts related to them.

4.01

2. I like the videos posted on Blackboard.

4.13

3. I love to see videos posted for all chapters as long as they are related.

4.22

4. I prefer videos shown in class rather than posted on Blackboard.

4.50

For the favorite video clip question, the most popular presurvey is the Raiders of the Lost Ark clip (as some students mentioned it in their teacher evaluation comments) followed by World War Z. The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) scene is one of the earliest examples used to teach science. It has been reported that students who watched the clip had improved comprehension, ability to utilize the information, and long-term recall of facts compared to students who studied only the content (20). This scene, together with that from World War Z, is still one of the favorite clips based on the survey. Clips from television shows (Breaking Bad and The Big Bang Theory) and two songs (“Periodic Table” and “Molecular Shape of You”) were also some of the favorites among students. These clips usually came from movies, television shows, or songs with which students are familiar. However, comments from students on their favorite videos varied with almost all the videos posted being mentioned as their favorite clip, including the policies and motivation clips. A few of the students replied they do not have one favorite video. Table 4 summarizes the results for the other survey conducted during spring 2019. Unlike the previous survey, which was conducted anonymously, students were asked to put their name on the survey form and add commentary (optional) in addition to the Likert-scale rating. Surprisingly, the two groups of students had different ratings in terms of the use of clips as a teaching tool. It is expected that the ratings for statements 1, 2, 6, and 9 will be higher for chemistry majors in comparison to new students; since most majors are at least at the junior level, they have taken more chemistry courses than new students who are just starting their first chemistry course. These majors are expected to be interested in chemistry courses (Statement 1, with the highest rating for majors), have a strong background in chemistry (Statement 2), and understand the concepts being discussed in the clips (Statement 6). The chemistry majors have a higher rating for Statement 9 as some of them (6 out of 22 28

students) have been students in courses that have shown some of the videos. The highest difference in the rating is in Statement 2 (1.57 difference), which is expected since most new students commented that this is the first chemistry class they have taken in college and, for some, in their life. On the other hand, the lowest difference in ratings can be seen in Statement 3 (0.32 difference), where both groups mentioned that they are familiar with the movies and television series where some of the clips originated. This is expected since most of these sources were popular among audiences of different ages. For other statements that pertain to the usefulness of the video clips in learning the concepts discussed during class, new students found their use more beneficial as they rated them higher in comparison to major students. New students like the clips to be used in any chemistry courses (Statement 4) and to be shown during class (Statement 5) in comparison to major students. Responses for Statement 5 agree with responses from the initial survey on the need for the clips to be shown during class. New students also found the use of these clips to be more entertaining (Statement 7) and more engaging (Statement 8). Looking deeper into the lower ratings of chemistry majors on these statements, some of them mentioned that their experience in college helped them adjust to their academic life and having clips shown to them is just common since other courses also used video clips. Upon discussion with some of the students on why major students have the lowest rating for Statement 4, most of them mentioned that they do not have enough time in class, and the use of video is not really important since most of them meet twice a week. However, after knowing the purpose of the study, most of them agree that this practice is very helpful if they have a 3 h lecture session in the evening and are still adjusting to college life. Since most majors interviewed have taken normal semester courses, they thought that they could deal with the boredom in the short hours that they have attended. If they are given the longer hours schedule, they expect this practice of showing clips from time to time in class to keep them entertained and engaged in a particular topic being discussed. Table 4. Results from the Survey (2019) Concerning the Use of Video Clips To Enhance the Learning and Teaching Experience Statement

Rating CHE 111 (N = 47)

Major (N = 12)

1. I am interested in chemistry courses.

3.94

4.92

2. I have a strong background in chemistry.

2.70

4.58

3. I am familiar with the sources of the video clips shown.

3.43

3.75

4. I want these clips to be used in any chemistry courses.

4.23

3.67

5. I would like the clips to be shown during class.

4.21

3.83

6. I understand the concepts being discussed in these clips.

4.09

4.58

7. The use of these video clips makes the class more entertaining.

4.34

4.00

8. The use of video clips makes the class more engaging.

4.40

4.08

9. I have seen these videos used before in a chemistry class.

1.74

3.17

The use of clips during class is viewed more favorably by new students since their highest rating is for Statement 8 (This use of video clips makes the class more engaging) followed by Statement 7 (The 29

use of these video clips makes the class more entertaining). Comments added to these two statements (by both groups of students) included the following. “These videos make the dry, boring, difficult concepts more entertaining and easy to understand.” “Yes, because most of the students can relate to the clips.” “The video clips have the ability to keep the class awake at night.” “If video clips were to be shown in class, discussions that could arise from them may be more beneficial and engaging.” “It connects chemistry to the entertainment in our lives.” “The videos are quick and engaging.” “Yes, most of the videos are entertaining.” “It gets more practical.” “Yes! These clips add levity to the course.” “I agree; more people can engage and relate using these videos than the textbooks.” “Yes, they would serve as a good point of introduction and then more elaboration can be done to expand on those topics.” Statements 4 and 5 have almost the same ratings for new students, who rated them more highly than did the chemistry majors. Comments given by students in these statements included the following. “Yes, most of these clips are funny and very relevant.” “I didn’t dislike any of them.” “Videos being shown in class is a beneficial way for the material to be received. It is best for the videos to be shown in class; that way the material is fresh in our minds.” “Watching the clips in class that corresponds with each clip would provide a better understanding of the material, which may also be beneficial when it comes to completing the assignment that goes with it.” “The effectiveness of the clips depends on whether the students are awake in class or not.” “I believe all of the videos are entertaining and useful in learning chemistry.” “Each video has its own use and entertainment values.” “I think having these videos as part of study material is helpful because it gives a fun visual to go along with what we are learning. I do not feel the videos need to be shown in class, all of them are reasonable so watching them on our own time shouldn’t be too much of a burden. Also, we are usually crammed for time so watching them in class would take away from valuable lecture time. I do feel though as a side note if you feel like a video is super important, you should show it quickly in class because everyone may not have taken the time to watch it.” “I think that the use of these short but informative videos can be refreshing in the class and get everyone’s attention easily.” “Yes, because while the lecture is being taught, showing the clips is a good way to engage and get the attention of the class even more so than it does. And again, they give students a better understand of the topic being explained.” “Yes, because they really help present a visual of the concept being discussed in a different way that can be easier to understand.” “Yes, I would like these clips shown in class but not just showing them, also being able to talk about them and have them explained in further detail to really grasp the concept in the video.” “I think the videos really help me visually with what we learn in chemistry.” 30

The answers to the follow-up questions in Statement 5 differ from one another. The main objective of these follow-up questions is to know which type of scenes students prefer to watch in class: straightforward or thought-provoking. Although most of them answered that they want to watch shorter clips in class, there is no clear preference as to which type of scene is better. Some replied they prefer all videos to be shown during class. Some students want the YouTube videos “The Molecular Shape of You” and “Periodic Table”, which can be classified as both types of scene, to be shown in class while some students do not want them to be shown. One student commented the following: “I would like the clips that focus on the course material to not be shown in class and the videos that help show the lighter side of chemistry with amazing experiments, funny songs and explanations of concepts in terms students can understand to be shown in class. This is because the class is lectureheavy and fun videos would make the class more fun.” Looking deeper into the lower ratings of major students on statements about the usefulness of the videos, some of them mentioned that their experience in college has helped them adjust to their academic life, and having clips shown to them is not important. Upon discussion with some of them on why major students gave the lowest rating for Statement 4, most of them mentioned that they do not have enough time in their class, so the use of video is not important since most of them meet twice a week. However, after knowing the purpose of the study, most of them agree that this practice is very helpful if they have a 3 h lecture session evening class and are still adjusting to college life. Since most of those major students interviewed have taken normal semester courses, they thought they could deal with boredom in the short hours that they have attended. If they are given the longer hours schedule, they expect this practice of showing clips from time to time in class to keep them entertained and engaged in the particular topic being discussed. For the final question regarding the practice of using video clips in chemistry classes, both groups of students gave affirmative answers to the practice of using clips in class, especially in a once-a-week evening class. Most of their replies showed common reasons for the effect of these videos in their learning experience. Comments included the following: “The practice of using video clips in chemistry classes is good because the videos add lightheartedness.” “Video clips bring more information. It engages learners and makes class fun. It can integrate the outside world and bring world experience to the classroom.” “The videos were very helpful.” “I can say that it brings difficult concepts to a better level of understanding to students that are new to chemistry.” “It would be more interesting because a lot of people are visual learners.” “I believe it will make people more excited to learn.” “I believe that using video clips in any science class is a great practice to do regularly because the video clips help keep the students engaged in the topic. Also, it may help them understand the topic better because it is being applied to everyday situations and usually described in a more simplified detail with better visuals.” “Showing video clips during science classes can also keep the class from becoming static and boring and help to spice things up once in a while, especially if the professor hit a dead end in how to properly teach a subject, so the students understand it better.”

31

“I think the use of video clips should be applied to most, if not all, subjects taught in college if applicable.” Several studies have shown that students tend to do better in daytime classes than evening classes. In one study when comparing students in day and night classes, the day students had higher scores (25). In terms of frequency of meeting, one study showed that students earn higher grades in classes that meet more often (26, 27). Meeting more frequently gives students the opportunity to have greater time between concepts to absorb more deeply the ideas discussed during class. However, one study involving a chemistry course showed that students in a more intensive setup performed better than students enrolled in a traditional setup (28). However, it is not clear if the study load of the students involved was the same since the intensive setup was done during the summer when students usually have one course to study. In another study involving students taking microeconomics at Baruch College, students taking the course in a traditional format scored better during midterm but their performance was not significantly different from that in the compressed format (once-a-week lecture). Results of this study, based on surveys, showed the use of video clips as an intervention in a once-a-week evening class is effective in improving the teaching and learning process. The use of video clips in the evening class not only reinforces the concepts being discussed during class but also serves as an ice breaker where students can have a relaxing time within the 3 h class. Although one study (29) involving an introductory computer class showed no statistical difference in the academic performance of students in 50 min class periods and 75 min periods, a 170 min period is just too much. In a long boring class session, students are tempted to use their mobile phones and engage in social media activities such as looking at their Facebook and Twitter accounts. This has proven to reduce a learner’s capacity for cognitive processing, resulting in poor academic performance (30).

Limitations Although there are benefits in the use of videos in class, there are limitations on their use. Too much reliance on video clips can deviate from the focus of the topic if the clip shown is not completely relevant to the topic. The instructor should be aware of establishing connections with the students in case they failed to grasp the concept being discussed in the clip being shown. Time constraints must also be observed, so the discussion should be as brief as possible. In one semester, students have a hard time understanding the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) clip and it took 15 min of class time to explain to the students the concept of density shown in the video. Another thing to consider is spacing the number of clips to be shown. Too many videos in one meeting can have harmful effects. Although more videos are shown during the initial class meeting, its use is to establish some sort of rapport or connection in students wherein they will get excited about what clips will be shown in their next meeting. The students should also be informed why the clips are being utilized, or they will question the relevance of showing video clips. Students should also be informed well ahead of the clips to be shown, especially if they are just starting to watch a series and the clip contains spoilers; this situation was encountered when dragons from the Game of Thrones series were discussed (blue flame vs yellow flame debate). Although this aired a year earlier, several students negatively reacted to this material. Lastly, students’ familiarity with the source of the clips played a critical role. Every semester, it is observed that students readily understand the idea being presented if the clips came from a movie, television show, or song that is more familiar to them. There are instances when students did not react or showed blank faces when a video clip with which they were not familiar was shown to them. 32

Hence, classic movies are not included in the list of video clips shown, and there is a need to update the list with newer movies, TV shows, or songs.

References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17.

Corwin, C. H. Introductory Chemistry: Concepts and Critical Thinking, 7th ed.; Pearson: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2014; p 6. Berk, R. A. Multimedia Teaching with Video Clips: TV, Movies, YouTube, and mtvU in the College Classroom. Int. J. Tech. Teaching Learning 2009, 5, 1–21. Atkinson, R. Cinemeducation: A Comprehensive Guide To Using Film in Medical Education. Psychiatric Services 2006, 57, 589–589. Banosa, J. E.; Boscha, F. Using Feature Films as a Teaching Tool in Medical Schools. Educacion Medica 2015, 16, 206–211. Fritz, G. K.; Poe, R. O. The Role of Cinema in Psychiatric Education. Am. J. Psychiatry 1979, 136, 207–210. Gorring, H.; Loy, J. Cinemeducation: Using Film as an Educational Tool in Mental Health Services. Health Information and Libraries Journal 2014, 31, 84–88. Kuhnigk, O.; Schreiner, J.; Reimer, J.; Emami, R.; Naber, D.; Harendza, S. Cinemeducation in Psychiatry: A Seminar in Undergraduate Medical Education Combining a Movie, Lecture, and Patient Interview. Academic Psychiatry 2012, 36, 205–210. Lumlertgul, N.; Kijpaisalratana, N.; Pityaratstian, N.; Wangsaturaka, D. Cinemeducation: A Pilot Student Project Using Movies To Help Students Learn Medical Professionalism. Medical Teacher 2009, 31, E327–E332. Ventura, S.; Onsman, A. The Use of Popular Movies during Lectures To Aid the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Pharmacology. Medical Teacher 2009, 31, 662–664. Walker, L. Teaching Compassion: Cinemeducation in Physician Assistant Programs. J. Physician Assistant Educ. 2014, 25, 44–45. Wilson, A. H.; Blake, B. J.; Taylor, G. A.; Hannings, G. Cinemeducation: Teaching Family Assessment Skills Using Full-Length Movies. Public Health Nursing 2013, 30, 239–245. Berlin, H. A. Communicating Science: Lessons from Films. Trends Immunol. 2016, 37, 257–260. Hollis, W. G. Jurassic Park as a Teaching Tool in the Chemistry Classroom. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 61–62. Goll, J. G.; Woods, B. J. Teaching Chemistry Using the Movie Apollo 13. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 506–508. Wink, D. Lorenzo’s Oil as a Vehicle for Teaching Chemistry Content, Processes of Science, and Sociology of Science in a General Education Chemistry Classroom. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1380–1384. Last, A. M. Chemistry and Popular Culture—The 007 Bond. J. Chem. Educ. 1992, 69, 206–208. Griep, M. A.; Mikasen, M. L. Based on a True Story: Using Movies as Source Material for General Chemistry Reports. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 1501–1503.

33

18. Griep, M. A.; Mikasen, M. L.: Using Movie Clips To Teach Chemistry Formally and Informally. In Hollywood Chemistry: When Science Met Entertainment; Nelson, D. J., Grazier, K. R., Paglia, J., Perkowitz, S., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 1139; 2013; pp 199–213. 19. Wink, D. J. “Almost like weighing someone’s soul”: Chemistry in Contemporary Film. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 481–483. 20. Frey, C. A.; Mikasen, M. L.; Griep, M. A. Put Some Movie Wow! in Your Chemistry Teaching. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1138–1143. 21. Ebbing, D.; Gammon, S. D. General Chemistry; Brooks/Cole: Belmont, CA, 2011. 22. Albert, D. R. Deflategate: A Real Application of the Ideal Gas Law. Retrieved from National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science 2015. 23. Blumenthal, J.; Beljak, L.; Macatangay, D.-M.; Helmuth-Malone, L.; McWilliams, C.; Raptis, S. “Deflategate”: Time, Temperature, and Moisture Effects on Football Pressure. Phys. Teach. 2016, 54, 340–342. 24. Toepker, T. Let’s Weigh in on “Deflategate”. Phys. Teach. 2016, 54, 338–339. 25. Anderolli, C. P. P.; De Martino, M. M. F. Academic Performance of Night-Shift Students and Its Relationships with the Sleep-Wake Cycle. Sleep Sci. 2012, 5, 45–48. 26. Cotti, C.; Gordanier, J.; Ozturk, O. Class Meeting Frequency, Start Times, and Academic Performance. Econ. Educ. Rev. 2018, 62, 12–15. 27. Dills, A. K.; Hernandez-Julian, R. Course Scheduling, and Academic Performance. Econ. Educ. Rev. 2008, 27, 646–654. 28. Hall, M. V.; Wilson, L. A.; Sanger, M. J. Student Success in Intensive versus Traditional Introductory College Chemistry Courses. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1109–1113. 29. Shultz, L. A.; Sharp, J. H. The Effect of Class Duration on Academic Performance and Attendance in an Introductory Computer Class. J. Inf. Syst. Educ. 2007, 6, 1–7. 30. Demirbilek, M.; Talan, T. The Effect of Social Media Multitasking on Classroom Performance. Active Learn. Higher Educ. 2018, 19, 117–129.

34

Chapter 3

Teaching with Videos and Animations: Tuning in, Getting Turned on, and Building Relationships Laurie S. Starkey* Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, Cal Poly Pomona, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, California 91768, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Videos and interactive animations can offer many advantages compared with traditional lectures and textbooks. Unlike a traditional lecture, multimedia resources have 24/7 availability and are not constrained to a fixed time module. In addition, a video can be paused and replayed by the student as often as needed. An added bonus is that multimedia tools offers a unique way for instructors to connect with their digital-native students and can promote a deep immersion of the learner in the subject matter. Opportunities for video creation include presenting lecture topics, working through examples, discussing problem-solving strategies, narrating answer keys for homework assignments and exams, and reviewing prerequisite skills. Interactive animations and simulations are especially engaging because they provide hands-on opportunities to explore both theory and practice. This chapter will present various tools for video creation, including Explain Everything, Doceri, Adobe Spark, and the exciting new “lightboard” technology. The discussion will also include: best practices for planning, creating, and sharing videos, how to create closed-captioning for YouTube videos, and suggestions for gaining support for instructional redesign projects.

Deep, Sustained Learning as a Goal The best place to begin, as usual, is by clarifying our learning objective. The goal in my classroom is deep, sustained learning. In both lecture and lab, I hope to develop content mastery and problemsolving skills that will carry forward to future courses and eventual careers. These are lofty goals that require a significant commitment of time and energy from both my students and me. At a minimum, we must find ways to ensure the following: • • • •

The student is physically present and mentally engaged. The student has appropriate prerequisite knowledge and skills. The student does required work in a timely fashion. The student is able to recognize when he or she is struggling. © 2019 American Chemical Society

• The student has sufficient resources for success outside of the classroom setting and knows how to access those resources. • Assessments are frequent, varied, and provide timely feedback. • The teacher can recognize and respond when students are struggling. As all chemistry professors know, the obstacles that can put any one of these goals out of reach are both abundant and constant. The good news is that technology can help instructors achieve many of the requirements listed above. For example, the energy level of a classroom problem-solving session can increase dramatically with the use of a classroom response system (1–3) (aka “clicker”) or by using the gameshow-style Kahoot! Web site (http://kahoot.com) for an exam review session. Publisher-provided online homework and adaptive learning tools can strengthen prerequisite skills, help keep students on track, and keep instructors informed of their students’ progress. One might argue that the best way to learn in a deep, sustained way is by building relationships (Figure 1). A central component here is the relationship to the content experienced by both the instructor and the student. A teacher’s passion for the subject matter generates an enthusiasm that can be contagious. However, it is the relationship formed between the student and the teacher, and that between students, that takes learning to new levels. Nothing can replace the one-on-one interactions between a mentor and his or her apprentice.

Figure 1. Deep, sustained learning comes from building relationships. In addition, there is no better stage set for learning than when you love what you are doing and enjoy the company of the people with whom you are working. A variety of effective methods are designed to encourage interactions between students, including the use of peer-led team learning (4), offering incentives to form study groups, and in-class cooperative learning (5). Providing even a brief introduction to basic learning theories, such as growth mindset (6, 7), can help foster a sense of community, inclusiveness, and belonging. Tapping into the affective domain can have a dramatic impact on learning (8, 9); how a student feels about the course—and the instructor—also makes a big difference. When a lecture is supplemented with engaging and useful videos that have 24/ 7 availability, students are likely to recognize and appreciate that their needs are being taken into consideration.

Why Use Video To Supplement the Lecture and Textbook? No matter how dynamic and interesting a given lecture presentation may be, the traditional lecture format has some inherent drawbacks: • • • • •

It cannot be paused if a student needs a moment to think. It cannot be replayed if a student becomes distracted. It cannot be repeated at a later time to review for an exam. It is not captioned and cannot be translated into another language. It is missed entirely if a student cannot make it to class. 36

Videos that include narration (or, better still, those that capture the face of the speaker) can help build the relationship with the student. This concept adds a human element that cannot be delivered by a textbook and it fosters social agency (10, 11). While it is certainly possible for the instructor’s presence to be a distraction (12), research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicates videos that included a “talking head” were viewed for a longer period of time than those that did not show the speaker (13). This same research study discovered that most viewers stopped watching after 6 minutes—so, for your video-producing future, keep in mind that the optimal length for a video is under 6 minutes! Learning and retention can be further improved by providing closed captioning that is synchronized with the animation, thus reducing the viewer’s cognitive load (14). Captioning a video can also help students better decipher the foreign language that is chemistry (15, 16).

Selecting the Right Tools for the Right Job Multimedia resources have been around for decades, but with the recent explosion of videocapturing and editing applications, it has never been easier to create content. At the same time, it is easy to get overwhelmed with so many options to choose from! In this section, we will explore a few tools and their potential applications. It is a good idea to start with free Web sites and apps, or trial versions of any software systems with costs. If you find the free versions helpful, you might decide to upgrade to the full versions. Another feasible option is to work with your institution’s faculty development or teaching support center to get training and to explore any software that might be available in that center’s technology facilities. Products That Stand the Test of Time I began my multimedia journey in 2006 by making online lab tutorials in order to address a particular recurring problem: students coming to the organic chemistry laboratory unprepared. I used a tool called Adobe Presenter, (a plug-in for Microsoft PowerPoint), which built impressive, browser-ready presentations (17). Unfortunately, it relied on Flash technology, which has since been phased out, and the latest versions of Microsoft PowerPoint no longer support the plug-in. This points to the need to make sure you are protecting your invested time by working with software systems that are likely to endure. Avoid any Java or Flash-based products, along with apps that only publish your work to their Web sites. When the company folds, so does your content! While it is impossible to know which products are guaranteed to stand the test of time, look for ones that allow you to download your videos and maintain control of your work. Screen Capture Apps for iPad Devices or Tablet Computers Camtasia is the gold standard for capturing your mouse movements on a computer screen while simultaneously recording your narration (called screencasting). It has powerful editing tools but also a somewhat intimidating interface and a modest learning curve. If you want to make a video that demonstrates how to use Microsoft Excel or ChemDraw, Camtasia is the ideal product. iPad apps achieve the same screencasting goal, but they record your voice while capturing your writing on the screen (with a stylus or, ideally, with the more precise Apple Pencil). Although iPads do not have the same advanced editing tools as Camtasia, the videos produced have a more personal feel, with handwritten notes, and you can get your video production up and running within minutes. Some instructors use screen capture apps during their lectures; they write on the iPad and use Bluetooth (Airplay Mirroring or Apple TV) to send their screen to the projector. At the end of the lecture, they 37

have a complete recording that can be shared with the class. In addition to the two apps described below, you might want to explore these other screencasting tools: GoodNotes ($8), ScreencastO-Matic (free for PC, Mac, or Chromebook), and TouchCast (the basic iPad app is free but the premium version costs $24 per month). Explain Everything Explain Everything has a free version that can be used for simple videos consisting of only one slide. If you are working with an iPad, you can use some sophisticated maneuvering features, such as zooming in and out or “grabbing” the screen and shifting it around. Videos can be downloaded to the iPad’s camera roll and then uploaded to YouTube or to the learning management system on your campus. This was the first screencasting app I tried, and in a single day I designed and created a series of three videos on drawing cyclohexane chairs (18). As shown in Figure 2, it is possible to import a Microsoft PowerPoint slide, artwork, or even a video, so you don’t have to start with a blank page. Unfortunately, Explain Everything has moved to a monthly subscription model, so it might not be worth the cost of an upgrade for additional features.

Figure 2. Cyclohexane tutorial built with Explain Everything. Doceri Doceri has a bit of a learning curve, but I think it is worth it. I had to watch tutorials to get started and to understand how to use all of Doceri’s features. Doceri is designed so that you can write out your entire page of lecture notes ahead of time, and then display the page in chunks that have been identified with stop markers on the timeline. Your writing is displayed as if you were drawing it, with the stylus strokes appearing in the order you drew them. This provides important social cues and learning can be enhanced by observing an instructor drawing diagrams (19). When I used Doceri (Figure 3) to create a tutorial for completing a reagent table in a lab notebook (20), I did not have to write and talk at the same time—it was so much more efficient, and I had fewer stumbles and awkward pauses.

38

Figure 3. Screencast video created with Doceri. As the screencast was recording, I simply talked about how to do a particular calculation, clicked a button to activate the next predetermined section of the timeline, and talked freely about the material being written on the screen. Editing Doceri projects is pretty straightforward; if you forgot a bullet point on your list you can scroll back through the timeline and make the change. Best of all, Doceri is still free of charge (but to remove the small “Created with Doceri” watermark at the bottom of the video, there is a small one-time fee of $30). Adobe Spark Adobe Spark (http://spark.adobe.com) is a free online tool that enables users to quickly create professional-looking videos. A simple and user-friendly interface allows you to create slides one at a time with a handful of choices for the layout, theme, color scheme, and optional background music. On each slide, you enter the desired text and/or insert photos. A handy search tool is provided to help you find free photos that may be suitable for your project, and the appropriate photo credits are automatically appended as a final slide. To record narration for a given slide, simply click and hold the microphone icon on that slide and speak into your computer’s microphone (or attached headset). Adobe Spark is ideal for student-generated videos because it allows the student to focus on the content of the presentation rather than spending time learning how to navigate video-editing software. Figure 4 shows a student-generated presentation on the history of column chromatography (21).

39

Figure 4. Quickly create professional-looking videos with Adobe Spark. Lightboard/Learning Glass Over the course of the last 25 years, we have witnessed an evolution; first there was the chalkboard, then the whiteboard, and now the lightboard! Also known as a Learning Glass, the lightboard offers a transparent writing surface to be used with bright, neon-colored markers designed to really grab the viewer’s attention. Lightboard videos are captivating to watch, and because the instructor is facing the camera (looking through the transparent board), he or she can maintain eye contact with the audience and build a relationship with the learner (10). Unlike screencasting videos that might have a scripted feel, a lightboard lecture can have a more conversational tone using more informal language, thus benefiting the learner as well (an effect known as the personalization principle) (22). As you have possibly already deduced, the writing on the board is going to be backward from the audience’s perspective, but this problem is magically solved when the entire video is simply flipped horizontally using post-production software tools. When I watch my lightboard videos (Figure 5), I see a left-handed Professor Starkey—my enantiomer! An instructor must pay close attention when discussing stereochemistry (a clockwise rotation from the instructor’s point of view will end up being clockwise to the viewer as well, when it is usually the opposite in a normal lecture setting); otherwise, the transition from writing normally on the lightboard to the resulting video is seamless.

Figure 5. Professor Starkey’s enantiomer giving a lightboard lecture. Lightboards can be purchased, or you can try Googling “how to build a lightboard” for a nice do-it-yourself project. If you are unable to get support from your institution to set up a lightboard in a studio for filming and production, you can also do that on your own (23). Preparing a lightboard 40

lecture does take some planning. First of all, one must leave a window through which the instructor can be seen; without a gap the writing becomes obscured and the lack of a focal point for the speaker can be a distraction to the learner. In addition, erasing the glass marker writing takes a bit of an effort so correcting mistakes on the fly can be problematic, and there is some setup time needed between one full board’s worth of lecture and the next.

Getting Interactive: Animations and Simulators If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how valuable is a multimedia presentation? With multiple modalities that address various learning styles, a narrated video has much more to offer than a static textbook passage (16). Audiovisual tools are even more engaging if they can provide some way of interacting with the viewer. I have worked with the Cal Poly Pomona eLearning team to develop various animations over the course of the past decade, and in the last few years we have created an interactive extraction animation (24) and a thin layer chromatography (TLC) simulator (25). After 22 years of watching far too many of my senior-level chemistry majors struggle when attempting to “extract the reaction mixture three times with ether,” I decided to do something about it! Although I had already developed an online tutorial to explore the theory and practice of extraction (17), I thought a more interactive experience might be a better approach, so I worked with the Cal Poly Pomona eLearning Instructional Designers to create one. As shown in Figure 6, students can step through the animated process of a liquid–liquid extraction at their own pace, with detailed explanations provided throughout. After the first extraction, a continuous animation goes through the entire second and third extractions. To provide an alternate version that might be discovered by a wider audience, I discussed the animation while stepping through it and captured the lesson as a video using Camtasia, which I later uploaded to YouTube (26). The 10-minute video had more than 300 views in the first semester it was available.

Figure 6. Student steps through an animated extraction procedure. Another challenging laboratory topic is TLC. I have observed that very few students in my senior-level organic analysis and organic synthesis courses have a deep and thorough understanding of the TLC theory and the effects of solvent polarity. After many months of development and revisions with the Cal Poly Pomona Instructional Designers, we produced a multimedia object that allows the student to select two solvent combinations of varying polarities, develop two TLC plates side by side, and read through a detailed interpretation of the results (Figure 7). As with the extraction 41

animation, I created a narrated version for YouTube, and this 7-minute video (27) had more than 500 views in its first semester. The video analytics reveal that 80% of the viewers discovered the presentation after searching for the topic while browsing YouTube, so the audience extends far beyond my campus.

Figure 7. Students select solvents and view results in a TLC simulator. After all this hard work, I was excited to share the interactive TLC simulator with my organic analysis students—and you can imagine my great disappointment when I found no significant improvement in the prelab quiz results! Undaunted, I decided to develop a simple worksheet (28) to accompany the simulator. With clear instructions and embedded questions to answer, the worksheet serves to both guide the student’s exploration and provide a place to take notes. I was relieved to see that this simple modification achieved my goal. For the remainder of the quarter and on the final exam, nearly every student correctly answered a wide variety of questions about TLC and could explain experimental results with an appropriate theory. It worked so well that I created a guide/ worksheet for the extraction animation as well (29). This experience serves as a reminder that it is not enough to develop a resource and simply give it to your students. The student must be given something to do in conjunction with the video that they watch (30). A well-structured implementation and assessment plan should to be in place to ensure your learning objectives are met. If you are interested in incorporating animations or simulations in your courses, a good place to start is with the existing resources in repositories such as PhET (http://phet.colorado.edu), MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, http://www.merlot.org), and Cal Poly Pomona’s eLearning (https://elearning.cpp.edu/learningobjects). If you have a great idea for a new animation, check with your institution to see what technology support services it offers. Not everyone has the good fortune to have a fully staffed eLearning group, but certain undergraduate or graduate students majoring in computer science or instructional technology on your campus might be looking for thesis projects, senior research projects, or animation work they can add to their portfolios. Another option is to reach out to creative colleagues in your discipline and initiate a collaborative effort across institutions.

Maximizing Your Video’s Impact on YouTube Why YouTube? I make all of my videos publicly available on YouTube. To use a video as a resource in my class, I simply give my students the YouTube link via email, course Web site, or learning management 42

system. Even for the most experienced instructor creating a video can be a humbling experience, and the thought of sharing your work with others outside your classroom can be intimidating. Still, I encourage you to do just that! Believe it or not, YouTube is the first place students turn to when they have a question about lecture or lab or homework (well, maybe the second place after Chegg.com). Unfortunately, the quality of educational videos on YouTube can range from mediocre to downright disastrous. Anyone with a smartphone can make a video, and they do. Even Khan Academy, which offers quality videos covering math and physics, has shocking errors in its organic chemistry videos (e.g., pointing out the carbon “molecules” in a drawing of butane). Organic chemistry educational videos should be made by organic chemistry educators! I therefore put myself out there, imperfections and all, for the sake of giving students access to quality education. Making a YouTube Channel In order to organize my videos and make them easier to find, I created a channel on YouTube called ChemistryConnected (31). In the 7 years since the channel’s creation, its videos have had more than 500,000 views coming out of more than 200 different countries (with more than half the views coming from outside the United States). More than 1000 people have subscribed to the channel so they can get updates when new content is added. Within a YouTube channel, a series of short, related videos can be grouped into a playlist so they can easily be viewed in order. Remember, research results, as well as student opinions (12), tell us “shorter is better” when it comes to videos (13, 32). Captioning Your Video An obvious reason to provide captioning for your videos is to serve students with disabilities (particularly those who are hearing-impaired), but closed captions have been found to benefit all learners (15, 16). YouTube provides an “auto-generated” captioning feature, but it fails miserably with technical content. If you have a transcript of your video, however, you can simply upload the text file to your video, and YouTube will magically sync it to your spoken words as the video plays. In addition, the viewer can click on the Settings icon (Subtitles/Auto-Translate) and select from more than 100 languages—from Arabic to Zulu—to get a reasonably reliable translation of the transcript as closed captions. In many cases, I write out a script ahead of time to facilitate the video production process. I find this especially helpful for screencasting videos when I would have to think about what to say as I am attempting to write and speak at the same time. By working with a script, I only have to read and write simultaneously, so the resulting presentation sounds significantly more professional. For more traditional lecturing videos (such as a lightboard lecture or a laboratory demonstration) you would need to transcribe the content once the video is complete. YouTube has a nice tool to help you do just that—it offers a text box for entering the transcript as the video plays. Every time you begin typing, it automatically pauses the video. I usually need about twice as long (or sometimes even three times as long) as the length of the video to type out the transcript, so you might expect to accomplish the task in less than 20 minutes if you have created a suitably short video. Another option is to let YouTube auto-generate the captions and then go in and clean up their mess by editing the transcript that was created. This route may be more efficient for certain videos. Your campus may have captioning services available, using manpower or voice-to-text software such as Dragon. Today’s academic institutions are fully aware that captioning your videos is an important component

43

of complying with accessibility mandates (16), so do not hesitate to reach out for support if you have a lot of captioning work to do.

Planning a Video Project You are probably familiar with the old adage, “A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple of hours in the library (33).” A similar philosophy can be applied to video production; having a clear plan will not only save you time but it will also ensure that you end up with a quality product that you can be proud of for years to come. Following are some critical components to consider during the planning process. What Is the Learning Objective? The very first step is to think about what you are trying to accomplish in the video. Start by finishing the following sentence: “After watching this video, the student will be able to….” Try to use action verbs in your learning outcomes because non-action words such as “understand” or “appreciate” might be difficult to assess. Examples of phrases with action words include: “The student will be able to name an alcohol,” or “The student will be able to predict relative boiling points and explain the trend.” If you end up with too many outcomes (“The student will be able to draw both chair forms of a substituted cyclohexane, select the more stable conformation, and explain the relative stability”), you might be setting yourself up for a video that is too long. In that case, try breaking it up into multiple videos, each with fewer outcomes. As you articulate your learning outcomes, also consider how they are going to be assessed—how will you measure your video’s impact on student learning? In other words, how will you be able to prove that the students learned what you wanted them to learn by watching the video? Create a Storyboard Generate an outline of what will be accomplished in the video. Consider writing a script to fully develop the content and determine what images and/or board work will be included throughout. If you create a text-heavy video, you are not capitalizing on the power of a multimedia presentation. Remember, the goal is to engage the viewer for up to 6 minutes, not put them to sleep after 1 minute (i.e., we don’t want the student tuning out and getting turned off). Get Institutional Research Board (IRB) Approval If there is any chance that someday you might want to share your assessment results with the world (or at least with anyone outside your institution), you will need to submit your project plan to the IRB on your campus. Your protocol must be approved before you start gathering data, so it is a good idea to initiate the review early in the video planning process. The IRB is discussed further in the section on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Gather Needed Materials and Support What software tools and/or video equipment are ideal for the video you want to create? Do you need someone to record the video in a laboratory setting? Do you need to secure studio time to use a lightboard? Is there a form required to request transcription services from your institution? Does your campus have items available for loan, such as an iPad, Apple Pencil, headset microphone, tripod, or video camera? At what location are you going to film? If any portion of your body is going 44

to be on camera, do you have the needed lighting and backdrop? What are you going to wear? These types of questions need to be answered eventually, so if you can think about them ahead of time, you can avoid unnecessary pitfalls and delays. Record a Beta Version of Your Video and Gather Feedback After familiarizing yourself with the software and equipment you will be using, go ahead and record a rough version of what you want to make. Once you get started, you may quickly discover that you need to make adjustments. Have a colleague and a few students take a look at the video to see if they have any suggestions. If you wait until you have the final, polished product it will be much harder to ask for—and act upon—constructive feedback! Video Creation, Implementation, and Assessment After the final video is created (i.e., recorded, edited, transcribed, and uploaded), it can be used in your course. What does that implementation look like? Do students watch the video before, during, or after class? Do they work alone, or in groups? Do they have a worksheet or problem set to work on during or after the video? Finally, what is your assessment plan? Will you administer a quiz or have students respond to a survey? Be sure to gather data so you can determine what works and what does not, and then you can close the loop by applying your findings to revising your current video or designing your next video project. Figure 8 shows the effect of watching an online prelab tutorial on the students’ quiz scores (they were asked to sketch a distillation apparatus). In this case, the potential impact of a multimedia tool is quite staggering. Assessment data can provide a “wow” factor that can get buy-in from students and colleagues.

Figure 8. Results of prelab quiz, with or without online tutorial.

Putting Your Plan into Action: Gaining Support, Finding the Time, and Making It Academic Institutional Support Any course redesign, including the creation and incorporation of videos, takes a significant amount of time to implement effectively. Throughout my career at Cal Poly Pomona, I have been fortunate and grateful to have the support of an excellent Faculty Center for Professional Development. This center has sponsored many faculty learning communities, such as those focused on using clickers, exploring educational technology, and tackling teaching problems. With a faculty learning community, a relatively small cost to the institution (to pay for stipends, release time, and 45

administrative support) can have an impressive return on investment. This creates a far-reaching and long-lasting impact on student success and faculty morale. I was also fortunate to benefit from a Cal State University (CSU) system-wide program. The CSU Chancellor’s Office supported the creative efforts of more than 700 faculty members by starting a course redesign with technology (CRT) program (34) that included a weeklong summer institute, course release, stipend, and biweekly teleconference meetings featuring expert speakers and discipline-specific cohorts. Each participant gathered data and reported on their progress via an ePortfolio (35). I encourage you to keep an eye out for such opportunities for support, and to speak with department chairs, deans, directors, and anyone else who might be able to find room in their budget to support student success. If an institution’s administration genuinely cares about teaching excellence, and has a goal of increasing graduation rates, they should be willing to put their money where their mouth is. In the meantime (or if there is simply no way for you to carve out a significant chunk of time for video production) consider collaboration with colleagues or recruiting a tech-savvy senior project student who can help move your project forward. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) One way to make the most of your teaching innovation is to turn it into a research project. A SoTL project is like any other research endeavor: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Ask a question. Formulate a hypothesis. Conduct an experiment. Perform an assessment (collect data). Analyze data. Share results with colleagues and the chemical education community.

Because you would be doing research with human subjects, you will need to have your research plan approved by the IRB on your campus. Course-related data that is gathered solely for internal assessment purposes is not subject to IRB approval, but if you want to publish your results, the IRB must become involved before the data collection begins. The good news is that any teachingrelated research project with ordinary teaching activities (such as pre- and post-tests, surveys, etc.) will probably not require a full review, so the process should not be too much of a burden. The IRB approval process is also likely to involve some training on research with human subjects for the principal investigator and any students involved in the research. By treating your video production and implementation like a research project, you might get better results. What problem are you trying to address? How will you know your intervention worked? What can you do differently next time? Time spent thinking about these questions will improve your overall design and will help you get buy-in from your students (36). I have found that students are very receptive when they see you are putting in extra effort and trying something new to support their learning, but they can be downright hostile when something new is thrown at them for no apparent reason. Telling them why you are flipping the lecture or having them work in groups, and openly welcoming their feedback on the experience improves your chances at success and further builds your relationship with the class. Quantitative data, such as DFW rates (percentages of students who withdrew or earned nonpassing grades, Figure 9) or final exam scores, can be challenging to measure, because no two groups of students are the same. 46

Figure 9. Quantitative data demonstrating improved pass rates. You might want to consider ways to normalize the data, such as comparing the students’ GPA, laboratory grades, or grades for another course (math, a prerequisite or future chemistry course, etc.). Sometimes a teaching innovation has an impact that is not obvious until you dig a little deeper into the data. With help from the institutional research center on your campus, you may find that although the DFW rate didn’t change, perhaps there was a change in grades by gender, or a reduction in the equity/achievement gap. These terms describe the lower grades that are frequently earned by different groups of students, such as first-generation students or underrepresented minority (URM) students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) courses (4, 37, 38). It is also important to gather qualitative data via surveys, reflective essays, or interviews with students (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Qualitative data gathered on perceived value of online homework. Such qualitative data may reveal differences between pre- and post-intervention groups that are otherwise not apparent, and may also help to explain why differences were observed. If students feel strongly that an activity was worth their time and likely improved their course grade, then it was indeed a valuable activity! Other examples of data presentation and SoTL research results can be found with my CSU CRT program project ePortfolios (39–41). Meaningful assessment of your teaching innovation is possible only when data is available. Once you have an idea of what worked well and what did not, you can make improvements and share your results in the form of a journal article, conference presentation, or brown-bag lunch on campus. In addition, be sure to include your data and student testimonials in your discussions with 47

administrators and colleagues—it may help get the ball rolling for support and it will encourage a SoTL-supportive culture on your campus. Some Final Words of Advice Instructors who are motivated to begin a new video project may find themselves equal parts excited and terrified. It is natural to be apprehensive about putting yourself out there and concerned about creating a product that is anything short of amazing and flawless. You are not alone if you suffer from impostor syndrome—the fear that you might be exposed as a non-expert—and this can be a major deterrent to putting yourself in the spotlight (42). Your videos do not need to be incredible or even perfect; they simply need to be useful to your students and helpful to their learning processes. Another bit of advice: start small. Your goal might be to create videos for every student learning outcome and to flip an entire course, but to get started you should select a single student learning outcome and develop a single video. By chunking up your goals, you are more likely to get started in the first place, and your resulting videos are likely to be of higher quality. This is because you will become more skilled at making videos as you go along. By exploring new educational technologies, we gain the opportunity to be lifelong learners; we better connect with our students because we are becoming students ourselves. Additional Reference Information In addition to the references that follow, a Web site has been created to document useful resources: http://www.cpp.edu/~lsstarkey/references.html (Figure 11).

Figure 11. QR code for resources Web site.

References 1. 2.

3.

4.

5. 6.

Starkey, L. S. Library for Organic Chemistry Active Learning (LOCAL). https://www.cpp. edu/~lsstarkey/local (accessed April 3, 2019). Niemeyer, E.; Zewail-Foote, M. Investigating the Influence of Gender on Student Perceptions of the Clicker in a Small Undergraduate General Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 218–223. Crimmins, M.; Midkiff, B. High Structure Active Learning Pedagogy for the Teaching of Organic Chemistry: Assessing the Impact on Academic Outcomes. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 429–438. Frey, R. F.; Fink, A.; Cahill, M. J.; McDaniel, M. A.; Solomon, E. D. Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry I: Interactions with Identity, Academic Preparation, and a Course-Based Intervention. J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 2103–2113. Hagen, J. P. Cooperative Learning in Organic II. Increased Retention on a Commuter Campus. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 1441–1444. Dweck, C. TED Talk: The Power of Believing That You Can Improve. https://www.ted.com/ talks/ carol_dweck_the_power_of_ believing _that_you_can_improve (accessed March 28, 2019). 48

7.

8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13.

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Paunesku, D.; Walton, G.; Romero, C.; Smith, E.; Yeager, D.; Dweck, C. Mindset Interventions are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement. Psychol. Sci. 2015, 26, 784–793. Ross, J.; Lai, C. C.; Nuñez, L. Strategies Promoting Success of Two-Year College Students. In Student Affective State: Implications for Prerequisites and Instruction in Introductory Chemistry Classes; Ann, L. J., Higgins, T. B., Palmer, A., Owens, K. S., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018; Vol. 1280, pp 91-114. Matakaa, L. M.; Kowalske, M. G. The Influence of PBL on Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Chemistry. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2015, 16, 929–938. Stull, A. T.; Fiorella, L.; Gainer, M. J.; Mayer, R. E. Using Transparent Whiteboards to Boost Learning From Online STEM Lectures. Comput. Educ. 2018, 120, 146–159. Stull, A. T.; Fiorella, L.; Mayer, R. E. An Eye-Tracking Analysis of Instructor Presence in Video Lectures. Comput. Human Behav. 2018, 88, 263–272. Wilson, K. E.; Martinez, M.; Mills, C.; D’Mello, S.; Smilek, D.; Risko, E. F. Instructor Presence Effect: Liking Does Not Always Lead to Learning. Comput. Educ. 2018, 122, 205–220. Guo, P. J.; Kim, J.; Rubin, R. How Video Production Affects Student Engagement: an Empirical Study of MOOC Videos. In Proceedings of the First (2014) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale Conference, Atlanta, GA, 2014. http://up.csail.mit.edu/other-pubs/las2014pguo-engagement.pdf (accessed April 3, 2019). Mayer, R. E.; Moreno, R. Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning. Educ. Psychol. 2003, 38, 43–52. Winke, P.; Gass, S.; Syodorenko, T. The Effects of Captioning Videos Used for Foreign Language Listening Activities. Lang. Learn. Technol. 2010, 14, 65–86. Tisdell, C.; Loch, B. How Useful are Closed Captions for Learning Mathematics via Online Video? Int. J. Math. Educ. Sci. Technol. 2017, 48, 229–243. Starkey, L. S. Organic Chemistry Laboratory Tutorials (Created with Adobe Connect). https://www.cpp.edu/~lsstarkey/ochemlab (accessed April 3, 2019). Starkey, L. S. Drawing Cyclohexane Chair Conformations (Created with Explain Everything). https://goo.gl/NB4yzD (accessed April 3, 2019). Fiorella, L.; Mayer, R. E. Effects of Observing the Instructor Draw Diagrams on Learning From Multimedia Messages. J. Educ. Psychol. 2015, 107, 1–19. Starkey, L. S. Completing the Reagent Table for Prelab (Created with Doceri). https://youtu.be/ 89vCLxekwWs (accessed April 3, 2019). Achucarro, N.; Starkey, L. S. History of Column Chromatography (Adobe Spark Video). https://goo.gl/GroZvf (accessed April 3, 2019). Kartal, G. Does Language Matter In Multimedia Learning? Personalization Principle Revisited. J. Educ. Psychol. 2010, 102, 615–624. Griffiths, S. How to Make a Lightboard for Less Than $100 (Step-by-Step, With Illustrations). https://flippedlearning.org/how_to/how-to-make-a-lightboard-for-less-than-100/ (accessed March 28, 2019).

49

24. Starkey, L. S. Liquid–Liquid Extraction Animation (Created by Cal Poly Pomona eLearning). https://elearning.cpp.edu/learning-objects/organic-chemistry/liquid-extraction (accessed April 3, 2019). 25. Starkey, L. S. Thin Layer Chromatography Simulator (Created by Cal Poly Pomona eLearning). https://elearning.cpp.edu/learning-objects/organic-chemistry/tlc (accessed April 3, 2019). 26. Starkey, L. S. Liquid–Liquid Extraction—Narrated Animation. https://youtu.be/po-ru80QXE0 (accessed April 3, 2019). 27. Starkey, L. S. Thin Layer Chromatography—Narrated Simulator Run-Through. https://youtu. be/2aWu8bKAMKU (accessed April 3, 2019). 28. Starkey, L. S. TLC Simulator Worksheet. http://www.cpp.edu/~lsstarkey/courses/CHM-Lab/ TLC_simulator_worksheet.pdf (accessed April 3, 2019). 29. Starkey, L. S. Extraction Animation Worksheet. http://www.cpp.edu/~lsstarkey/courses/ CHM-Lab/ExtractionAnimationWorksheet.pdf (accessed April 3, 2019). 30. Koedinger, K. R.; Kim, J.; Jia, J. Z.; McLaughlin, E. A.; Bier, N. L. Learning is Not a Spectator Sport: Doing is Better Than Watching for Learning from a MOOC. In Proceedings of the Second (2015) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2015. http://pact.cs. cmu.edu/pubs/koedinger,%20Kim,%20Jia,%20McLaughlin,%20Bier%202015.pdf (accessed April 3, 2019). 31. Starkey, L. S. ChemistryConnected YouTube Channel (2012). http://www.youtube.com/user/ ChemistryConnected (accessed April 3, 2019). 32. Slemmons, K.; Anyanwu, K.; Hames, J.; Grabski, D.; MIsna, J.; Simkins, E.; Cook, P. The Impact of Video Length on Learning in a Middle-Level Flipped Science Setting: Implications for Diversity Inclusion. J. Sci. Educ. Technol. 2018, 27, 469–479. 33. Wikiquote—Frank Westheimer. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Westheimer (accessed March 28, 2019). 34. Addressing Course Bottlenecks in the CSU: Chancellor’s Office, California State University, CSUCRT: Course Redesign with Technology. http://courseredesign.csuprojects.org/wp (accessed March 28, 2019). 35. Chancellor’s Office, California State University, ePortfolio Showcase and Repository. http://courseredesign.csuprojects.org/wp/eportfolios (accessed March 28, 2019). 36. Faculty Focus—Higher Ed Teaching Strategies from Magna Publications. Special Report: Blended and Flipped: Exploring New Models for Effective Teaching & Learning. http://ww1.facultyfocus. com/free-reports (accessed March 28, 2019). 37. Cessna, S.; Leaman, L.; Britt, L. Border Crossings: A Narrative Framework for Interventions Aimed at Improving URM and First-Generation College Student Retention in STEM. In Increasing Retention of Under-Represented Students in STEM through Affective and Cognitive Interventions; Kishbaugh, T. L. S., Cessna, S. G., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018; Vol. 1301, pp 3−16. 38. Snyder, J. J.; Sloane, J. D.; Dunk, R. D. P.; Wiles, J. R. Peer-Led Team Learning Helps Minority Students Succeed. PLoS Biol. 2016, 14, 1–7. 39. Starkey, L. S. CRT ePortfolio: Redesign of Organic Chemistry (Online Homework, Exam Wrappers). [Online] 2015. https://goo.gl/X5TDq6 (accessed April 3, 2019).

50

40. Starkey, L. S. CRT ePortfolio: Mind Games for Mastery: Organic Chemistry Success by Improving Students’ Mindset, Attitude and Persistence. [Online] 2017. https://goo.gl/Hh5qfz (accessed April 3, 2019). 41. Starkey, L. S. CRT ePortfolio: Repository for Organic Chemistry Active-Learning Materials. [Online] 2018. https://goo.gl/XEMqrF (accessed April 3, 2019). 42. Young, V. Impostor Syndrome Expert Dr. Valerie Young, Author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women. https://impostorsyndrome.com (accessed March 28, 2019).

51

Chapter 4

What To Do with Class Time? Jessica Parr* Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Students are often reluctant or have very little time to prepare for class. They want to have the material presented to them for the first time when they attend the lecture. Having students watch a short (3 to 17 minute) video before coming to class allows them to engage more with the material when they are in the classroom setting. It also affords the instructor more time to employ active learning strategies, which have been shown to promote deeper learning and improve retention of course content. This chapter will highlight the preparation of the videos and what is done in class to emphasize the material and engage the students.

Background The benefits of active learning have been researched for decades. Student engagement and achievement are higher in classrooms where more active pedagogical strategies are used. On the collegiate level, chemistry classes have been one place where these strategies have been developed and explored. There are a wide variety of methods that have been introduced successfully: • POGIL (1–3)—Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning is one of the first widely accepted models, where students complete worksheets in class, often working with models to help make the abstract molecular processes more concrete. Students work in small groups while the faculty member and teaching assistants act as facilitators, being available to answer student questions and keep the class on task. • PLTL (4, 5)—Peer Led Team Learning is similar to POGIL, where students focus their class time on problem solving using worksheets. In this model, a facilitator is present who has recently completed the course with a strong performance. These peer facilitators are trained to guide students through the prescribed work and are prepared to answer questions. • Chemical Thinking (6, 7) is a complete change from the traditional presentation of material, developed by Vicente Talanquer at the University of Arizona. In this model, students learn through modules focused on specific real-world applications of the chemistry, rather than marching through the content in the traditional order. The modules © 2019 American Chemical Society

call on general chemistry content knowledge, but engage students by broadly considering the answers to big questions. The majority of class time is spent guiding students through activities. The guides are the instructor, students who have been successful in the class in a previous semester, and graduate student teaching assistants. • CLUE (8, 9)—Chemistry, Life, the Universe, Everything, developed by Melanie Cooper at Michigan State University, focuses on the molecular-level picture and shifts the emphasis from mathematical problem solving to descriptions of the chemical processes on the atomic and molecular scales. Students are asked to develop their own models and representations during class time, being monitored by faculty and teaching assistants. The activities help link the course material to a real-world context. • Peer Instruction (10–12)—Developed, implemented, and refined by Eric Mazur at Harvard for undergraduate physics courses, peer instruction relies on students working in small groups and using technology to work together in the classroom. Students work with models, animations, data, and problem solving to deepen their understanding of the physics material. The work has been used successfully in a variety of instructional settings from two-year institutions to large private universities. This instructional model has also been added to some of the technology made available by publishers for use in the classroom. • Flipped Classrooms (13, 14) were originally initiated at the middle and high school levels. Students watch videos or read textbook or website material before coming to class, and the class time is spent working through problems that would normally be assigned as homework. Students are able to ask questions they have about the problems with the expert in the room with them rather than struggling with the material on their own at home. College classrooms are beginning to employ this instructional model more often. With the growing popularity of Khan Academy and the plethora of instructional videos available from open resources such as YouTube, as well as publisher-distributed material, instructors do not have to create their own videos for students to watch, but can simply curate from the available media. Faculty and instructional assistants (graduate or undergraduate students) circulate during class time to answer questions and keep students on task. All of these strategies have been shown to help students learn more efficiently and effectively, while strengthening their problem solving and critical thinking skills. However, there are some barriers to implementation of these strategies in courses with large enrollments. One is the need for more people assisting during class time. Aside from the instructor of record, a group of well-trained teaching assistants are needed to help answer questions and keep students focused on completing the activities. Some departments may be able to allocate some of their graduate students’ time for this or hire undergraduate students to work as learning assistants. Other departments may not have the funds or people required for these efforts, prohibiting the ability to staff more active classrooms. A second obstacle can be the time needed to implement these new strategies in their classrooms. POGIL and PLTL can be utilized in existing discussion sections with little change made to the typical lecture model. Instructors can continue to use a traditional direct instruction method in lectures, while seeing gains from the introduction of stronger problem solving methods during the supplementary sections. However, models such as Chemical Thinking or CLUE are most successful when the entire course is changed. It can be overwhelming to attempt to implement these strategies with a normal course load and little time to prepare. The flipped classroom model can be more 54

flexible for faculty interested in changing their instructional method. In this chapter, I describe my journey to a more flipped model for a large-enrollment (~200 students) general chemistry course. I also outline one of the modules, describing the content of the videos prepared and discussing how I spend lecture time without additional teaching assistants in the lecture hall with me.

Motivation In the middle of my first semester general chemistry course, I found myself doing a problem in class involving the thermal decomposition of an impure sample of potassium chlorate to form gaseous oxygen and potassium chloride. The oxygen produced by the reaction is collected over water. The displacement of the water is used to determine the moles of oxygen resulting from the decomposition and in turn the moles of potassium chlorate that have decomposed. Finally, the moles of potassium chlorate decomposed are used to find the percent of potassium chlorate in the impure sample. The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate the importance of considering the vapor pressure of water in determining the pressure of the oxygen gas present from the reaction. I was working through this problem for the umpteenth time and started to think about how much more exciting and engaging the problem could be. I thought “What if I were to perform the experiment live in class? What if the students could observe the reaction taking place?” My next thought was “But I have so much material to cover, I would never have enough time.” I could easily have stopped there, but these thoughts stuck with me. These thoughts started me on a journey to change my instructional model from mostly lecture with a smattering of personal response device (“clicker”) questions and demonstrations, to one where students make observations, generate predictions, and draw conclusions for chemical reactions being performed in the lecture hall. At the same time, our department started to examine the relationship between the lecture and laboratory portions of the lower division courses, particularly the general chemistry courses. Instructors and lab directors were beginning to think about how to better integrate the two portions of the class. Undergraduate students often miss the connection, seeing them as separate from each other, rather than two parts of a whole. Again, my mind went to performing experiments during the lecture period and allowing students to think about what is happening on the molecular level. Demonstrations can fill some these gaps. However, the exciting and flashy ones that professors like to use often involve complicated reactions that are difficult to simplify or are simply too dangerous to have students perform in the instructional laboratories. By not pulling from examples of what students will be doing in the instructional lab, we continue a disconnect between what the students see and hear in the lecture hall and what they will be doing on their own in the laboratory. When speaking with faculty who have flipped their science and engineering classrooms, you will be offered a wide variety of advice on how best to approach the process. Some will tell you that you need to flip the whole semester, quarter, or trimester at one time, or not do it at all. The thinking is that students will not buy into the process if they are taking a course that does not have a consistent format. On the other hand, some will suggest that you choose the lectures that are your least favorite to give, because these are the topics that you have most likely been considering changing anyway. The first year I tried this, I chose to flip one lecture from each chapter that would be covered throughout the semester, a total of nine. In the following year, I added another lecture from each chapter to be delivered in a flipped format, leading to nearly half of the lectures being flipped and the others being more traditional. Once I had a handle on how the content could be delivered, I dove in and flipped the remainder of the class. I started this process with the second semester general chemistry course first because that was the course that I was assigned by the department soon after I was inspired to attempt to flip my class. 55

Second, activities correlating to the content of the second semester course (kinetics, equilibrium, acids/bases, and so on) were a little easier for me to conceive of right off the bat. Finally, the students in the second semester are more prepared to participate in a nontraditional learning environment. Most have had at least one semester of college, during which time they have honed some of their study skills and become more comfortable in the instructional laboratory environment.

Implementation To flip my classes, I prepared short (3 to 17 minute) videos for students to watch before coming to class. These videos allowed me to remove the definitions and equation derivations from my in-class delivery, to focus on presenting experiments as demonstrations and asking students clicker questions about their predictions and conclusions based on those experiments. As an alternative to watching the videos, students could have read from the textbook to prepare for class. I chose videos, rather than reading assignments, so that I could have more control over the content on which they would focus to prepare for what we would be doing in person during the lecture period. Textbook publishers have huge libraries of videos and tutorials at an instructor’s disposal, should they have required students to purchase access to them. This access often accompanies the use of an online homework system. I wanted to have a bank of videos that would be available to me throughout my teaching career, that I could share easily with colleagues and did not rely on copyrighted material. In order to meet these self-imposed regulations, I needed to prepare the videos myself. At first the process was daunting and overwhelming, but eventually I found a rhythm for preparing effective videos. My steps are outlined here as a guide for anyone who is considering preparing their own videos. 1. I started with the existing slides that I use during a traditional lecture-heavy class. I edited these down to include only definitions of terms, theories, models, laws, and derivations of equations. Occasionally, I would also include a sample solution to a problem. I prepared new figures, using the draw function in PowerPoint, to not rely on copyrighted material. 2. I typed in the notes and annotations that I would have made on the slides during the lecture period. I also used an equation editor to insert all of the steps in the derivations of key relationships. 3. I used the animation tab in PowerPoint to transition smoothly between the material on each slide, which allowed me to introduce and highlight content in the desired order. 4. Before recording the videos, I wrote a detailed script. This allowed me to be prepared to narrate the slides and create a more polished final product. 5. I used Camtasia to record my videos, which can be loaded as a plugin to PowerPoint. The recording captures what is happening on the screen while recording my narration. Camtasia also has editing functions should you need to remove, insert, or correct something. There are many screen capture programs, including some built into presentation software, that can record voice along with the presentation. 6. The videos can be saved in a variety of formats (mp4, avi, mov, flv, wmv), which can then be uploaded into classroom management databases for students to access. 7. Within our department’s classroom management system, I am able to insert multiplechoice questions. Students use these questions to quiz themselves on the material, and I use the questions to monitor who has watched the videos and who has not, while measuring the student’s understanding of the material.

56

Before coming to lecture, students are expected to have watched the appropriate video and answered the multiple-choice questions embedded within. Each video has three questions inserted. Students who answer at least two of the three questions correctly receive credit for the video. They are given two chances to answer the questions, but can view the videos as often as they want. The questions closed an hour before lecture, allowing for “just-in-time teaching (15, 16).” I would review the responses to the questions, and any that were challenging (less than 80% of the students answered correctly) I go over during the lecture period. The videos themselves remained accessible throughout the semester for students to review as needed. With the definitions and derivations removed from the lecture period and presented in the videos, large portions of the lecture period are available for more engaging experiences. The first 5 minutes of the 50 minute lecture period are spent reminding students of the equations and relationships that would be used during the activity for the day. The remainder of the class is spent working through a series of practice problems or a short experiment. Clicker questions are used to probe students understanding of what is happening on the molecular level, ask numerical questions, and allow students to make predictions. To illustrate what I do in my class and how challenging concepts can be visualized, a summary of the videos and the in-class work I have used for two buffer lectures is presented here. Buffers I Video Lecture In total, the video, described below, is five and a half minutes long and can be viewed in the supplementary videos associated with this text. The video starts by defining a buffer solution, with an accompanying reaction identifying the components of an acid dissociation in aqueous solution:

where HA is a generic weak acid, and A– represents the conjugate base of the weak acid. Students are also introduced to a rough molecular view of a buffer solution, shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Molecular representation of a buffer solution. HA represents a weak acid, and A– represents the conjugate base of the weak acid. If students were to pause the video and count the number of HA and A– particles in the figure, they would find equal amounts of each. On the next slide, students are introduced to the common ion effect. Using eq 1 as an illustration, they are led through a brief consideration of Le Châtelier’s principle and what we expect to happen to a system at equilibrium when some of the product is added to the reaction vessel. 57

They are introduced to the ratio of acid and conjugate base concentrations that will result in a buffer solution. Students are then walked through the derivation of the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation. Seeing and hearing someone work through the actual derivations will help them better understand where the relationship comes from and in what context it is appropriate to use. There is a brief discussion of how the pH does not change by large amounts if the ratio of the weak acid to conjugate base does not change significantly. The final part of the video aims to help students visualize the molecular response in a buffer solution to the addition of a strong acid or strong base. Figure 2 shows the molecular representation presented to students in the video for the addition of a strong acid to the generic buffer solution.

Figure 2. Molecular representation of the buffer solution response to added strong acid. H+ represents the strong acid, HA represents the weak acid, and A– represents the conjugate base of the weak acid. In Figure 2, the added H+ reacts with the conjugate base, A–, forming more of the weak acid, HA. If students were to pause the video here to count the number of HA and A– particles in the solution, they would find that there are now more weak acid particles in solution than conjugate base particles, but the total number of particles is the same as in the original buffer solution. Next, a representation of the response of the buffer solution to the addition of strong base is shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3, the added hydroxide ion reacts with the weak acid in the solution to form water and more of the conjugate base. If the video is paused here and the particles counted, there will be more of the conjugate base than the weak acid, but the total number of particles will be the same as in the original buffer solution. Finally, the video walks through the steps for solving a problem where a strong acid or strong base is added to a buffer solution: 1. Identify the weak acid and conjugate base present in the buffer solution. 2. Determine what is being added that could change the pH of the solution. 3. Calculate the concentrations of weak acid and conjugate base following the reaction of all of the H+ or OH– added to the solution. 4. Use the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation (if still a buffer) or an ICE (Initial, Change, Equilibrium) table to determine the pH of the resulting solution.

58

Figure 3. Molecular representation of the buffer’s response to added strong base. OH– represents the strong base, HA represents the weak acid, and A– represents the conjugate base of the weak acid. Buffers I In-Class Work At the beginning of the class, I review the definition of a buffer solution and revisit the figures that illustrate what is happening on the molecular level. Seeing it a second time in a different environment will help solidify the information in their minds. Then they are asked to determine the pH of three different solutions: a. A weak acid: 0.75 M HNO2 b. The conjugate base of the weak acid: 0.75 M NaNO2 c. A mixture of the weak acid and the conjugate base: 0.75 M HNO2 with 0.75 M NaNO2 We discuss the differences in pH of the three solutions. I draw particular attention to the fact that the pH of the mixture is not the same as either the weak acid or conjugate base solutions alone, nor is it the average of the pH’s of the two solutions. I will spend a few minutes reviewing the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation, as it is an important relationship for them to understand. I emphasize that it is not only a shortcut to determine the pH of a buffered solution, but also a mathematical representation of how a buffer solution maintains the pH. Highlighting that the Ka and therefore the pKa will remain constant as long as temperature remains constant, I point out that the only factor that will change the pH of the solution is the ratio of the concentrations of the weak acid to conjugate base. I leave the discussion of buffering capacity and buffer range for the following lecture. Students are then asked a series of multiple-choice questions that they answer using personal response devices. Our department has a custom response program that was designed by our web administrator to load directly into our classroom management system. Students are able to respond using their smartphones, tablets, or computers. There are several commercial options that can be subscribed to, including Poll Everywhere, iClickers, TurningPoint, and quizzes and surveys in Blackboard. Technology services at your institution should be aware of the options that are available for you to use. Some can be used for free with small class sizes, while others require payment for a subscription. This is the first multiple-choice question I ask to probe students’ ability to identify a buffer solution: 59

Which of the following mixtures is a buffer solution? a. b. c. d.

0.10 M HC2H3O2 and 0.10 M HCl 0.10 M HCl and 0.10 M NaOH 0.10 M HC2H3O2 and 0.10 M NaC2H3O2 0.10 M NaC2H3O2 and 0.10 M NaOH

If greater than 80% of the students answer the question correctly, I will circle the correct answer and ask if students have any questions of their own. I recommend that students who did not answer the question correctly come see me during office hours. If less than 80% of the students answer correctly, I will talk through each of the solutions, identifying what type of solution it is based on the two components of the mixture. I will also ask if students have any questions of their own in this scenario. The second multiple-choice question that students are posed is We wish to make 500.0 mL of a solution that is 0.35 M in HC2H3O2. What volume of 1.00 M HC2H3O2 should we use? a. b. c. d.

350.0 mL 175.0 mL 75.0 mL 35.0 mL

I bring with me to class a 500 mL volumetric flask, a 50.0 mL graduated cylinder, 1.00 M HC2H3O2, deionized water, and red cabbage juice. The red cabbage juice is used as a universal pH indicator, and the change in color of the pigment due to changes in the pH of the solution are quite dramatic. Acidic solutions will be red, basic solutions will be yellow, and violet will be the color of neutral solutions. I like to use the red cabbage juice as an indicator rather than a commercially produced universal pH indicator, because it is something that students can use at home. It puts the material into a context in the larger world, thinking about plant pigments as pH indicators, or even just as chemicals that will change color under different conditions. I use the red cabbage juice as a pH indicator several times throughout the acid/base and buffer units in the second semester general chemistry class. By the time they come to this lecture, my students should be very comfortable with how the cabbage juice will change color under different pH conditions. After the students have answered the question, I measure out the appropriate amounts of the necessary solutions. The red cabbage juice is used in place of some of the water needed for dilution. Depending on how concentrated the cabbage juice is, larger or smaller amounts are used. I keep track of how much the cabbage juice solution is diluted, in order to make the same dilution for all solutions that will be compared later, limiting the dilution factor as a variable for the visible differences. The acetic acid solution is red/fuchsia in color, as expected for weak acid solutions and exhibited in Figure 4.

60

Figure 4. A 100 mL aliquot of the 0.35 M acetic acid solution with red cabbage juice as a pH indicator. The next question that students are asked is What mass of solid NaC2H3O2 do you need to add to the 500.0 mL acetic acid solution so that the composition is also 0.35 M in C2H3O2? a. b. c. d.

82.04 g 41.02 g 28.71 g 14.36 g

After students have answered the question, the correct mass of NaC2H3O2 is added to the acetic acid solution. I have massed out the correct amount before coming to lecture. The solution becomes more purplish pink, indicating the pH is more basic than the acetic acid by itself. The two solutions are shown side by side in Figure 5.

Figure 5. The solution on the left contains only acetic acid, and the solution on the right contains the acetic acid/acetate ion mixture. Red cabbage juice is used in both solutions as a pH indicator. The visible difference between the two colors helps students further visualize the difference in the composition of the solutions. The addition of the sodium acetate results in the difference in color. Students are now asked to find the pH of the solution containing both the acetic acid and the acetate ion. This is left as an open-ended question. They are given several minutes to work through the solution in pairs or small groups. I then work through the solution on my tablet for the whole class to see. 61

If there is time remaining in the class, I will work through two more problems that concern making buffer solutions. The first involves mixing a weak base with its conjugate acid, to shake them out of the rut that a buffer must be composed of a weak acid and its conjugate base. The problem will also remind them that the conjugate acid of a weak base is a weak acid. The second question illustrates that as long as the acid is not completely neutralized, a buffer solution can be formed. Buffers II Video Lecture In total, this video is 3 minutes and 10 seconds. The video starts with reminding students that a buffer solution can also be a solution that contains a weak base and its conjugate acid. There is a molecular representation similar to that shown in Figure 1 from the Buffers I video, the difference being the HA (the weak acid) is replaced with BH+ and the A– (the conjugate base) is replaced with B. A reaction representing how the solution will respond to added strong acid is presented:

where B is the weak base, H+ represents the strong acid, and BH+ is its conjugate acid. Another reaction represents the response of the buffer to the addition of strong base:

Buffering range and capacity are briefly defined, with references to the mathematical relationships that help support the observation of only slight pH changes when the ratio of the weak acid and conjugate base concentrations remains relatively constant. Buffers II In-Class Work During the lecture period, we make a series of solutions to show how a buffer solution will resist pH changes. I bring to class with me 0.10 M HCl, 0.20 M NaOH, red cabbage juice, deionized water, and the buffer that was made during the previous lecture, as well as the necessary glassware. All of the solutions use red cabbage juice in place of some of the water to visualize the pH of each solution. Students are asked the following question: What volume of 0.10 M HCl should we use to make 100.0 mL of a solution with a pH of 2.00? a. b. c. d. e.

5.0 mL 7.0 mL 10.0 mL 50.0 mL 100.0 mL

I monitor the answers to the question and make sure that greater than 80% of the class has answered correctly. I then make the solution in class. The resulting solution is bright red, as seen in Figure 6.

62

Figure 6. 100 mL of solution with pH of 2.00 containing HCl and red cabbage juice pH indicator. The steps for solving a buffer problem that were discussed in the first buffer video are briefly reviewed. Students are then asked What is the pH of a solution produced by adding 10.0 mL of 0.10 M HCl to 100.0 mL of the buffer composed of 0.35 M HC2H3O2 and 0.35 M NaC2H3O2? They are given a few minutes to attempt the problem in pairs or small groups, after which I work through the problem on my tablet. A solution is made by adding 10.0 mL of 0.10 M HCl to the buffer prepared in the previous lecture. Figure 7 shows this solution of strong acid added to a buffer solution on the right and the pH 2.00 solution on the left. Students can see that the solution that contains the buffer is not red, but pinkish-purple, and therefore less acidic than the solution that did not contain the buffer. It resisted changes in pH.

Figure 7. The solution on the left has pH of 2.00, and the solution on the right contains the acetic acid/ acetate ion buffer and the same amount of strong acid as the pH 2.00 solution. The colors are different because the buffer resisted changes to its pH. Next students are asked What volume of 0.20 M NaOH should we use to make a 100.0 mL solution with pH of 12.00? a. b. c. d. e.

2.0 mL 3.3 mL 4.0 mL 5.0 mL 10.0 mL 63

Once students have answered, the solution is prepared and will be bright green, as seen in Figure 8.

Figure 8. 100 mL of a solution at pH 12.00 containing NaOH and red cabbage juice pH indicator. The initial color is bright green but over time will fade as the hydroxide causes the pigment to decompose. The solution will start to become colorless. Sometimes the solution needs to be remade later in the lecture if you wish to refer back to the color. Next students are posed the question What is the pH of a solution produced by adding 5.0 mL of 0.20 M NaOH to 100.0 mL of the buffer composed of 0.35 M HC2H3O2 and 0.35 M NaC2H3O2? As with the previous open-ended questions, students are given a few minutes to work in pairs or small groups to answer the question. I then work though the answer to the problem on my tablet and prepare the solution, shown in Figure 9, alongside the pH 12.00 solution. This example is even more dramatic than the comparison of the pH 2.00 solution and the buffer with added strong acid. The basic solution is green, and the solution containing the buffer remains pinkish-purple, indicating it is slightly acidic, not basic at all.

Figure 9. The solution on the left has pH of 12.00, and the solution on the right contains the same amount of NaOH added to the acetic acid/acetate ion buffer. Figure 10 shows the three solutions that contain the acetic acid/acetate ion buffer solution. The solution on the leftcontains the buffer solution with added HCl, the solution in the middle contains only the buffer solution, and the solution on the right contains the buffer solution with added NaOH.

64

The colors of the solutions are nearly identical, and the pH’s of the solutions from left to right are 4.72, 4.74, and 4.76.

Figure 10. The solution on the left contains the acetic acid/acetate ion buffer after the addition of the HCl, the middle solution contains only the acetic acid/acetate ion buffer, and the solution on the right contains the acetic acid/acetate ion buffer after the addition of the base. All solutions contain red cabbage juice as a pH indicator. To wrap up the discussion, I will line up the five solutions to illustrate the differences in pH, by comparing the differences in color. The lineup is shown in Figure 11 with the addition of the acetic acid only solution.

Figure 11. All solutions produced throughout the two lectures on buffers, in order of increasing pH from left to right: HCl-only solution, 0.35 M acetic acid solution, buffer solution with added HCl, buffer solution alone, buffer with added NaOH, and NaOH-only solution. The remainder of the lecture period is spent exploring buffer capacity, buffer range, and the composition of buffers that will be the most effective. After a brief review of definitions, using the information given in Table 1, students are asked Which of the following mixtures of solutions will result in buffer solutions? a. b. c. d. e. f.

150.0 mL of 0.15 M HC2H3O2 and 100.0 mL of 0.25 M KC2H3O2 150.0 mL of 0.15 M HC2H3O2 and 100.0 mL of 0.25 M HCl 150.0 mL of 0.15 M HC2H3O2 and 65.0 mL of 0.25 M KOH 150.0 mL of 0.15 M HCl and 100.0 mL of 0.25 M KOH Both a and b Both a and c

65

Then students are asked For each of the following mixtures of solutions, determine whether pH = pKa, pH < pKa, or pH > pKa: 0.10 M HNO2 and 0.050 M NaNO2 0.10 M HNO2 and 0.15 M NaNO2 0.10 M HNO2 and 0.050 M KOH 0.10 M HNO2 and 0.15 M KOH Finally, students are asked What combination of reagents would you use to prepare buffers at the following pH values? 3.0 8.5 11.2 Table 1. Information Provided to Students To Answer a Question on How Best To Prepare a Buffer at a Particular pH Solids (pKa of Acid Form Given)

Solutions (pKa of Acid Form Given)

Formic acid (3.74)

3.0 M HNO3

Boric acid (9.24)

2.0 M KOH

Sodium acetate (4.85)

3.5 M CH3NH3Br

CH3NH2 (10.64)

H2NNH2 (8.48)

These last three questions are similar to conceptual questions that I would ask on an exam or a quiz. Before I flipped my class, I would not spend much time (if any) on these types of conceptual questions in class. By flipping my class, I have been able to allocate more of the lecture period to deeper dives into the behavior of the chemicals on a molecular level.

Conclusion and Future Directions My path to a flipped classroom has benefited me as well as my students. I have had a chance to reflect on my teaching practice to carefully devise appropriate activities to illustrate concepts and deepen student understanding. I have thought carefully about why we teach the material in the order that we do, making some small changes to the traditional order in which the topics are presented in the textbook. The flipping has also afforded me the opportunity to consider why we even bother to teach certain things. Is it because that is how it has always been done, or will students truly need that knowledge and those skills to be successful in future classes? The largest challenge has been the shedding of direct instruction. Maybe it is my personality, or maybe it is because I have been teaching that way for so long. I truly believe that students need to be more involved in their own learning, but I still have a hard time letting go of lecturing. I am slowly getting over this feeling, and it still requires effort to stop talking when I am up in front of my largeenrollment classes. However, I continue to work through this to improve the instructional experience for my students. Students have responded favorably to the flipped model. They like having the videos available to them throughout the semester to review material as needed. They appreciate the more active environment, although there are days when they would like to just come to class, sit, and listen to a lecture. I have also noticed an increase in engagement as measured by the questions asked by 66

students. Many students are asking questions that indicate they are thinking carefully and deeply about the material. They are also showing that they are seeing connections to the world outside of the classroom, asking questions related to real-world concerns. I am very pleased with my experience flipping my classes. It was a lot of work, but absolutely worth my time. I have not had the opportunity to formally assess and measure gains that students have made with this instructional model, but I have plans to do so in the near future. I have further flipped our second semester general chemistry class and am currently piloting a section where the students spend all instructional contact hours in the laboratory space. There is no direct instruction time. Students are responsible for watching the same videos that I previously used before coming to class. During class time, they will most often spend their time working through small experiments with guided questions that allow them to draw conclusions and really engage with chemical phenomena. They are working in groups of three or four, which change frequently so that no one can complain that they got stuck in a group where they were doing all of the work the entire semester. Students are reporting that they are enjoying the new course design and are putting in effort beyond what I have seen from most students over the years. While I am offering this redesigned section, there are two sections that are being offered through the traditional model of three one-hour lectures in a lecture hall and a three-hour laboratory period each week. I expect students who have completed my discovery course to have increased metacognitive problem solving skills as well as a better attitude toward chemistry in general. To measure these gains at the beginning of the semester, students were asked to complete the Attitude Toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory designed by Bauer (17), and they will complete it at the end of the semester so that changes in attitude can be measured among the students who were enrolled in the discovery section as well as those who were enrolled in the traditional model. All students will also be completing the Metacognitive Activities Inventory prepared by Cooper and Sandi-Urena (18) at the end of the semester. The analysis of these surveys will take place over the summer, as well as comparisons of performance between the two groups on common questions on the final exam. I highly encourage anyone who is interested in changing their teaching method to dive in and give it a try. It is challenging, but you will have a chance to engage in the material again yourself. I have had a chance to reflect on my own teaching practice. I have taken the time to really think about who I am as an instructor and how I can reach the largest number of students. The changes that I have implemented in no way reflect the only way to teach general chemistry, but they work well for me.

References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Hein, S. M. Positive Impacts Using POGIL in Organic Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 860–864. Farrell, J. J.; Moog, R. S.; Spencer, J. N. A Guided-Inquiry General Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 570–574. Moog, R. S.; Spencer, J. N. Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL); American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2008. Hockings, S. C.; DeAngelis, K. J.; Frey, R. F. Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry: Implementation and Evaluation. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 990–996. Chan, J. Y. K.; Bauer, C. F. Effect of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) on Student Achievement, Attitude, and Self-Concept in College General Chemistry in Randomized and Quasi Experimental Designs. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 2015, 52, 319–346. 67

6. 7. 8.

9.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Sevian, H.; Talanquer, V. Rethinking Chemistry: A Learning Progression on Chemical Thinking. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2014, 15, 10–23. Talanquer, V.; Pollard, J. Reforming a Large Foundational Course: Successes and Challenges. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 1844–1851. Cooper, M. M.; Underwood, S. M.; Hilley, C. Z.; Klymkowsky, M. W. Development and Assessment of a Molecular Structure and Properties Learning Progression. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1351–1357. Cooper, M.; Klymkowsky, M. Chemistry, Life, the Universe, and Everything: A New Approach to General Chemistry, and a Model for Curriculum Reform. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 1116–1122. Crouch, C. H.; Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: Ten Years of Experience and Results. Am. J. Phys. 2001, 69, 970–977. Fagen, A. P.; Crouch, C. H.; Mazur, E. Peer Instruction: Results from a Range of Classrooms. Phys. Teach. 2002, 40, 206–209. Lasry, N.; Mazur, E.; Watkins, J. Peer Instruction: From Harvard to the Two-Year College. Am. J. Phys. 2008, 76, 1066–1069. Smith, J. D. Student Attitudes Toward Flipping the General Chemistry Classroom. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2013, 14, 607–614. Herreid, C. F.; Schiller, N. A. Case Studies and the Flipped Classroom. J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 2013, 42, 62–66. Marrs, K. A.; Novack, G. Just-in-Time Teaching in Biology: Creating an Active Learner Classroom Using the Internet. Cell Biol. Educ. 2004, 3, 49–61. Simkins, S. P., Maier, M. H., Eds. Just-in-Time Teaching: Across the Disciplines, Across the Academy; Stylus: Sterling, VA, 2010. Bauer, C. F. Attitude Toward Chemistry: A Semantic Differential Instrument for Assessing Curriculum Impacts. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1440–1445. Cooper, M. M.; Sandi-Urena, S. Design and Validation of an Instrument to Assess Metacognitive Skillfulness in Chemistry Problem Solving. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 240–245.

68

Chapter 5

Use of Multimedia Tools in the Chemistry Classroom To Foster Student Participation Rebecca M. Broyer* Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, 3620 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90089-1062, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

With the increasing interest in moving content out of the classroom and using videos and other multimedia tools, more classroom time is available to engage students in problem solving and development of critical thinking skills. In the current work the use of iPads in the chemistry classroom during lecture to foster peer-to-peer engagement during group problem solving and develop problemsolving skills is described. This technology has increased student engagement and participation in a chemistry classroom. Furthermore, the use of video and multimedia technology in this way has helped to foster self-efficacy and place the onus of learning on the student.

Introduction Organic chemistry is considered to be one of the gate-keeper courses (1) for the majority of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Students enter these courses with a great diversity of backgrounds and previous coursework to prepare them for the rigors of the course. In addition, a number of large research universities, public and private, offer these courses with enrollments between 200 and 1000 students in one lecture hall. Although the primary mode of university instruction is lecturing, there has been growing interest in active learning in classrooms, in particular in STEM education (2, 3). Moreover, improved learning outcomes have been attained when students spend a significant amount of time during class engaging in activities that require them to process and apply information in a variety of ways. Some examples of such active learning strategies include completing worksheets, responding using personal response systems (clickers), discussing problems with other students in small groups, and participating in group quizzes. However, it can be difficult to execute active-learning strategies in such large lecture environments without the support of well-trained teaching assistants. Significant infrastructure support may also be necessary to support technology, classroom redesign, and other potential needs. As a practitioner of chemical education, research showing that engaged and active learning results in better learning outcomes (2) has motivated me to continue to implement a more active © 2019 American Chemical Society

learning environment in my courses (4). This model allows for more time in the classroom for modeling problem-solving strategies and in-class demonstrations. I have found through assessment that this has improved my students’ critical thinking skills and has improved retention of challenging concepts. I continually strive to create a culture that nurtures discussion and collaboration both in and out of class. During lecture, students use their cell phones, laptops, or other devices to respond to in-class multiple-choice questions and surveys remotely. A number of important studies have been published recently indicating that students perform better if they are having fun and feel a sense of community within the classroom (5, 6). I have worked hard to cultivate such a learning environment. I employ short in-class worksheets and assignments in which students work in small groups. To extend collaboration outside of lecture, students are invited to participate in the class Facebook group, Skype study sessions, and additional office hours, online discussion boards, and labs, as well as various other web-based tools and online resources. I have added online office hours in the evenings or weekends before exams. This format helps to make office hours more accessible for those who have conflicts or do not feel comfortable in traditional office hours. Similarly, with the Facebook group, students may rely on each other as resources and connect with each other in a way that is not possible in a lecture setting. For example, I find that students will pose questions to the group and receive several answers of clarification from their peers. I can also contribute by verifying accuracy, and I can see what questions my students have post-lecture. More recently, after careful review of the literature and best practices (7), I have begun to implement group quizzes in most of my classrooms. Although it is clear that students benefit from working in groups and participating in activelearning class activities, one of the major challenges I am faced with as a facilitator of such active instruction is getting all students to participate in classroom activities. The bulk of this chapter will read as my personal narrative of the active learning strategies that I have used to engage students in the classroom, as well as tools that I have used to create a community both within and outside of the classroom at the University of Southern California. The University of Southern California is a private research institution with a total undergraduate enrollment of close to 20,000 students as of 2018. In the 2018–2019 academic year, 17% of incoming freshman were first-generation college students. The main campus is located near downtown Los Angeles. The typical class size for the general and organic chemistry courses vary between 100 and 200 students per section. I will discuss a multimedia tool I have found useful to foster participation among students, as they are not always comfortable contributing in a large-classroom setting. It is my intention to provide examples of how I use technology in the classroom and ways to engage students that may not always participate in class discussions.

Motivation and Background Throughout my tenure at the University of Southern California, I have experimented with a number of different active-learning strategies. The field of chemical education has seen extensive research suggesting that a flipped-classroom model is a more effective approach to large classroom chemistry teaching (4). At the same time, chemical education has seen the advent of many innovations in content delivery and support tools, including Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) (8), peer-led team learning (9), the flipped classroom (4), and the Chemical Thinking model (10). As such, I have integrated flipped lectures into many of my courses. In my own experience, I have observed that more classroom time spent on demonstrations and working through difficult problems has resulted in overall higher exam averages and improved mastery. 70

At the same time, there has been a shift in college classrooms from students taking lecture notes using a pencil and paper to students using laptops and tablets. Figure 1 shows one of my recent chemistry lectures. I have my slides projected on the screen and am referencing my iPad. Most of the students have their laptops or tablets out. With this shift in the ways students are taking notes, I began to consider ways to engage students using the same technology they are already utilizing in the classroom.

Figure 1. Image taken with permission from students during an organic chemistry problem-solving session in the spring of 2019. Many students have computers or tablets out to take notes. The literature supports the use of clickers in the classroom (11, 12). I have used clickers or other personal response systems with varying levels of success. The benefits of engaging students in the classroom and collecting live responses are clear, and the instructor is able to make adjustments to the lecture in real time and address misunderstandings. I was initially enthusiastic about personal response systems, but I have since moved away from their use in the classroom for a number of reasons, primarily, that many students simply do not use the resources as they are intended. Some students sit in the back of the lecture hall until a clicker question comes up, click to earn points for the day, and then get up and excuse themselves from the lecture hall. There are practices that can be implemented to reduce these issues; however, that is beyond the scope of this discussion. My overall goal was to find a way to use technology and in-class assignments and ensure students are engaging actively in the content. A second reason I have moved away from personal response systems is to create a sense of community in the classroom. I wanted to take advantage of the many benefits of peer-to-peer instruction. Although clickers have been demonstrated to engage students in the content, I sought to create student-centered collaborative learning and engagement. Problem solving in class has been shown to promote improved learning outcomes (13–17). More recently, it has been shown that students who participated in group problem solving compared to those who were exposed to individual learning conditions had improved leaning outcomes (14). In addition, students exposed to group learning showed improved interaction with their classmates as well as with the course material (18). I began to implement group problem-solving worksheets as 71

a pedagogical strategy in my course. However, group dynamics can be challenging; some students simply do not participate, others dominate a group, and still others go off on tangents (19). Finally, many students wait for the instructor to deliver the answers without attempting the problem set. After reflecting on my own experience and incorporating feedback from students, I have found that having a graded component meant the students would be more prepared than if content was provided as a worksheet. Literature suggests that implementing a low-stakes peer-to-peer collaboration is in line with many of the current best practices for science learning and learning organic chemistry (20). I have highlighted here some of the best practices I considered when designing my in-class experience. Best Practices for Science Learning and Organic Chemistry Learning • • • • • •

Use a paper and pencil when you are studying (1) Be tested before and after learning (2, 21) Mix up the study topics (3) Study frequently (4, 21) Implement activities other than review (5) Front-load studying (5)

With all of this in mind, I began implementing group quizzes in the spring of 2018. I sought to encourage students to communicate what they know, to be challenged on it, and to defend their understanding. The process is expected to have a larger long-term impact than simply writing down answers on an individual quiz or worksheet. It provides a low-stakes opportunity for students to talk about and test what they know before an exam.

Figure 2. Word cloud summarizing the comments section of a survey on the group quiz experience in a second-semester general chemistry course. Literature on group quizzing suggest the following benefits (7) • • • • • • •

Improved individual test scores Increased retention of the material Decreased class dropout rates Increased motivation to study Reduced anxiety associated with taking exams Increased positive relationships between students Improved student perception of the course 72

Figure 3. General chemistry group quiz attitudinal survey. All of this together suggests that the real benefit of group quizzing will likely emerge later in a course and beyond with higher exam scores and increased ability to communicate the content. Overall, this has been a great success. In my classroom, students had very positive things to say about the group quiz. Figure 2 shows a word cloud of the comments collected from students after the first semester implementing group quizzes in a general chemistry course. A number of important comments collected from the same survey illustrating support for group quizzes are also shown. Group quizzes were really helpful because they were a low-pressure way to know if you are understanding the material. Plus, my group would often get together the night before and go over it to make sure that we would do well, which helped us study in the long run. I think these group quizzes are great for many reasons! They force you to attend lecture. They force you to study earlier than you normally would. They help to boost your grade usually. They get you 73

to meet people in your lecture. These quizzes are helpful in learning chemistry and I wish we had them in other classes. The group quizzes were really key this semester in making me really review each individual chapter along the way instead of leaving it to the week before midterms which I think was very helpful for me in keeping on top of the content and making sure I understood things as we went and could ask questions if I need it. The group aspect made it perfect to review and nail down the content without creating an overly stressful environment so I really liked them! This is good because it emphasizes the importance of solving problems. Also, it is highly groupfocused, thus other students can chime in or help clear up an error in thinking. Surveys are used to gather information about the student learning experience. They also present students with a route to be more actively involved in their own learning experience, and facilitate a safe and supportive learning environment. Figure 3 shows the results of an end-of-semester group quiz survey. Of the 241 students who responded to the survey, 65% of the students reported that they had a good feeling about the group quizzes, 20% were undecided, and 15% did not like the group quizzes (Figure 3). When asked about reviewing for the group quizzes, 100% of the students surveyed reported that the experience helped their understanding of the content and 68% reported either “great help” or “much help” (Figure 3) Finally, when asked if interacting with the group members helped the student’s understanding of the material, 92% of the students surveyed reported that interacting with their group members helped their understanding of the material to some degree (Figure 3). General Chemistry Group Quiz Survey Although many students reported an overall positive experience, there were a handful of students who were displeased or expressed concern with the group quizzes. I have included some quotes from students that highlight these concerns and point out some of the drawbacks of group work from the student perspective. Most prominent among the dissatisfied students were comments relating to a group member who did not contribute or was unprepared. I really liked the group quizzes because they forced me to keep up with the material and really helped me learn it prior to studying for the exam. I didn’t think they were too difficult, if you put in the time to study for them they were a good boost for your grade. They were also another source of practice problems written by the professor which was great. I had an awful experience with my group, though. I was the only one who ever studied for the quizzes. These might as well have been individual quizzes because I did them by myself (for the most part) while my group members wrote down my answers. I think the policy should be that everyone needs to get in new groups for each quiz (or at least switch groups every few quizzes). This would force everyone to study equally, rather than having certain people know they can count on one group member to be prepared and letting them do all the work. Me and one of my friends in the group always studied and made an effort for the group quiz but our third person barely did which made it a little unfair when she got the points for not contributing much. Nevertheless it was great to interact and collaboratively work on problems together feel like the group quizzes are unfair because if one person understands the material, then the other members do not have to contribute and get full credit for the quiz. Also, near the end of the semester, one of my group members dropped out so my group consisted of just two people, which I found was unfair. 74

The group quizzes are often difficult because when the other members did not study, it was basically an individual quiz while the other members just received the same grade. For the most part, I have been successful at addressing these concerns by presenting literature that supports group quizzing or pointing out that explaining the answers to the weaker students in a group will increase students’ own understanding of the content, leading to higher exam scores and increased ability to communicate their own knowledge. Aside from the obvious reason, unpreparedness, I began to consider the various reasons why a student may not participate (22, 23). Students Who Don’t Participate In an effort create a safe and supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable contributing to class discussion and by extension having better learning outcomes, it is important to consider some of the many reasons why students may be hesitant to participate in a class discussion. Zakrajsek discusses the many reasons why students do not participate in class in his blog, The Scholarly Teacher (24). Some of the reasons he identified are as follows: • • • • • • • • •

Introversion Shyness English as a second language Cultural differences Previous embarrassing or bad experience Cues/negative response from the instructor Lack of knowledge for response Lack of interest Fear of failure

STEM courses are often highly competitive weed-out courses, where students are ranked. One final consideration in drawing from my own undergraduate experience as well as my observations is that some students may not want to share their own knowledge, as they feel it will put them at a disadvantage. The curriculum is competitive, and students are extremely eager to make themselves stand out from their classmates, even if it pushes their classmates down lower in the distribution. Although this mentality is toxic, it remains present at many institutions. With all of the differing reasons students may not contribute, fostering participation seems daunting. The most important consideration is to encourage students to take ownership of their work. It is important to create a supportive learning environment, where students feel comfortable participating, and encourage students to use their scientific intuition to think deeply. The more students talk, the more they think. I seek to create the appropriate environment with this in mind.

Why I Use Multimedia Tools Cooperative and peer-led team learning has been shown to improve learning outcomes in STEM courses (25, 26). In my experience, peer-to-peer learning where students come up to the board and share their work is met with hesitation from students; certain students tend to dominate. In this chapter, I describe how I have used multimedia tools in the same way that my students are using their cameras in the classroom to foster participation. This method has helped my students take ownership of their work, without the pressure and isolation associated with sharing their solutions on the board. 75

I look around my lecture hall, and I see students with their laptops open and their phones out. Some faculty have a policy against phones and other technology in the classroom, but when I walk around the lecture hall, I note that most of the students use their laptops or tablets to take notes. Students even use their phones to capture pictures of my slides or to record a video solution. Initially, this practice made me feel uncomfortable: I post my slides on my website, both before and after lecture. Informally, I have asked students why they do this, and some have reported that lecture is too fast and it is the only way they can get the information before I advance to the next slide. Others explained that it can be difficult to see the screen or chalk board, so they capture an image so they can zoom in to see what the instructor has written. Figure 4 shows students capturing an explanation at the end of lecture with their cell phones.

Figure 4. Picture taken with permission of organic chemistry students taking a picture of an explanation at the end of lecture.

76

For a number of years, I have found it useful to lecture using a tablet rather than the board. I have also used tablets in a number of other ways in teaching, such as recording screencasts of solved problems. I will highlight other ways to use tablets in teaching at the end of this chapter. I have worked with a number of different platforms for tablet use in the classroom. In the current work, I describe the use of an iPad and application called “Explain Everything” to foster participation in the classroom. There are a number of suitable applications for tablets and iPads that are equipped with similar features (i.e., Notability, Good Notes, PowerPoint). In the following section, I will provide a step-by-step description of how I have used my iPad to capture images of student work in real time. This approach is not limited to this particular application or to the iPad. Any tablet or device that is capable of capturing pictures wirelessly and projected can be used in the same way.

Where To Use Multimedia Tools It was my overall goal to find a way to foster participation among students who might not typically feel inclined to participate. Experimenting with a new technology or pedagogical strategy comes with challenges. When piloting a new practice, I routinely select an off-track, summer, or low-enrollment course. The course I selected is a problem-solving–based course designed to help support students to succeed in organic chemistry, with a total enrollment of 30 students. The focus of the class is to expand upon the fundamental principles taught in the lecture. The course takes a mechanistic approach to predicting the products and solving synthesis-type chemistry problems. Students meet with the instructor weekly, and a worksheet including material from the previous week of lecture is provided. The class is divided into small groups, ideally composed of three or four students. Initially, some students are hesitant to get started, particularly if they are accustomed to instructor-directed lecture-type classrooms. After the first week, they realize that they are responsible for working through the problems. I typically circulate and help out with any questions. The students spend a little more than half of the class working through the problems, and then we go over the worksheets as a group. Although students are typically engaged in this course, and working through the problems during the time allotted, they rarely are interested in sharing their own solutions. Many students will verify their answers as the instructor circulates, but remain reluctant to participate. At the end of each class, the instructor reviews the solutions with the group and addresses any important questions that arise with the group. This setting would serve as an ideal testing environment for using the camera feature of my iPad to capture student solutions. I hypothesized that I could use the camera feature to capture student solutions with the overall objectives of getting students to be more engaged in their own learning and to take ownership of their work, and to see if I could highlight other ways of solving problems or common errors. After becoming more comfortable with the technology and fine-tuning the process, I have extended the use of the app in my larger lecture halls in a number of different ways and with differing levels of success. When I pose a question to the class or put a problem on the board. I am often met with silence. Other times, rather than engaging with the content, students wait for the instructor to provide the solution for them to copy down. Using this multimedia approach has encouraged students to work through the problems rather than wait for the answers. I have also used the app to show student answers and common errors after exams and quizzes. The following section provides a detailed description of the results. How To Use the App To Encourage Participation I describe an approach to foster participation in the classroom that employs use of the camera feature of an iPad paired with a whiteboard application called Explain Everything. This approach 77

can be used in any classroom, large or small. The model that has been used in the current work employs group work in an effort to maximize peer-to-peer engagement and create a collaborative environment among undergraduate organic chemistry students. This approach could also be used to improve participation among students working individually. Examples specific to organic chemistry problem solving are provided in an effort to depict the flow of the process more accurately. A brief discussion of classroom management during the process is also provided. Figure 5 shows a summary of how to use multimedia tools in the classroom to foster participation.

Figure 5. Overview of the process of using the application to foster participation and engage students in the content. Distribute Assignment and Assign Groups After a short introduction to the topic or examples modeled by the instructor, the assignment is distributed and students are assembled into groups. The best practices for group selection have been described and reviewed by others (27–29). In this work, students have both been allowed to self-select groups, and groups have been randomly assigned. The benefits of peer interactions have been described in a previous section. In some groups the process of group work comes very naturally; students actively participate, demonstrate excellent communication skills, and use critical thinking and scientific reasoning to come to a consensus on their answers. They collaborate, take ownership, and are eager to volunteer their work. In others, the process does not come quite as naturally. Typically, after a few weeks of the group-work model, students become more comfortable and engaged. Circulate Once the students have begun their work, the instructor and any teaching assistants or supplemental instruction leaders are free to circulate. In this way, instructors facilitate problem solving, make sure groups are staying on track and only intervene when the groups appear to be unproductive. In addition to the published benefits of active peer-to-peer interaction, this model enables the instructor and other teaching assistants to interact directly with students in small groups, 78

which would not be possible in the traditional lecture-style classroom. As the instructor circulates, he or she can identify common problems or misconceptions to highlight with the entire class. In my experience, the iPad is the most convenient type of tablet available at this time to capture images of student-generated work and seamlessly upload into a presentation in real time. Any tablet or cell phone equipped with a camera, however, can be used to capture student-generated media. Collect Images Student-generated media can be uploaded into the app at any time during a lecture or recitation session. As the instructor circulates the room, he or she may capture images of student-generated work. These images may be of correct solutions, common errors, alternative solutions, or anything relevant to the current learning objective. The whiteboard application that I use allows the user to insert media into an existing presentation or create a new presentation. Images or videos can be captured in real time or they can be uploaded from a library. The application is capable of supporting multiple types of media. Images, text, or videos can be added to the presentation before lecture or in real time. Highlight Student Work Since the implementation of multimedia tools in my classrooms the students have been more engaged in the content. I have found that using student-generated content has provided insight into the ways that students think through particular problems. The first example shows a first-semester organic chemistry group quiz question (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Instructor and student solutions to a first-semester organic chemistry quiz question. The first image shows the instructor’s solution, along with partial credit assignment to each point (Figure 6a). The next image is a solution captured from a group. The students showed cleavage of the bromine bond, followed by radical capture (Figure 6b). The last image shows another solution captured from student work. In this case the students used HBr in the mechanism, a reagent that was

79

not present in the prompt, and an incorrect solution (Figure 6c). Here, they have provided a correct major product, but their mechanism is incorrect. Figure 7 shows an example captured from a problem set. In this case the student had imported the problem set into his own tablet. The student work shown in blue suggests that this student is thinking through the bond changes mechanistically. The student solution is correct, but the student neglected to show the acid catalyst. I captured this solution and brought it to the attention of the class that an acid catalyst is required (shown in the figure as H+ in dashed line).

Figure 7. Image of a correct solution captured during a problem-solving session. The arrow shows the student was thinking through the bond changes mechanistically. The student neglected to show the acid catalyst in the first step, which was added in by the instructor dashed line. One of the most beneficial features from an instructional standpoint is to highlight common errors. Immediate formative feedback has been shown to facilitate learning and improve retention (4, 30, 31). By simply by circulating the lecture hall and walking to the back of the classroom, the instructor can shift the energy of the classroom. Having the instructor actively work with students and capture examples helps to highlight common misconceptions in an immediate informative manner.

Figure 8. Image captured from a group quiz. Student work shown in blue, instructor corrections shown in dashed lines.

80

Similarly, when reviewing graded material, I often see the same errors over and over again. Figure 8 shows an example of one of the most common errors I see as an instructor of introductory organic chemistry—an incorrect flow of electrons. The figure shows a partial solution to a multipart question in which the student arrived at the correct answer to the predict-the-product type question, but the chemical thinking was incorrect. The correct answer to the first part creates a fluency illusion for the student, because they receive credit for the correct answer. The bond changes are correct; however, the flow of electrons is incorrect. The second part of the question asked for the mechanistic explanation of the answer provided in the first part. The student solution was captured and uploaded. I was able to go through each step in detail, explaining in red ink the correct flow of electrons. The application also has the ability to record both the audio and video. This is a powerful tool, as explanations to frequent misconceptions can be collected and posted to a course website or learningmanagement platform as a resource for the class. Figure 9 shows another image captured from a group problem-solving session. In this case, the student had the correct solution to the given reaction conditions, but neglected to show stereochemistry, a very common error among beginning organic chemistry students. Many times, the student work that I capture highlights errors that I may not anticipate or notice until going through graded material.

Figure 9. Image captured from a problem-solving session. Student work in black shows correct substitution, but neglects to show the stereochemistry. Instructor corrections are shown (lower portion). I also have found the app to be useful in fostering participation by showing alternative, but correct solutions to problems generated by students. I typically teach second-semester organic chemistry. Many of the problems that we solve in the course are multistep synthesis problems. As the number of reactions that the students learn continues to increase, there can be multiple correct ways to solve a problem. Students often come up with a synthesis that is not incorrect, but is different than the route I choose to show. Other times, it is useful as an instructor to go through each step of a student’s synthesis and describe why it may not work as they proposed. This tool has proven to be invaluable in my organic classroom. A number of groups have published work on presenting mechanistic thinking and curved arrow notation to students learning organic chemistry (32, 33). Researchers suggest that visualization is central to learning in the sciences (34). Since I began teaching organic chemistry, I have employed a mechanistic approach to the topic, presenting reaction mechanisms and bond changes in a stepwise fashion either on the board or using a tablet. It later came to my attention that rather than thinking through reaction mechanisms in a step-by-step fashion, that novices of organic chemistry “decorate” their reaction mechanisms with arrows. After studying the way students think using a tablet-based technology, it has been suggested some students do not use mechanistic convention at all (33). Introductory students of organic chemistry have a difficult time using and constructing reaction

81

mechanisms (33, 35). The multimedia whiteboard application discussed in the current work allows me to model stepwise reaction mechanisms, showing each bond change and intermediate. Overall feedback from students on their experience has been positive. Initially students may not see the value of group work and collaborative learning. They may be under the false impression that learning takes place when the instructor is lecturing. After some buy-in, students have had an overall positive response to the use of multimedia tools to incorporate student-generated work in the classroom, and it has helped to make students more engaged in their work. I have included a few quotes describing the student experience. I love this tool! I find it challenging to speak up and share my work. It can be very intimidating in the classroom setting and this is the first time I have felt comfortable sharing my work in the classroom environment. It is really easy to be disengaged or distracted when only one person is participating. This makes class more fun, because I know my voice will be heard. It provides an opportunity for the students to be in a small group setting in which they can easily ask the professor questions in an accessible manner. The students sitting in the same table are able to help each other out and doing practice problems are helpful. I really like how the instructor uses student solutions when going over the answers.

Other Ways Multimedia Tools Can Be Used in Teaching The body of this work was aimed at describing how multimedia can be used to foster participation. It is worthwhile to describe a number of other ways that I have used this same multimedia tool outside of the classroom, as much of the learning takes place outside of the chemistry classroom. Figure 10 shows a flowchart summarizing when to use multimedia tools.

Figure 10. Overview describing how multimedia tools can be used in the classroom. Before exams I am often bombarded with hundreds of e-mails and they are often the same questions. The screen recording feature of the tablet provides a straightforward way to generate a screencast with detailed visual and audio explanations to be posted to my course website. This can be more effective than replying to multiple e-mails or even posting a written explanation to the course website. Students are able to log in and post their own questions or clarifications using the message 82

board feature of the website. In this way, students are participating in the discussion. After quizzes or exams, there is often not enough class time available to review explanations of the entire exam or quiz as a class. The screencasting feature can be used to generate a video explanation of an entire exam or quiz or to highlight common misconceptions. In the previous section, I described capturing common student errors in real time during a classroom exercise (Figures 9 and 10). Multimedia can also be used when reviewing graded material to capture errors or common misconceptions after exams. This work can be brought into lecture or discussion to be addressed by the whole class. Multimedia tools both inside and outside the chemistry classroom provide a powerful way to deliver content in a diverse way. The application described here has numerous other powerful features, and I can only imagine that the different types of applications and educational resources will continue to grow and improve in the future. Students enrolled in my classes have also participated in an extracredit project to create an organic reaction mechanism video using multimedia tools. The video explanations are added to our library of reaction mechanism video explanations hosted on our course website. In this way, they are using multimedia to participate in collaborative and student-led learning

Conclusion and Future Outlook Although the primary goal of this publication is to discuss the use of multimedia tools in the classroom to foster participation, multimedia tools such as the one described herein can be invaluable to instruction in many other ways. I have focused this discussion on group work as a tool to foster participation and collaboration in the classroom. I have worked to create a safe community both inside and outside of my chemistry classroom, where students are engaged and active. Techology changes at a rapid speed and whiteboard applications will continue to add new features. I have extended this work by taking advantage of the screencasting feature of multimedia tools specifically to deliver organic reaction mechanisms, and have created a growing library of student-generated reaction mechanism videos. I plan to continue my work in this area with the overall goal to keep students actively engaged in their learning.

References 1.

2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Gasiewski, J. A.; Eagan, M. K.; Garcia, G. A.; Hurtado, S.; Chang, M. J. From Gatekeeping to Engagement: A Multicontextual, Mixed Method Study of Student Academic Engagement in Introductory STEM Courses. Res. Higher Educ. 2012, 53, 229–261. Freeman, S.; Eddy, S. L.; McDonough, M.; Smith, M. K.; Okoroafor, N.; Jordt, H.; Wenderoth, M. P. Active Learning Increases Student Performance in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2014, 111, 8410. Wieman, C. E. Large-Scale Comparison of Science Teaching Methods Sends Clear Message. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2014, 111, 8319. Ryan, M. D.; Reid, S. A. Impact of the Flipped Classroom on Student Performance and Retention: A Parallel Controlled Study in General Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93, 13–23. Lewis, S. E. Retention and Reform: An Evaluation of Peer-Led Team Learning. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 703–707. Maton, K. I.; Beason, T. S.; Godsay, S.; Sto. Domingo, M. R.; Bailey, T. C.; Sun, S.; Hrabowski, F. A. Outcomes and Processes in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program: STEM PhD Completion, Sense of Community, Perceived Program Benefit, Science Identity, and Research Self-Efficacy. CBE Life Sci. Educ. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.16-01-0062. 83

7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

18. 19.

20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

Cooper, M. M. Cooperative Learning: An Approach for Large Enrollment Courses. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 162. Stegall, S. L.; Grushow, A.; Whitnell, R.; Hunnicutt, S. S. Evaluating the Effectiveness of POGIL–PCL Workshops. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2016, 17, 407–416. Wamser, C. C. Peer-Led Team Learning in Organic Chemistry: Effects on Student Performance, Success, and Persistence in the Course. J. Chem. Educ. 2006, 83, 1562–1566. Ngai, C.; Sevian, H.; Talanquer, V. What Is This Substance? What Makes It Different? Mapping Progression in Students’ Assumptions about Chemical Identity. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 2014, 36, 2438–2461. Homme, J.; Asay, G.; Morgenstern, B. Utilisation of an Audience Response System. Med. Educ. 2004, 38, 575–575. Draper, S. W.; Brown, M. I. Increasing Interactivity in Lectures Using an Electronic Voting System. J. Comput. Assist. Learn. 2004, 20, 81–94. Stockwell, B. R.; Stockwell, M. S.; Cennamo, M.; Jiang, E. Blended Learning Improves Science Education. Cell 2015, 162, 933–936. Stockwell, B. R.; Stockwell, M. S.; Jiang, E. Group Problem Solving in Class Improves Undergraduate Learning. ACS Cent. Sci. 2017, 3, 614–620. Haak, D. C.; HilleRisLambers, J.; Pitre, E.; Freeman, S. Increased Structure and Active Learning Reduce the Achievement Gap in Introductory Biology. Science 2011, 332, 1213. Knight, J. K.; Wood, W. B. Teaching More by Lecturing Less. Cell Biol. Educ. 2005, 4, 298–310. Lopez, E. J.; Shavelson, R. J.; Nandagopal, K.; Szu, E.; Penn, J. Factors Contributing to Problem-Solving Performance in First-Semester Organic Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 976–981. Kibble, J. D.; Bellew, C.; Asmar, A.; Barkley, L. Team-Based Learning in Large Enrollment Classes. Adv. Physiol. Educ. 2016, 40, 435–442. Farland, M. Z.; Sicat, B. L.; Franks, A. S.; Pater, K. S.; Medina, M. S.; Persky, A. M. Best Practices for Implementing Team-Based Learning in Pharmacy Education. Am. J. Pharm. Educ. 2013, 77, 177. Eberlein, T.; Kampmeier, J.; Minderhout, V.; Moog, R. S.; Platt, T.; Varma-Nelson, P.; White, H. B. Pedagogies of Engagement in Science: A Comparison of PBL, POGIL, and PLTL*. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 2008, 36, 262–273. Brown, P. C.; Roediger, H. L., III; McDaniel, M. A. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning; The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 2014. Fisher, D.; Frey, N.; Rothenberg, C. Content-Area Conversations: How to Plan Discussion-Based Lessons for Diverse Language Learners; ASCD: Alexandria, VA, 2008. Ina, B.; Azy, B. How Do Personality, Synchronous Media, and Discussion Topic Affect Participation? Educ. Technol. Soc. 2012, 15, 12–24. Zakrajsek, T. Students Who Don’t Participate in Class Discussions: They Are Not All Introverts. The Scholarly Teacher [blog], April 13, 2017; Vol. 2019. https://www. scholarlyteacher.com/blog/students-who-dont-participate-in-class-discussions (date accessed January 9, 2019).

84

25. Kreke, K.; Towns, M. Student Perspectives of Small-Group Learning Activities. Chem. Educ. 1998, 3 (4), 1–23. 26. Wilson, S. B.; Varma-Nelson, P. Small Groups, Significant Impact: A Review of Peer-Led Team Learning Research with Implications for STEM Education Researchers and Faculty. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93, 1686–1702. 27. Burke, A. Group Work: How To Use Groups Effectively. J. Effective Teach. 2011, 11, 87–95. 28. Chang, Y.; Brickman, P. When Group Work Doesn’t Work: Insights from Students. CBE Life Sci. Educ. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.17-09-0199. 29. Riebe, L.; Girardi, A.; Whitsed, C. A Systematic Literature Review of Teamwork Pedagogy in Higher Education. Small Group Res. 2016, 47, 619–664. 30. Mah, D. K. Learning Analytics and Digital Badges: Potential Impact on Student Retention in Higher Education. Technol. Knowl. Learn. 2016, 21, 285–305. 31. Shields, R.; Chugh, R. Digital Badges—Rewards for Learning? Educ. Inform. Technol. 2017, 22, 1817–1824. 32. Ault, A. Telling It Like It Is: Teaching Mechanisms in Organic Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87, 937–941. 33. Grove, N. P.; Cooper, M. M.; Rush, K. M. Decorating with Arrows: Toward the Development of Representational Competence in Organic Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 844–849. 34. Gilbert, J. K. Visualization in Science Education; Springer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2005. 35. Johnstone, A. H. You Can’t Get There from Here. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87, 22–29.

85

Chapter 6

Video Assessment of Students’ Lab Skills Catherine Skibo* Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Digital badges are becoming more commonly used as a means of evidence-based assessment of student learning. In this chapter, I explain how digital lab skill badges were implemented in the general chemistry program at the University of Southern California beginning in the fall 2016 semester. The skill badges were introduced as we restructured assessment in our lab curriculum to focus less on written lab exams and more on students’ practical and experimental skills in lab. I detail how we chose which skills to assess and, focusing on the skill of vacuum filtration, explain how teaching assistants (TAs) manage filming in lab, how students submit their videos for assessment, and the grading process. Additionally, I describe recent changes and improvements we have made, including migrating from an in-house class website and database to Blackboard, adjusting point values for badges, and introducing a skill mastery bonus for students who successfully earn all three badges. Lastly, I will address some of the issues we have encountered while implementing skill videos into our program, including problems that arose during filming and difficulties uploading and viewing the videos.

Why Use Videos in Lab Assessment? Digital badges are becoming more commonly used as a means of evidence-based assessment of student learning (1). In chemical education, specifically, digital badges have been used for both high school and undergraduate chemistry labs (2–4). In this chapter, I will explain how we implemented lab skill badges in the general chemistry program at the University of Southern California beginning in the fall 2016 semester. As the general chemistry lab director at the University of Southern California, I design, implement, and manage the labs for the Chem 105 series, which is a typical two-semester general chemistry program for the majority of the student population (approximately 600 students in the fall semester and 200 students in the spring semester). When I took over the position, the lab assessments in the Chem 105 series were primarily quizzes and written exams. The students completed an online prelab quiz and a lab report for each week of lab (typically 10 weeks, depending on the semester). They also took two 1 h written lab exams. The exams accounted for 50% of the total © 2019 American Chemical Society

lab points, and the online prelab quizzes accounted for 20%, while the 10 lab reports were only worth a combined 30% of the lab grade. As such, 70% of the lab grade was based on testing with no direct assessment of students’ lab skills. I restructured the lab program to place a greater emphasis on students’ lab work. In the new assessment structure, the point value for lab reports increased to 60% of the lab points, and points awarded for written lab exams were decreased. The second lab exam was replaced with a 1 h lab practical, and the two exams combined were worth 20% of the lab points. Students have a great deal of help available to them while working in lab and on lab reports. Each lab has multiple teaching assistants (TAs) monitoring students and answering questions, and students often work in groups of two to three. Outside of lab, there are approximately 20 h of TA and instructor office hours for students seeking help. It was often difficult to know what students could accomplish in the lab without assistance. The lab practical allowed us to assess a student’s ability to carry out an experiment based on lab techniques learned during the semester. However, there was still little direct assessment of their lab skills. We could infer from the results of their lab practical experiments which students were skilldeficient in lab and which excelled. For example, students who relied on lab partners to do the bulk of the work often left the practical work space blank, while students who excelled in lab had a miniscule percentage of errors in their answers. There were a few points of the lab practical score assigned to lab safety and technique, but it was not by any means an in-depth assessment of practical lab skills. In discussions with other lab directors, I learned how other schools were assessing practical lab skills. One solution of particular interest was a multiyear program in which assessments of students’ lab skills throughout the program resulted in a skill profile that students would be able to show employers after graduating. Instructors assessed and observed students regularly throughout each course, and, if a student showed a lack of proficiency in a previously assessed skill, the student had to re-earn that skill for their profile. While there are many benefits to implementing a similar program, this method of assessing the students’ skills was not practically possible in our program. As with many other medium to large U.S. universities, TAs in general chemistry are typically first-year students in the Ph.D. program. It is uncommon for our TAs to have much, if any, teaching experience prior to beginning graduate school. Upon arrival, our program has a three-day TA training session that covers the basics, but most of their training occurs on the job. TAs have many responsibilities outside of teaching as well, including their graduate classes and research rotations; therefore, we aim to minimize the amount of time they need to devote to teaching and make grading as efficient as possible. After reading Towns et al., I realized we could implement skill badges as an evidence-based method for student skill assessment (2). Previously, our second semester general and organic chemistry courses offered a lab technique video project for extra credit, in which students worked in groups to make videos explaining a lab skill or technique. This program meant we already had the platform in place for students to upload videos. In discussions with the other lab directors in the department, we considered all the skills we could assess in lab using videos. These skills included using a balance, measuring the mass of a solid, performing a vacuum filtration, and using a buret for titration. In fall 2016, we decided to start with three skills in general chemistry to avoid overwhelming students and TAs, with the possibility of expanding the number of general chemistry skills assessed and potentially including organic chemistry skills such as vacuum filtration using a vacuum trap, setting up a distillation apparatus, and setting up and running a thin-layer chromatography plate. To maximize efficiency of the filming process and to minimize the grading time for TAs, who each grade up to 36 students, the skill badge videos were limited to approximately 3 min. 88

Deciding Which Skills To Assess Using Skill Badges There are obviously many lab skills that can be assessed using skill badges. We chose to focus on three skills to assess the students’ ability to correctly and safely use laboratory equipment: (1) pipetting with a graduated pipet and pipet bulb, (2) performing vacuum filtration, and (3) setting up a Bunsen burner apparatus. These skills are used multiple times in the general chemistry program, as well as in later chemistry courses, and are not already directly assessed in any of the experiments. Use of burets was not chosen for a skill badge, for example, because students carry out a two-week titration lab in which their skill with the burets is assessed by the accuracy and precision of their results. Pipetting was chosen, as in Towns et al., because it is such a commonly used lab skill, both in chemistry and biology, and students were generally not using the equipment correctly (2). When I took over the lab program, each lab drawer contained a 10 mL pipet and a 10 mL pipet pump. Pipet pumps frequently had to be replaced because the white silicone seals were damaged or missing. Students would jam the pipet into the pipet pump, damaging the seal or removing it entirely. We replaced all the pipet pumps with simple pipet bulbs that have tapered polyethylene chucks to fit a variety of pipet sizes. While using a pipet bulb to fill a pipet is more challenging than using a pipet pump, our goal was to have the students be able to accurately measure and transfer volumes of liquid without damaging the equipment or hurting themselves. We expect students to be able to fill the pipet without getting solution into the bulb. They must replace the bulb with their fingers, drain the pipet to the desired level after wiping the outside of the pipet dry, and then drain the measured volume of solution correctly without ejecting the liquid from the pipet tip. We chose vacuum filtration as one of the skills to assess also because it is commonly used in general chemistry and organic chemistry labs. In general chemistry labs, students would often forget to wet the filter paper before filtering their mixture, resulting in solids passing through the Büchner funnel into the filtration flask. As a result, they either had to refilter the filtrate or, if they did not have time, move on with contaminated filtrate or a low yield of solid. The problems persisted in organic chemistry labs. The organic chemistry lab director expressed frustration that students in organic labs did not know how to use vacuum filtration. The biggest issue was that students did not clamp their filtration flask to the ring stand and, inevitably, the filtration apparatus would tip over. Not only did students lose their products and have to start the experiment again, but a significant number of filtration flasks and Büchner funnels broke when the apparatus tipped over. The filtration skill badge focuses on making sure students clamp the flask and can successfully filter a mixture of activated carbon powder and water. Any water-insoluble solid could be used; we used activated carbon because it is inexpensive, safe, and easily visible in the videos. For the third skill badge, students must show they can set up a Bunsen burner apparatus to heat a beaker of water. While many schools use hot plates instead of open flames, we use both in our general chemistry labs. Bunsen burners are specifically used in two experiments in the first semester. In the first experiment, the Bunsen burner is used to efficiently heat up the solution mixture. In the second experiment, an open flame is necessary for the flame test procedure. Students have the option to use hot plates or Bunsen burners for other experiments. For this skill badge, in addition to setting up the apparatus and producing a “roaring blue flame,” safe practice is strongly emphasized. While open flames may not be used as regularly in labs, the safety knowledge emphasized in this skill badge is applicable to the use of hot plates as well. In the video, students must narrate all safety precautions taken prior to and during filming. The apparatus must be set up with the base iron ring at a safe height and a secondary iron ring around the beaker. The students must demonstrate lighting and adjusting

89

the flame as well as proper use of beaker tongs to carefully move the beaker from the apparatus to the lab bench. In addition to improvement in students’ lab skills, since 2016 we have noticed a decrease in both broken lab equipment and the number of lab accidents. Minor injuries still occur, such as cuts and burns, but less often than in the past. This decrease is not exclusively attributed to lab skill badges, as we have implemented safety projects in the lab courses as well; however, it is fair to say that students are less likely to get injured if they use equipment correctly and without breaking it.

Implementing the Skill Badges in a Large-Scale General Chemistry Program Students first learn about the lab skill badges during the lab orientation lecture at the beginning of the semester. Prior to and during lab, students are provided with instructions regarding each skill and are encouraged to practice the skill before filming the skill badge video in a later week. Instructions for the three skills are included in the lab manual and on our class Blackboard page. An example of skill instructions for the vacuum filtration badge is shown in Table 1. The skill instructions detail each step of the skill, and all new apparatus vocabulary is underlined. At the beginning of the week in which each lab skill is introduced, the TAs demonstrate the technique. Additionally, as students are not allowed to bring their lab manuals to lab, we provide everyone with copies of skill instructions for reference as they learn and practice the skill. Students are encouraged to practice the skill each week before they film their videos. Table 1. Vacuum Filtration Skill Instructions 1. Clamp the filtration flask to the ring stand. 2. Attach the hose to the side-arm of the filtration flask and to the vacuum valve. 3. Place the adaptor in the opening of the flask. 4. Place the Büchner funnel in the adaptor. 5. Place the filter paper insider the Büchner funnel. 6. Wet the filter with the solvent in the experiment (in general chemistry, this is usually water). 7. Turn the vacuum on. 8. Pour the mixture from the beaker into the funnel slowly. If solid remains in your beaker, use solvent to rinse the beaker. 9. After the filtration is complete, turn the vacuum off. Break the vacuum by removing the hose from the side-arm of the filtration flask. 10. If the filtrate is contaminated with precipitate, repeat the filtration. 11. Make sure you can identify all parts of the apparatus.

On the day of filming, students are provided with instructions and given 15 min to film their videos at the beginning of lab (after taking a prelab quiz and before the TA’s prelab talk). This time allotment allows a pair of students approximately 5 min to obtain the required equipment and 5 min for each student to set up and film their videos. An example of the video instructions for the filtration badge is shown in Table 2. The video instructions explain what the students should include in the video but are less detailed than the skill instructions, and they do not include the vocabulary or names of the apparatus. Students work in pairs, each taking a turn to film the other, while the TAs monitor the time and assist with technical difficulties. If there are an odd number of students in the class, a TA will film one of the students. In the video, the student being filmed must identify themselves and the lab TA, narrate each step, and name each part of the apparatus.

90

Table 2. Vacuum Filtration Badge Instructions 1. State your name and your TA’s name. a. Remember to narrate the video; explain each step of what you are doing. 2. Your face and hands must be shown in the video at the beginning. 3. Identify and name each part of the apparatus. 4. Assemble the filtration apparatus. 5. Show the unfiltered mixture. 6. Turn the vacuum on. 7. Use the apparatus to filter the mixture. 8. After the filtration is complete, turn the vacuum off, and break the vacuum. 9. Place the flask on a paper towel to show the filtrate. 10. If the filtrate is contaminated with precipitate, repeat the filtration.

Students upload their videos the same day after lab to be evaluated by their TA. Instructions for uploading the videos are included on the back side of the badge instructions; the fall 2018 instructions can be seen in Table 3. We have used two different platforms for student videos. When we first started the skill videos, students uploaded their videos to our class website, which is hosted on a server within our department and managed in house. During the upload process, the videos were converted to mp4 format, and the uploaded files could be rotated in the grading interface if necessary and viewed at half speed and at double speed, which was helpful for grading. Starting in the summer 2018 semester, we migrated the labs to Blackboard, an online learning management system, in order to take advantage of Turnitin, a plagiarism prevention service. During the migration, we explored the different ways that students could share their videos with us. Our campus’s Blackboard instructional support staff was invaluable in helping with the overall transition. Currently, students upload their videos through the Journals tool in Blackboard. There is a journal for each lab skill badge, and the students create a journal entry in which they submit their videos. Students have several options for submitting their videos. They must first upload their video to a video-sharing website, such as YouTube or Vimeo, after which they can either embed the video into their journal entry using the Mashups function or simply provide the URL to the video in their entry. Table 3. Submission Instructions Provided to Students How to submit your badge video • Log in to the Chem 105a Blackboard page. • Click on Tools, then click Journals. • Click the assignment link, then click Create Journal Entry. • Give your entry a title and include the attempt number (attempt 1, attempt 2, etc.). • Upload the video to YouTube. You have two options to submit your video: Click on the red YouTube icon at the bottom left in the toolbar to search your YouTube account for your skill badge video and submit. The toolbar can be expanded by clicking the chevron icon at the top right of the toolbar. Alternately, you can copy/paste the URL into the journal entry. • After the video is graded, check back for comments. • Notify your TA if you had any issues submitting your video!

Using Blackboard for the videos, or our class website as in past semesters, is helpful in terms of course organization. It simplifies the process of grading and returning feedback to the students. However, skill badge videos can be implemented into a course without a dedicated platform for it, as long as the students and instructors can access a video-sharing website. 91

Grading the Skill Badges Approximately 600 students enroll in the first semester fall general chemistry course, and approximately 200 students enroll in the spring semester. While having one person grade all the videos would be ideal for consistency, it is impractical due to the number of students. As such, laboratory TAs, who are all chemistry Ph.D. students, grade the skill badge videos. The maximum enrollment per lab section is 18 in the fall semester; as each graduate TA teaches two lab sections a week, each TA grades videos for a maximum of 36 students. At approximately 3 min per video, grading each video should not take more than 2 h. While developing the lab skill badge assignments, the points per badge were kept relatively low (5 points per badge). The total lab points for the semester were typically around 300, making the three skill badges worth 5% of the students’ final lab scores. To earn the badge, a student must score at least 4 of 5 points on the video. If a student does not earn the skill badge on the first attempt, they have a second chance in a later week, but they can only earn a maximum score of 4 points. Our reasoning for not giving full credit on the second attempt was to lessen the grading burden on the TAs. We want to encourage students who did not earn the badge on the first attempt to try again without the TAs having to grade multiple attempts for every student. Most students in our class are highly motivated by grades and try to earn all possible points, but, for less motivated students, the stakes were low enough that they did not all attempt the skill badge a second time. On the other hand, highly motivated students who earned their badge on the first attempt with a score of 4 might reattempt the video to earn full credit. To encourage students to reattempt the skill badge videos, 5 points of “Skill Master” extra credit were awarded to each student who mastered all three skill badges. Starting in the spring 2019 semester, the skill badge points were doubled to 10 points each (30 points overall), which is 10% of the final lab score. The minimum to earn each badge will be 8 points, while the extra credit will remain at 5 points. A student who earns each badge on the first attempt will earn 35 points, while a student who earns each badge on the second attempt will earn only 29 points; taking the extra credit into account, this is still almost all of the possible points. Preliminary results from the Spring 2019 semester showed that the new point structure did encourage more students to pass on their first attempt. Hopefully, this trend carries through to the larger on-track class in the fall semester. Additionally, we have found that how the skill badges are introduced to the students has a noticeable effect on students’ attitudes toward them. While the badges are still a means of assessment, the students’ attitudes toward them have changed as we have reframed the badges as an opportunity to demonstrate the accomplishment of learning a new skill instead of as a mandatory lab skill quiz. Given that they have several opportunities to master the skill, the students challenge themselves to improve rather than giving up if they do not achieve the badge on the first attempt. The TAs are provided with a grading rubric for each skill badge. The rubrics are designed so that a student can still earn the badge if he or she makes only minor mistakes (e.g., a mistake in the naming of the apparatus or missing a step in the narration). Points are not deducted for grammar or for mispronunciation as long as the meaning is clear. A student cannot earn the badge if they make more serious mistakes. As explained in the rubric for the vacuum filtration skill badge (Table 4), a student must assemble the apparatus correctly, including clamping the flask to the ring stand and hooking the apparatus up to the correct utility, to earn the badge. The student must also wet the filter paper and turn the vacuum on prior to pouring their mixture slowly into the funnel. The student must show the filtrate in the video and understand that if the filtrate is contaminated, it must be refiltered. The rubric provided to the TAs includes both the complete skill instructions and the badge video instructions for reference. 92

Table 4. Vacuum Filtration Badge Rubric, Spring 2019 First attempt: 10 points; Second attempt: 8 points Apparatus was assembled incorrectly

No credit

Student did not clamp the filtration flask

No credit

Student connected to wrong nozzle (compressed air or gas)

No credit

Student missed a step in the video instructions

No credit

Narration is incomplete

−1 point per missing step

Student forgot to wet the filter paper

−3 points

Student poured the mixture VERY quickly

−2 points

Student did not break the vacuum correctly

−2 points

Filtrate is contaminated after filtration

−2 points

Part of the apparatus is not named correctly (see below)

−1 point each

• Names and parts of the apparatus • Clamp • Filtration flask (alternately, side-arm flask, Büchner flask) • Hose • Adaptor (or rubber adaptor) • Büchner funnel (poor pronunciation is acceptable, but should be noted) • Filter paper

Troubleshooting We have encountered a few issues implementing the skill badge videos in our lab program, but none were insurmountable. One of the first issues that arose was deciding when to have the students film their videos during the lab period. Should students film their videos whenever they have time during the lab, or should they film at the beginning or end of lab? TAs reported that it was chaotic to wait until the end of lab to have students film their videos. In this case, all the students would be filming at different times, making it more challenging for TAs to monitor them. Some students would not finish the experiment in time to film their videos, so they would have to film them during another week of lab. We found it was much easier to manage the filming process if we had the whole lab section make their videos at the beginning of lab. All the supplies were placed out for them. For each student to film a 3 min video, each student pair would need a minimum of 6 min. We decided a total of 15 min was ideal to allow each student time to get supplies and to set up. This time frame was sufficient for both students to comfortably film their videos without using up so much of the lab period that they were unable to complete the day’s experiment. Another early problem we encountered was that of excessive background noise in the videos. We are fortunate to use recently renovated, open format lab spaces that can accommodate up to 80 students at a time. In our largest lab room, there are also 12 fume hoods that generate a fair amount of noise. The lab designers did consider noise when designing the space; there is acoustic tiling overhead that limits the amount of background noise. However, because we have all the students in a lab section film their videos in one 15 min segment at the beginning of lab, there are a lot of people speaking at the same time. While the TAs could hear the student narration without too much difficulty for most students’ videos, there were some students who the TAs could not understand, perhaps because they were reserved or not confident. In addition to instructing the students to speak 93

clearly and confidently in their videos, we found that the problem could be minimized if the filming partner simply moved closer. Inevitably, as electronics are involved, we ran into technical issues with students’ phones, both in filming and uploading videos. The most common filming problems were students’ phone batteries dying before or during filming and phones not having enough memory to film the videos. If these occurred during the lab, students simply used someone else’s phone to film the video. Most lab partners work together throughout the semester, so they typically know each other well and, at the very least, have access to each other’s contact information. To minimize future occurrences, I made sure to announce to the students in advance when they would be filming skill badges. The announcements encourage them to make sure their phones are charged (and possibly to bring a charger to lab) and that they have enough room on their phones for the video. We do not require the videos to be any particular resolution, so students can lower the filming resolution to use less memory. Students are instructed to try filming a 3 min video on their phones before they come to lab to ensure they have enough memory for the skill badge video. There were also the occasions when the videos were out of focus or did not correctly frame the student attempting the skill badge. While rare, these situations are obviously not the fault of the student being filmed. Students can check their videos in lab and bring up any such issue with the TA before leaving. If the TA agrees that the filming issues are not the fault of the student, typically the TA will refilm the student attempting the badge the same day. One recurring issue we encounter every semester is the inability of at least one student to upload their video for some reason. With the original system of having students upload their videos to our class website, this would typically result in a broken link, and the student may not have known there was a problem during the upload. The issue would be discovered when the TAs were grading the videos, and the student would have to be contacted to try uploading their video again. Both the website manager and I had the ability to clear these broken links, so the issue was always resolved. However, it delayed the grading process and caused stress for the students and TAs. Now that we have migrated to Blackboard, this is less of an issue. The students upload their videos to YouTube and then link to the video in a journal entry for that skill badge. Some students still encounter trouble uploading, presumably caused either by an issue with their phones or with their internet connections. While there were several options for where in Blackboard the students could upload their videos, including blogs and journals, we decided that the Journals tool was the better option for us. Journal entries can be linked to the course gradebook. They can be set to public or private; our journal settings allow only the instructor and grader to view a student’s journal entries. The TAs can mark the grade for the skill badge video and leave comments in the Journals tool. Students can create multiple entries if they need to submit a second attempt video for the badge. There are also multiple options within the journal entries. During the summer 2018 semester, we had students directly upload the videos into their journal entries. However, the grading TAs encountered issues with playback of the uploaded videos, and we found that having students link to their YouTube videos minimized this problem.

Summary and Future Plans In summary, we implemented skill badges in our general chemistry lab curriculum as a means of evidence-based assessment of our students’ practical lab skills starting in the fall 2016 semester. We have observed that students’ lab skills have improved, and the number of accidents and broken equipment has decreased. Current plans for improvement include providing example videos for each of the skills, as we occasionally have TAs, usually interested in theoretical research, whose own lab 94

skills could use practice or who are not effective demonstrators. An example video will provide a uniform starting point for all students, regardless of TA. The sample videos will consist of a TA demonstrating and explaining each technique, making sure to emphasize all new vocabulary. The videos were posted on Blackboard in the spring 2019 semester prior to the students learning the skill. Possible future plans include expanding the skill badges to include more skills in general chemistry or possibly organic chemistry.

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

Fong, J.; Janzow, P.; Peck, K. Demographic Shifts in Educational Demand and the Rise of Alternative Credentials; Pearson Education and UPCEA, 2016. https://upcea.edu/wp-content/ uploads/2017/05/Demographic-Shifts-in-Educational-Demand-and-the-Rise-ofAlternative-Credentials.pdf (accessed April 8, 2019). Towns, M.; Harwood, C. J.; Robertshaw, M. B.; Fish, J.; O’Shea, K. The Digital Pipetting Badge: A Method To Improve Student Hands-On Laboratory Skills. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92, 2038–2044. Hensiek, S.; DeKorver, B. K.; Harwood, C. J.; Fish, J.; O’Shea, K.; Towns, M. Improving and Assessing Students Hands-On Laboratory Skills Through Digital Badging. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93, 1847–1854. Hennah, N.; Seery, M. K. Using Digital Badges for Developing High School Chemistry Laboratory Skills. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 844–848.

95

Chapter 7

Videotaping Experiments in an Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Course at Pace University Elmer-Rico E. Mojica and Rita K. Upmacis* Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University, New York, New York 10038, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Instructional videos for laboratory experiments performed in an analytical chemistry course were developed to show undergraduate students enrolled in the course how to conduct experiments. Students watched the videos before coming to the laboratory class. The effectiveness of using these videos was evaluated via a postlaboratory survey. The overall response to these videos was positive, with students reporting that the videos helped them to prepare beforehand and to understand the concepts covered in the experiment. The shortened discussion time at the beginning of class resulted in more laboratory time for the students to focus on performing the experiment and for the instructors to supervise, answer questions, make corrections to laboratory techniques, and ensure that the experiment is conducted in a safe manner.

Introduction The laboratory component of a course plays an important role in science education, particularly chemistry. The main purpose of this activity is to reinforce the core concepts discussed in lectures through performance of the experiment. The laboratory setting provides a way to present material in a format different from the lecture and to expose the students to new skills (1). Typically, the laboratory component consists of a prelaboratory exercise/assignment, a laboratory lecture, and then conducting the experiment by following the written procedure in a laboratory manual. The laboratory activity is widely characterized as an essential part of the students’ education in the chemical sciences, as this teaching component is often the only opportunity for students to gain practical skills (2). Observational, problem-solving, inferential, technical (manipulative), and even social skills are usually developed during laboratory work. In addition, this component also gives students the chance to build their confidence, stimulate their interest in science, and develop positive attitudes toward the subject matter, all of which are indispensable for student success and course retention (3). © 2019 American Chemical Society

However, the success of gaining these skills from laboratory work depends mostly on student participation. There is evidence that students are able to complete their laboratory work without acquiring these beneficial skills. One reason these skills might not be achieved is the cognitive overload that students usually encounter in a laboratory class. Among the sources of cognitive overload in a typical science laboratory class are the following: difficulty in following a detailed laboratory manual or verbal instructions, presentation of unfamiliar materials or equipment, unfamiliarity with the theoretical background, and inefficient time management (4). One way to minimize this problem is to conduct a prelaboratory activity. This activity will allow students to collapse the information that they need to learn into smaller pieces, thus reducing the amount of new material that they will need to learn during the laboratory class and allowing the students to better absorb any new information discussed during the class. In this way, completing the prelaboratory activity will help to reduce cognitive overload and will enable deeper engagement with the material. A previous study has reported that a “prepared mind” will be more likely to separate important experimental observations from extraneous “noise” caused by the preoccupation with technical issues. However, to be successful, the prelaboratory activity should be required or grade mandated, as students will not perform the activity to prepare for the laboratory (5). Among the prelaboratory activities that have been proposed to reduce cognitive overload is the development of instructional videos. The use of videos in the educational context continues to gain popularity. Several studies have reported using instructional videos as a prelaboratory activity to prepare students for the laboratory class. Meador et al. suggest that new interventions that employ online prelaboratory videos hold significant potential for improving student performance in the general chemistry laboratory (6). Another study found that videos helped to prepare students for the laboratory more effectively, with an average of 17% more students answering questions correctly after watching the video than after receiving instruction from a teaching assistant (TA) (7). Lastly, results from a study on videos that TAs could use at the start of the laboratory period showed that students in the treatment group had a greater learning experience and required less time to complete the experiments (8). In this chapter, we discuss how we developed instructional videos for students to watch prior to completing experiments conducted in an analytical chemistry laboratory course and how we determined the effectiveness of these videotaped experiments by surveying students enrolled in the course.

Course Content The Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences at Pace University offers an analytical chemistry course (CHE 221) to students majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, and forensic science. This one-semester course is called Analytical Methods and Techniques and is offered every fall semester. The course presents an integrated view of the theories and methods that can be employed in solving a variety of real problems in chemical analysis. The problem-oriented role of chemical analysis is emphasized throughout the student’s experience. The course meets weekly for a threehour lecture and for another three-hour laboratory component. The laboratory portion is included to teach students basic analytical methods and techniques that will enhance their skills in data gathering and conducting experiments. The laboratory component comprises 12 experiments (Table 1) that are performed throughout the semester, with the following student learning objectives:

98

1. Perform classical chemical analysis (qualitative and quantitative gravimetric and volumetric analysis) safely and accurately. 2. Perform qualitative and quantitative instrumental analysis safely and accurately. 3. Describe the theory and concepts underlining classical and instrumental chemical analysis correctly. 4. Maintain a laboratory notebook to record data while conducting experiments. 5. Communicate experimental findings concisely in a written laboratory report. 6. Plan, implement, and analyze the solution of a chemical problem. Table 1. List of Laboratory Experiments in CHE 221 Experiment

Laboratory experiment

1

Tools of the trade

2

Introducing graphing techniques

3

Statistical evaluation of acid-base indicators

4

Determination of sodium by ion exchange

5

Stoichiometry: Analysis of zinc tablets

6

Analysis of a bicarbonate/carbonate mixture

7

Analysis of natural waters: EDTA titrations

8

Spectrophotometric determination of iron in dietary tablets and in an unknown

9

Spectrophotometric determination of nitrite

10

Analysis of natural waters using atomic absorption

11

Potentiometric determination of iron with dichromate

12

Determination of fluoride using an ion-selective electrode

Video Preparation and Survey Question In the summer of 2013, Pace University funded the development of instructional videos to be used in the CHE 221 laboratory class. As a result, instructional videos for 10 experiments were prepared with the aid of two student assistants. Videos for Experiments 2 and 10 were not included, since Experiment 2 deals with the use of Microsoft Excel for graphing data and Experiment 10 employs the use of the atomic absorption spectroscopy instrument. A video for Experiment 10 was later developed in 2015. The lengths of the videos range from 4 to 10 min and focus on the procedure and equipment, technique to be used, and in the case of experiments employing titration, the change in color observed at the end point. The same videos were used throughout the course of this study and were not changed. These videos were made available on Blackboard throughout the semester. Students enrolled in the course were required to watch the appropriate video before each laboratory class. This could be done by viewing the video directly on Blackboard or by downloading the video and watching it on their own time. The students were quizzed (quizzes constituted 10% of the overall laboratory grade) at the start of each laboratory session to encourage them to watch the videos. The effectiveness of the videotaped experiments was determined by administering a survey by the end of the semester. For the inaugural year (2013) when two instructors team-taught the course 99

(one during the first half of the semester and the other one during the second half), surveys were conducted both in the middle of the semester (after the first six experiments were completed) and at the end of the semester (after the last six experiments). The survey consisted of 22 questions distributed as follows: • Ten dichotomous (Yes or No) questions were aimed at assessing whether or not the students watched the videos as assigned. • One open-ended question allowed students to report, if necessary, the reason they did not watch the videos. • Six Likert-scale statements (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) were aimed at measuring the impact of the video on student preparation: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The videos were helpful to me. The videos prepared me for the lab. I watched the video more than once. The videos helped me to understand the experimental protocol. After watching the video I felt that I did not need to read the protocol. The video helped me with report writing.

• The last five questions were open-ended questions that measured the students’ reasons, motivations, and opinions about the learning resource (the videos): 1. When before the lab would you watch the video (e.g., a few days before, the day before, on the day, a few minutes before, after the lab)? 2. How many times would you watch each video, in general? 3. Experiments 2 and 10 did not have a video. Would you have preferred one? Please explain. 4. Would it make a difference to you if we did not have the videos? 5. Are there any comments that you would like to make concerning the videos (or the lab in general)?

Survey Results From fall 2013 to fall 2018, 103 students registered for the CHE 221 course with the class ranging from 10 to 26 students per semester. Out of this total enrollment, 94 students (91%) participated in the survey. The breakdown of the number of students who participated throughout the period is shown in Table 2. There are only two instances (fall 2014 and fall 2018) where 100% of those registered participated in the surveys. The main reason for nonparticipation of students is that they were absent when the survey was conducted. The survey was usually conducted within the last two weeks of the semester in lecture class after the last experiments in the laboratory class had been performed. In terms of the number of students who participated in the survey, 94 students and 91% participation of students is a somewhat large number of participants compared to those reported in the literature. In a study conducted on the use of instructional videos as a teaching tool in laboratory curricula at Simon Fraser University, only 11 out of 64 students enrolled in the analytical chemistry laboratory course completed the survey (1). Studies performed at Marist College on the use of a presentation software (Prezi) that includes video clips to flip an analytical chemistry course and the inclusion of a forensic science problem-solving activity into an analytical chemistry laboratory course involved 24 and 11 respondents, respectively (9, 10). A study on the effectiveness of a student100

generated video as a teaching tool in an organic chemistry laboratory involved 71 students, of which 41 students received instruction by video while the remaining 30 students were given a presentation by the TA (7). Lastly, another study examining the use of video-based demonstrations to prepare students for an organic chemistry laboratory yielded data from an average of 82 students in the treatment group and 56 students in the control group (out of 172 enrolled students) (8). Table 2. Number of Students Enrolled in the Course and Number of Students Who Participated in the Survey Year

Enrollment

Participated

% Participation

Fall 2013

11

9

82

Fall 2014

15

15

100

Fall 2015

26

24

77

Fall 2016

21

18

86

Fall 2017

20

18

90

Fall 2018

10

10

100

Answers to the dichotomous questions along with the open-ended questions are summarized in Figure 1 for the different years. Students from fall 2015 and fall 2018 watched all videos, while in other periods some students missed watching one or two videos throughout the semester. There were three common reasons given by students as to why they failed to watch the video. The most common one was due to technical difficulties in accessing the videos. The other reasons reported were that the student forgot to watch the video or did not have time to watch it. The lowest percentage of students who watched the video occurred during fall 2013, when only two out of three students watched Experiment 5. Experiments 5 and 6 are usually performed during the middle of the semester when students are engaged in taking midterm exams in other courses.

Figure 1. Percentage of students watching the videos. The impact of the videos on student preparation throughout the period studied (N = 94) is summarized in Table 3. Here, the students were asked to rate the given statement (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). The ratings for the six statements 101

varied from one another. The statement dealing with how helpful the videos are (Statement 1) showed the highest rating among all statements followed closely by how the videos helped the students to prepare for the experiment (Statement 2). Although the use of videos was also found to be helpful in understanding the experimental protocol (Statement 4), the students felt that they still needed to read the protocol (Statement 5), as shown by the low rating for this statement. In addition, based on the rating, watching the video was not helpful in writing laboratory reports (Statement 6). The responses to the statement that the student watched the videos more than once (Statement 3) were variable. The yearly ratings for each statement are shown in Figure 2. Just like the observed overall trend, the yearly rating shows consistently high ratings for Statements 1 and 2 followed by Statement 4. Consistently, the statement regarding the use of the experimental protocol in spite of watching the video (Statement 5) received the lowest rating. Table 3. Results from the Survey Concerning the Effectiveness of Using Instructional Videos in the Laboratory Class Statement

Rating

1. The videos were helpful to me.

4.59

2. The videos prepared me for the lab.

4.56

3. I watched the video more than once.

3.52

4. The videos helped me to understand the experimental protocol.

4.38

5. After watching the video I felt that I did not need to read the protocol.

2.50

6. The video helped me with report writing.

3.20

Figure 2. Yearly ratings for the questions/statements determining the effectiveness of using videos in the laboratory class. In the next set of questions on the survey, the first two ask the students when and how often they watched the videos. With respect to when they watched the videos, almost half of students replied that they watched them on the day of the experiment (Figure 3). Although 49% of the students (46 out of 94 students) watched the videos on the day of experiment (usually an hour or hours before the experiment), 27% (25 out of 94 students) indicated that they watched them multiple times, ranging from days before the experiment to the day of the experiment. Of the 25 students who provided 102

multiple times, 11 students watched the videos on the day of the experiment, 10 students watched them a day before, and 4 students watched them several days before the experiment (in addition to providing other times). Other times that students watched include the following: 8 students (9%) watched the videos days before, while 15 students (16%) watched them one day before the experiment.

Figure 3. Results showing when the students watched the videos (above) and how many times they watched the videos (below) before conducting the experiment. The number above the bars in each graph indicates the percentage of students for each category. For the question concerning how many times the videos were watched, the answers varied from only once to more than three times (Figure 3). Based on the results, approximately 86% of the students watched them at least once and, at most, twice. Breaking down this percentage, 31% of the students watched them only once, 26% of the students watched them twice, and 29% watched them one to two times. Some students indicated that they watched them only once, but twice if they found the experiment complicated (which is counted as one to two times). The next question in the survey concerned the absence of videos for two experiments (2 and 10). For the first three years (2013–2015), these two experiments did not have accompanying videos. Based on the students’ answers on the need for videos for these two experiments, most students replied that it was not necessary for Experiment 2, but that it would be helpful to have one for Experiment 10. Experiment 2 uses Microsoft Excel to graph data from common chemical analyses, while Experiment 10 utilizes an atomic absorption spectrometer to analyze the calcium and magnesium content in water samples. The students had not previously encountered the instrument employed in Experiment 10 and were unfamiliar with its use. For this reason, starting fall 2015, a 103

video for Experiment 10 was included. Hence from fall 2016 onward, the question concerning the absence of videos concerned only Experiment 2. With regard to the question “Would it make a difference to you if we did not have the videos?” 85% (80 out of 94 students) answered that it would make a difference, while 15% (14 students) said that it would not. Most of those with affirmative answers gave additional responses to this question, explaining why it would make a difference to them, in comparison to those who just replied that the use of videos did not make a difference. The following are representative comments provided by the students indicating that the videos did make a difference for them: “I would have to consume more time to grasp the material and be prepared.” “The videos help me personally feel more prepared for the lab.” “Sometimes the protocols are bad at explaining, they are confusing at some points.” “I tend to be more of a visual learner. The video helped me to learn the steps of the experiments easier than actually reading it.” “The videos helped to understand each lab.” Students who answered negatively, saying that the use of videos made no difference in the laboratory class, included the following additional comments: “Each lab was pretty much the same procedure just different chemicals/ingredients.” “It was fine without them.” “It will just be less work to do, it wouldn’t really make a difference.” “As long as the instructor would help make clear of any questions.” In the last item of the survey, students were asked to give any comments concerning the use of the videos, and more than half of the students provided comments. Among the representative comments written by the students are the following: “They are really helpful. Made procedure easier.” “Videos are a good idea that other chem courses should adopt.” “Videos were great, they showed the equipment we needed to use plus the color change expected. I love the videos.” “The videos were helpful and I wish more science classes would have them.” “They are a great guide and tool.” “The videos were very helpful.” “I believed I would not have been as prepared for the lab without the videos.” “Videos helped us to visualize what we needed to do in the lab.” “They simplified the lab greatly and helped me narrow down the necessities of the lab as well as a time gauge to how long lab would take.” “I think the videos are helpful because they helped me think of them while doing the experiment like I can refer back to it.” “The videos helped with the more complex procedures.” Most of the students also commented that they would like some commentary to accompany the videos. Based on the comments from the survey, most of the students thought that the videos were helpful and saved a lot of time. They were able to understand the procedure and to gain familiarity with the experiment before performing it. The videos helped them prepare for the experiment before 104

it was performed. This is a big departure from the traditional laboratory class where students use the laboratory period to simply follow a recipe without giving much thought as to why they are performing a certain procedure or how the experiment relates to concepts discussed in the lecture. On the other hand, the use of instructional videos has also helped instructors reduce the prelaboratory discussion time so that more time can be spent with the students. Typically, the common approach in a laboratory class before the use of video clips was implemented relied on the instructor to explain the details of the experimental work at the beginning of the class, telling the students what to do and what reagents and glassware to use, while also demonstrating the techniques to be performed. This approach was found to contribute to information overload, because a large amount of material was given to the students in such a short period of time. The development and introduction of the videos allow the instructors to have more time to focus on helping the students to master hands-on laboratory skills and techniques. Previously, students were assessed only in their written reports, but the additional time allows instructors to uncover the source of mistakes commonly encountered by students that might otherwise become incorporated into their reports. The students gain a significant understanding of laboratory techniques that are part of the experiments they are conducting, such as using a burette, volumetric flasks, and pipettes. The additional time allows instructors to correct improper techniques that students usually employ (e.g., reading a burette) despite instructions given in laboratory manuals and demonstrations that might be provided. The results from our surveys concerning the use of instructional videos before laboratory classes reinforce what has been reported in previous studies about their effectiveness in helping students. One study reported that visual representations allow students to develop a mental picture of what they will be doing in laboratory classes, hence increasing student confidence (4). Several studies have shown the positive effect of using videos in prelaboratory activities. For example, the introduction of web-accessible prelaboratory videos for a first-year university introductory chemistry course significantly enhanced the flow of the laboratory class (10). The results from another study indicated that students who used videos at the start of the laboratory period showed greater learning and required less time to complete the experiment (8). Lastly, another study reported that students using video preparation needed less support in an organic chemistry laboratory compared to students who received in-laboratory instruction from TAs (7). In terms of making the students more prepared and helping them understand the concepts behind every experiment, several studies have already reported these benefits when videos are used as a prelaboratory activity. For example, one study reported that videos help students to feel better prepared to conduct their laboratory experiments and help them to learn better the concepts presented in the experiment (11). Another study demonstrated that the use of prelaboratory videos and e-quizzes improved the preparedness of students in an analytical chemistry laboratory class (4).

Conclusion The instructional videos helped the students to be more prepared and familiar with the experiments that they had to perform. The instructors spent less time instructing the students and more time monitoring the students’ progress in acquiring skills. The students also had more time to perform the experiments and to develop the techniques and skills required for this laboratory course.

105

Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the Pace University Thinkfinity Initiative for funding this endeavor, Tyler Brescia (BS Chemistry, 2017) and Samantha Pace (BS Biochemistry, 2017) for helping in the development of the videos, and all CHE 221 students who participated in the survey.

References 1.

Canal, J. P.; Hanlan, L.; Key, J.; Lavieri, S.; Paskevicius, M.; Sharma, D. Chemistry Laboratory Videos: Perspectives on Design, Production, and Student Usage. In Technology and Assessment Strategies for Improving Student Learning in Chemistry; Schultz, M., Schmid, S., Holme, T., Eds.; 2016; Vol. 1235, pp 159–177. 2. Schmidt-McCormack, J. A.; Muniz, M. N.; Keuter, E. C.; Shaw, S. K.; Cole, R. S. Design and implementation of instructional videos for upper-division undergraduate laboratory courses. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2017, 18 (4), 749–762. 3. Box, M. C.; Dunnagan, C. L.; Hirsh, L. A. S.; Cherry, C. R.; Christianson, K. A.; Gibson, R. J.; Wolfe, M. I.; Gallardo-Williams, M. T. Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of Three Types of Student Generated Videos as Instructional Support in Organic Chemistry Laboratories. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (2), 164–170. 4. Jolley, D. F.; Wilson, S. R.; Kelso, C.; O’Brien, G.; Mason, C. E. Analytical Thinking, Analytical Action: Using Prelab Video Demonstrations and e-Quizzes To Improve Undergraduate Preparedness for Analytical Chemistry Practical Classes. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (11), 1855–1862. 5. Johnstone, A.; Al-Shuaili, A. Learning in the laboratory: Some thoughts from the literature. Univ. Chem. Educ. 2001, 5, 42–51. 6. Stieff, M.; Werner, S. M.; Fink, B.; Meador, D. Online Prelaboratory Videos Improve Student Performance in the General Chemistry Laboratory. J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95 (8), 1260–1266. 7. Jordan, J. T.; Box, M. C.; Eguren, K. E.; Parker, T. A.; Saraldi-Gallardo, V. M.; Wolfe, M. I.; Gallardo-Williams, M. T. Effectiveness of Student-Generated Video as a Teaching Tool for an Instrumental Technique in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (1), 141–145. 8. Nadelson, L. S.; Scaggs, J.; Sheffield, C.; McDougal, O. M. Integration of Video-Based Demonstrations to Prepare Students for the Organic Chemistry Laboratory. J. Sci. Educ. Technol. 2015, 24 (4), 476–483. 9. (a) Fitzgerald, N.; Li, L. Using Presentation Software To Flip an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92 (9), 1559–1563. (b) Rose, R. E.; Fitzgerald, N. Incorporating Forensic Science problem-solving activity into an Analytical Chemistry laboratory course. Chem. Educ. 2011, 16, 319–322. 10. McKelvy, G. M. Preparing for the chemistry laboratory: an internet presentation and assessment tool. Univ. Chem. Educ. 2000, 4 (2), 46–49. 11. Chaytor, J. L.; Al Mughalaq, M.; Butler, H. Development and Use of Online Prelaboratory Activities in Organic Chemistry To Improve Students’ Laboratory Experience. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (7), 859–866.

106

Chapter 8

Impact of Student-Created Mechanism Videos in Organic Chemistry 2 Labs Nirzari Gupta and Jacqueline Nikles* Chemistry Department, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 901 14th Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

We investigated the overall impact of assigning to students the creation of mechanism videos to be presented during the prelab lecture of second-semester organic chemistry labs. The main motivation of this study was the students’ poor understanding of organic reaction mechanisms. Despite thorough coverage of mechanisms in the prelab lecture, we found from the previous final exams that very few students understood the organic chemistry reaction mechanisms covered in the laboratory experiments. Understanding a mechanism is an important and fundamental part of the organic chemistry curriculum, and we wanted to both improve understanding of reaction mechanisms and foster an appreciation for their importance. We developed a low-stakes assignment that allowed students to display their creativity and show their understanding of the concepts. Groups of three students were asked to prepare a voiced-over video presentation of a reaction mechanism. Our hypothesis was that students would understand the methods to write mechanisms better when they prepared the video themselves and visually demonstrated the mechanism. To gauge the impact of the exercise, a survey was administered at the end of the semester. The survey includes two open-ended questions and 10 Likert-scale questions. We asked the students to describe the overall experience of creating the videos as well as watching them before performing the actual experiment. Feedback from 165 students suggests that the assignment is useful, enjoyable, and important. This exercise helped them to better understand an essential part of organic chemistry: understanding the reaction mechanisms. They also recommended this practice for future classes. The exercise has promoted collaboration and utilization of the time outside the classroom in an educational and informative manner. The review of final exams shows that the percentage of students with correct answers to mechanism questions has increased from 57% to 85%. In summary, our approach has created a positive impact in the overall understanding of reaction mechanisms in second-semester organic chemistry labs.

© 2019 American Chemical Society

Introduction Chemistry is an ever-changing and evolving field of study where laboratory techniques, teaching methods, and even fundamental theories need to be constantly refined to improve their efficacy. The undergraduate chemistry curriculum is no different, where practices in the organic teaching laboratories have changed significantly over the past several decades. The current generation of students in organic chemistry are routinely taught practical and sophisticated techniques like nuclear magnetic resonance, fractional distillation, and gas chromatography in their labs. As instructors have updated their teaching philosophies to reflect the changes in available technology, visual learning tools have seen increased use in all classroom environments as part of the effort to engage students (1). However, studies have shown that students are more engaged and achieve even greater understanding in collaborative learning environments (2–4). Organic teaching labs are designed to mimic the reactions that students learn in the lecture and to bridge their understanding of theoretical concepts with the practical applications thereof. In most lab instruction settings, procedures of the reactions are provided in a lab manual and students perform the experiment in their labs. During this process, students generally fail to develop an exact understanding of the reaction mechanism in our experience. We endeavored to address the challenges associated with learning mechanisms by developing an approach where students can actively learn them through creating videos introducing the mechanism for the intended experiment. When students create or record a reaction mechanism video, they show step-by-step electron pushing arrows, and descriptions of these electron pushing arrows can help students to understand the mechanism better. Recently, many studies have reported the use of videos as an addition to effective teaching methodologies (5–7). For instance, teachers use various YouTube channels to help students better understand the course content (8). However, the concept of student-created videos as a part of active learning has seen limited implementation. When students present their videos to their classmates, it increases their confidence and makes them more popular on social media (9). The process of creating the videos not only fosters creativity but also encourages background research, execution of proper laboratory techniques, and thorough understanding of the reaction (9, 10). This study covers the findings of implementing student-created mechanism videos in the second-semester organic teaching laboratory and investigates the impact of the assignment on retention of material as measured by performance on the final exam. We also hypothesize that creating a mechanism video can increase students’ team-building skills, which will ultimately lead to improved student engagement, a more dynamic lab environment, and improved troubleshooting skills (3, 6, 8). We created an assignment in organic chemistry 2 labs where student groups were instructed to create a mechanism video and present it in front of their peers. We also evaluated the usefulness of the assignment using Likert-scale survey questions and two open-ended questions. Finally, we analyzed the overall impact of the assignment by comparing the results of the final exam before and after creating this assignment. The positive results of these assessments led us to believe that the incorporation of active learning such as student-created videos can help students better understand the concepts in organic chemistry reactions.

108

Methodology Design of the Assignment To create mechanism videos with sufficient technical quality, students were provided a set of free tools and a sample video to use as a guide. We wanted, in part, to evaluate the creativity of the students, so a very broad rubric was utilized. Typically, students were divided into groups of three, and one member of the group was required to give a prelab lecture using the video they produced to explain the reaction and its mechanism to the class. The students also presented the procedure, important safety measures, and the main objective of the lab. A semester typically consists of 10 experiments, so students were divided into 10 groups to allow each group a chance to present once during the semester. The schedule for their assignment was provided at the beginning of the semester so students could manage their time accordingly. Students were required to upload the video to YouTube and include the link to the video in their presentation. For the non-chemistry majors, participating in script-writing and working in a team with chemistry majors provided built-in supplementary learning and bolstered their understanding of the chemistry behind the experiments. YouTube links to all of the videos were distributed to students so they could access the videos at the end of the semester to review for the final exam. Assessment Methodology The majority of students took an anonymous assessment survey at the end of the semester using the course management software Canvas (https://www.uab.edu/elearning/canvas). Teaching assistants downloaded the results from their sections and sent them in to be compiled. The survey included 10 Likert-style questions and two open-ended questions. The overall motives of the assignment were to increase understanding of reaction mechanisms and to encourage teamwork, creativity, and “learning with fun” occurrences. We designed the survey questions to evaluate the overall attitude of students, their ability to prepare the video, and their experience as an audience member. We also included two open-ended questions to gather more generic feedback regarding the assignment as a whole. A five-point Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree) was used. Below are the lists of Likert-style questions and the open-ended questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

It was an important exercise to create videos for this class. I found the creation of videos a useful experience. I am glad to have an experience of video creation. This assignment helped me to understand the concepts of the reaction better. I believe the video-creating assignment will be helpful in my career. This assignment enhanced the overall learning content. I enjoyed the overall experience of creating and participating in the video assignment. Creating mechanism videos improved our teamwork ethics. This assignment was helpful to enhance the learning in future classes. This project can be recommended for future classes.

Open-ended questions: 1. How do you feel as a creator of the videos? 2. What is your feedback as an audience to watching the videos? 109

We collected survey responses from 165 students (87% of students enrolled in the class) and evaluated their feedback regarding their overall experience. To quantify the pedagogical efficacy of our approach, we also compared the percentage of correct answers to mechanism questions from a previous semester’s final exam to that of the semester in which the video assignments were given. Questions from both semesters covered similar types of mechanism problems. Microsoft Excel was used to calculate the median of all survey questions, because Likert-scale questions fall under ordinal data, which can be best analyzed by calculating the median (http://rube.asq.org/quality-progress/ 2007/07/statistics/likert-scales-and-data-analyses.html). Statistical analysis of the grades from the two groups of final exams was covered using GraphPad’s online unpaired t-test calculator (11).

Results and Discussion We evaluated the survey results of the 10 Likert-style questions and two open-ended questions to understand the impact of active learning in our laboratory instruction courses. Survey participation was voluntary; about 85% of the students happily participated. Altogether, 165 students out of five lab sections took the online survey at the end of the semester. Eight out of 10 questions had the median of 4 out of 5, which helped to explain the overall positive involvement of students in the assignment. In general, students found the assignment very useful and informative. Students were neutral regarding the use of the assignment in their future career and the amount of time they dedicated to the assignment, which led to the median of 3 out 5 in question numbers 5 and 7. Table 1. Compilation of Actual Percentages of Linkert-Style Survey Responses Strongly agree (%)

Question

Agree (%)

Neutral (%)

Disagree (%)

Strongly disagree (%)

1

31

40

17

8

4

2

26

45

17

10

2

3

23

33

32

8

4

4

30

40

15

8

7

5

7

13

39

26

15

6

18

50

21

7

4

7

7

30

32

19

12

8

12

41

25

17

5

9

16

34

36

10

4

10

16

43

27

6

8

Table 1 shows the responses to the Likert-style survey in tabular form. To better analyze the results, statistical analysis of individual survey questions was also performed. Figure 1 shows the percentage breakdown of the first four survey questions, which focused on their experience creating the video and the impact of this assignment on their understanding. As shown in the figure, more than 50% of the students “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with these prompts.

110

Figure 1. Pie chart analysis of questions 1 to 4 of the survey. More than 50% of the students agreed to the importance of the exercise.

Figure 2. Pie chart analysis of questions 5 to 8 of the survey. Except on question 5, more than 50% of the students agreed that the exercise was important, beneficial, or encouraging. Questions 5 to 8 focused mainly on their experience working as part of a team, whether they thought the video would be useful in their academic career, and whether they enjoyed making the video. The percentage breakdown of these questions is shown in Figure 2. We found that these questions had mixed responses. Students agreed that the assignment enhanced their learning content and helped to build teamwork ethics, but they also found this assignment took some extra effort. 111

Students also seemed confused about whether this assignment will help them in their future careers. Some of the neutral review comments pointed out the extra work students have to perform due to this assignment. However, most of the students who took this course are sophomore or junior level, where creation of videos was a part of the curriculum in previous general chemistry classes. Questions 9 and 10 focused mainly on their point of view as to whether this assignment would increase their ability to learn in future chemistry classes and if they recommend this assignment for the future. The percentage breakdown of these questions is shown in Figure 3, which shows that, in general, the students recommended continued use of this assignment in future classes. Learning from student-created videos benefited some students who needed special assistance. They could go back and forth and understand the most important part of the reaction mechanism by visual learning. Students also felt confident finishing a task independently and enjoyed working with their group members outside the lab in a collaborative environment. One of the comments from a student was “It was a useful assignment that helped me really understand the mechanism for the lab I was assigned. It made writing the lab report after easier.” Another comment reads “My experience of the video seemed to help me realize not only how the reaction was happening while we did it but when we were putting the reagents together it helped me understand about what stage the reaction was in and how it was working with the other reagents.” These comments suggest the active involvement of students helped them not only understand the reaction mechanisms, but also improved their overall understanding of the lab procedure.

Figure 3. Pie chart analysis of questions 9 and 10. More than 50% of the students agreed that this assignment will enhance the learning for other classes and they will recommend this assignment for the future. Two open-ended questions were added to the survey to investigate their experience as a video creator and as an audience member. The majority of student reviews were positive, with only a few neutral or negative responses. The negative comments mainly focused on the lack of time, lack of technology skills, and not wanting to put forth extra effort toward this assignment. It should be taken into consideration that most of the students were science majors enrolled full-time or part-time with side jobs for the respective courses, which likely influenced these types of comments. A few students also questioned the relevancy of the assignment and failed to understand the purpose. Below are some examples of feedback from the students: • • • •

It was a good experience that made me be more confident in myself about the reactions. It allowed me to be creative but also learn the mechanism really well. It helped students gain a deeper understanding of the content, which I found very helpful. I had a very good experience.

112

• It was fun! It also helped me truly understand the mechanism. It assisted me in the lab, the lab report, and in lecture. • Good teamwork! • It was fun trying to figure out different ideas to do for the video. • Creating the video was a fun experience in which our group grew as a team. • Good. Creating the videos with my group partners helped me to better understand the material we were learning. • It was a pretty good experience, it really helped me understand the mechanism as I had to explain it as well as draw the mechanism out. • I really enjoyed the process. It was a fun way to help other students understand the reaction happening in lab that week. • The video experience was very fun. Since my video was due very early, it helped me get to know my lab group members better. • It was a pretty good way for me to learn about the specific mechanism of the lab that week, and helped me understand the chemistry involved. • My experience as a creator was interesting, you learn a couple new things for example sound and videos to accessible links that can be imported to YouTube. Talking through mechanisms help you understand what happened. • The mechanism video helped me learn the mechanism better than weeks that I did not make a video. I view it as a useful learning activity. • I had a great experience! The lectures were shorter, and straight to the point. I loved that it helped my grade and helped my group to better understand the experiment that was going to be performed. • It helped me understand my group’s mechanism well. You were forced to understand the mechanism since you had to push arrows and present in front of the class. The above comments supported our motive to create an environment of positive and active learning, to create an opportunity to be creative with chemistry, and to engage in social learning. This exercise also fulfilled the goal to facilitate cooperative learning and make students more comfortable with their group members outside the lab environment. Apart from the active learning, it also increased their level of technological expertise, which may help them in their future classes and career. A small portion of the survey responses were negative. In general, the negative comments were centered around not having appropriate equipment, enough experience with editing software, or enough time. Chemistry labs are relatively “noisy” by nature due to the hoods drawing air and the larger capacity of the rooms. Some examples of the negative comments are listed below: • They need to be more clear when speaking in the videos...you can barely understand them. • Some of them were great and some were kind of confusing. It really depends on how the authors made the video and how complicated or simple it was. • It was often hard to hear due to the laboratory’s background noise. Also, if I was familiar with the mechanism, I likely did not pay close attention. However, on the less common mechanism, I did pay close attention and did learn the information. • I usually couldn’t hear the video. Most people have pretty terrible editing skills, including me. Overall as an audience it was pretty cool. 113

• I couldn’t hear the videos over the background noise in the lab. If the volume was higher maybe it would have been better. • The lab had lots of background noise, making it difficult to hear the commentary on the videos; however, most of the videos effectively explained the mechanism. • Most of the videos were fine. Some of the videos were poorly made though, or just did not have high volume. In addition to evaluating students’ experience with this exercise, we also wanted to evaluate the overall understanding of students on organic chemistry reaction mechanisms. Two questions were included on the final exam for the course in which students needed to write the full mechanism of (a) the Grignard reaction and (b) the Wittig reaction. To limit the variables, we chose a single section of students who were taught both mechanisms by the same teaching assistant. Student responses from the semesters before and after the assignment were evaluated manually and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The overall results of the study are depicted in Figure 4. For the Grignard reaction, the percentage of correct answers increased from 46% to 79%. For the Wittig reaction, the percentage of correct answers increased from 57% to 85%. While this increase could be due to a number of factors, we feel this assignment provided a sizable impact on final exam results. Not only did the average grades of the students improve, but students also felt relatively more confident answering the steps of the mechanism questions.

Figure 4. Pie chart analysis of final exam answers concerning Grignard and Wittig reaction mechanisms before and after implementation of the video creation assignments. Unpaired t-test results indicate that the final exam improvement was statistically significant (p value = 0.004). We divided the students’ grades into two groups: the first group was the grades of 28 students before the assignment, and the second group was the grades of 33 students after the assignment. We chose two sections with the same teaching assistant to keep the study consistent. In comparing the quality of final exam answers for Grignard and Wittig reaction mechanisms, we observed an improvement (Figure 5). Previously, students appeared to be confused with the valency of carbon as well as where to start forming the Grignard reagent (red arrows in Figure 5). They also showed a lack of confidence for correct arrow pushing steps. In the semester that included the video assignment, their understanding of electron movement appeared to improve, along with their confidence in drawing the electron pushing arrows.

114

Figure 5. Two answers for the Grignard reaction and Wittig reaction, before and after the mechanism video assignment. Students’ understanding regarding pushing the arrows in the correct direction and choosing the correct starting material improved after visual learning from mechanism videos. In summary, students completed the mechanism video assignment, which improved their understanding of organic chemistry reaction mechanisms. Students were involved in active learning experiences and worked with their fellow group members outside the lab environment. This assignment helped them understand the concepts of the mechanism better and provided a permanent resource to review the concepts before the final exam. Some examples of the studentcreated mechanism videos are included in the references (12–16).

Conclusion Understanding the mechanism of an organic chemistry reaction often creates stress among students, but it is an important concept in the overall understanding of the experiment. The creation of an assignment for the teaching laboratory where student groups create a mechanism video both increased understanding of the mechanism and decreased the stress associated with completing the lab. The main motivations of the assignment were to increase involvement of students outside the classroom, to foster creativity in an in-class assignment, and to engage students in social learning. In this study, we showed that the students of the organic chemistry labs found the mechanism 115

video assignment very entertaining and educational. By taking advantage of recent advancements in technology, the use of videos in the teaching environment provided a great avenue for active learning of chemistry concepts. The assignment proved very beneficial for students and increased their grade in the final exams.

Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge Dr. Mitzy Erdmann for the technical support and proofreading.

References 1.

Box, M. C.; Dunnagan, C. L.; Hirsh, L. A. S.; Cherry, C. R.; Christianson, K. A.; Gibson, R. J.; Wolfe, M. I.; Gallardo-Williams, M. T. Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of Three Types of Student-Generated Videos as Instructional Support in Organic Chemistry Laboratories. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (2), 164–170. 2. Collison, C. G.; Kim, T.; Cody, J.; Anderson, J.; Edelbach, B.; Marmor, W.; Kipsang, R.; Ayotte, C.; Saviola, D.; Niziol, J. Transforming the Organic Chemistry Lab Experience: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Reformed Experimental Activities—REActivities. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 95 (1), 55–61. 3. Ghanem, E.; Long, S. R.; Rodenbusch, S. E.; Shear, R. I.; Beckham, J. T.; Procko, K.; DePue, L.; Stevenson, K. J.; Robertus, J. D.; Martin, S.; Holliday, B.; Jones, R. A.; Anslyn, E. V.; Simmons, S. L. Teaching Through Research: Alignment of Core Chemistry Competencies and Skills Within a Multidisciplinary Research Framework. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 95 (2), 248–258. 4. Gillette, A. A.; Winterrowd, S. T.; Gallardo-Williams, M. T. Training Students To Use 3D Model Sets via Peer-Generated Videos Facilitates Learning of Difficult Concepts in an Introductory Organic Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (7), 960–963. 5. Martin, C. B.; Schmidt, M.; Soniat, M. A Survey of the Practices, Procedures, and Techniques in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Teaching Laboratories. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (12), 1630–1638. 6. Quattrucci, J. G. Problem-Based Approach to Teaching Advanced Chemistry Laboratories and Developing Students’ Critical Thinking Skills. J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95 (2), 259–266. 7. Sabanayagam, K.; Dani, V. D.; John, M.; Restivo, W.; Mikhaylichenko, S.; Dalili, S. Developing and Implementing Lab Skills Seminars, a Student-Led Learning Approach in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory: Mentoring Current Students While Benefiting Facilitators. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (12), 1881–1888. 8. Keller, V. A.; Kendall, B. L. Independent Synthesis Projects in the Organic Chemistry Teaching Laboratories: Bridging the Gap Between Student and Researcher. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (10), 1450–1457. 9. Jordan, J. T.; Box, M. C.; Eguren, K. E.; Parker, T. A.; Saraldi-Gallardo, V. M.; Wolfe, M. I.; Gallardo-Williams, M. T. Effectiveness of Student-Generated Video as a Teaching Tool for an Instrumental Technique in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 93 (1), 141–145. 10. Greene, H.; Crespi, C. The Value of Student Created Videos in the College Classroom: An Exploratory Study in Marketing and Accounting. Int. J. Arts Sci. 2012, 5 (1), 273–283.

116

11. GraphPad QuickCalcs. https://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/ttest1.cfm (accessed Nov 30, 2018). 12. YouTube. https://youtu.be/gkWbQN2TNvg (accessed March 1, 2019). 13. YouTube. https://youtu.be/04MpIAa95n8 (accessed March 1, 2019). 14. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ZsQxpUljNEU (accessed March 1, 2019). 15. YouTube. https://youtu.be/SSxDNBhHH2s (accessed March 1, 2019). 16. YouTube. https://youtu.be/VKHgK7nUNLM (accessed March 1, 2019).

117

Chapter 9

Final Thoughts on Videos in Chemistry Education Jessica Parr* Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

Faculty are always looking for new ways to engage their students and improve the learning experience. The book presented here has provided the insight and experiences of several faculty members on their use of technology and multimedia tools in their classrooms.

There are a wide variety of instructional tools available from publishers and independent providers. Some tools are commercial and require paid subscriptions or outright purchase, some are open for all to use free of charge. This book presents the experiences of seasoned faculty members who have been using videos and other multimedia applications to enhance their instruction in a wide range of chemistry classes. The lessons learned can be applied to large enrollment classes, small lectures, and even seminar courses. Combinations of the resources presented here can be used in introductory level classes, survey type general education classes, and all the way up to graduate level courses. By sharing our efforts, we hope to inspire other faculty to incorporate tools as they see fit to increase student engagement and support learning in their classrooms. Some tools that were highlighted in this book include: • Faculty Created Videos: Many faculty these days are creating their own course content that is delivered through a learning management system, such as Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle. Faculty can monitor who has watched the videos and can use them in a variety of ways as described below. Several of the previous chapters touched on the use of faculty generated content in chemistry classes. • Student created videos: These can be used to exhibit mastery, when students are expected to create their own videos as an assignment. The videos can be retained as a resource to draw on in future semesters to show future student. These videos can also be reviewed by faculty to gain a deeper understanding of students’ thought processes in problem solving and identifying common misconceptions. • Clickers: When used in class these can serve to probe prior knowledge, allow students to make real-time predictions, and can capture students’ understanding of concepts that have just been presented. Several commercial tools are available and still other options are available through learning management systems. © 2019 American Chemical Society

• Screen/Paper Capture applications: These are often used to create videos such as those discussed in this volume but can also be used as classroom support tools. When students are asked to complete group work, it can be hard to keep them focused and on task. By capturing their responses with an electronic device, faculty can either share correct answers or highlight common mistakes for the class as a whole, potentially answering questions more efficiently than if they had not been using the screen capture application. • Lightboards: These can also be used when preparing your own lecture videos. A lightboard is a transparent chalk board that allows a faculty member to be seen on the video while writing on the board in front of them. The boards can also display prepared slides and figures, allowing the presenter to annotate them in the video while they narrate. Unlike some of the other technology presented in this book, the lightboard does require special setup and may require dedicated space. • Clips from popular movies and television shows: While watching TV and movies we often see the topics that we are covering in class presented. They may be presented accurately or not. Using clips from movies and/or TV shows in the classroom can help illustrate the material in a different context and also connect with students who enjoyed watching the movies and shows outside of class. • Personal YouTube channels: Can be used to allow students access to faculty created content if a learning management system is not available to help you do so. YouTube allows faculty members to increase their reach and impact. YouTube also collects significant amounts of statistics that enable faculty to track when students are watching their videos with respect to assignment due dates and exams. YouTube also offers transcription services to aid students who have hearing difficulties or for whom English is a second language. The multimedia materials have been presented and used in a variety of ways: • Preparation before class: Students are asked to watch videos before coming to class to be introduced to material that will be covered in lecture. By removing some of the content, more time is afforded for active learning strategies that can employ some of the other multimedia tools presented in this volume. • In class: Clickers, personal response systems, screen capture applications, and other methods can be used in class to engage students in the instructional experience. Demonstrations and problem-solving sets can be employed to deepen the connections with the material. Testing students’ understanding helps faculty get real-time feedback on what needs to be reviewed or covered more extensively. Class time could also be spent providing real-world context for the course content. • Assignments: Chapters in this book have illustrated how student created videos can be used to demonstrate mastery of skills in the classroom or laboratory portion of the class. By narrating what they are doing while recording their solutions to problems, instructors can learn more about students’ thought process. The assignments give students a chance for metacognitive analysis. • Office hours: Some of the tools presented here can be used to present virtual office hours, allowing students more access to their instructors. The time that students have available to attend office hours does not always line up with the times when faculty will be in their offices. Creating online, virtual office from home can provide more time for student–instructor interactions.

120

• Frequently Asked Questions pages: Videos, YouTube channels, lightboards, screen capture applications, and many other tools can be used to prepare narrated responses to frequently asked questions. Faculty are often asked the same questions repeatedly, in the same semester, but also in subsequent semesters. Making videos of answers to the questions available to the students enrolled in the class can open up office hour time for new questions, and also anticipate some of the concerns that students will have. Faculty have also provided narrated keys to exams and problem sets, helping students learn how to read keys more effectively. The tools presented here can create a more engaging environment for the students and faculty involved in the class. Go out and explore, try something new, you will be glad that you did.

121

Editor Biography Jessica Parr Jessica Parr has been involved in instruction in General Chemistry since 1999. First serving as a peer instructor as an undergraduate student, working throughout graduate school as a teaching assistant in the laboratory space and discussion sections, she is now teaching faculty at the University of Southern California. She has worked with all levels of students, from the least prepared, who have never had any instruction in chemistry, to the most prepared, who have scored a five on their Advanced Placement exams. Jessica has also worked as a mentor for undergraduate students awarded research fellowships through the Women in Science and Engineering Program and has been recognized with university wide mentoring awards for her efforts. She is responsible for organizing professional development programming and speaker series to engage the students in research activities. In 2018 she was named a Dornsife Science Transformation Fellow to redesign the second semester general chemistry experience. Rather than the traditional lecture and lab model, students in the discovery course perform short experiments and hands-on activities every day in the laboratory space. The entire semester involves active learning and increased student engagement. She is also working to ease the transition between general and organic chemistry, with the ultimate goal being to better prepare students for all future classes in chemistry and improve retention of course material. Jessica is committed to making chemistry more accessible to everyone and to increasing science literacy.

© 2019 American Chemical Society

Indexes

Author Index Broyer, R., 69 Gupta, N., 107 Hickey, S., 1 Mojica, E., 21, 97 Nikles, J., 107

Parr, J., x, 53, 119 Skibo, C., 87 Starkey, L., 35 Upmacis, R., 97

127

Subject Index A Analytical chemistry laboratory course at Pace University, videotaping experiments conclusion, 105 course content, 98 CHE 221, list of laboratory experiments, 99t introduction, 97 survey results, 100 questions/statements, yearly ratings, 102f students enrolled in the course, number, 101t students watched the videos, results, 103f students watching the videos, percentage, 101f survey concerning the effectiveness of using instructional videos, results, 28t videos, absence, 104 video preparation and survey question, 99

C Chemistry classroom, use of multimedia tools conclusion and future outlook, 83 introduction, 69 motivation and background, 70 general chemistry group quiz attitudinal survey, 73f organic chemistry problem-solving session, 71f quiz survey, 74 survey, word cloud summarizing the comments section, 72f multimedia tools, 75 organic chemistry students, picture taken, 76f other ways multimedia tools can be used in teaching, 82 multimedia tools, overview, 82f where to use multimedia tools, 77 first-semester organic chemistry quiz question, instructor and student solutions, 79f group quiz, image captured, 80f

problem-solving session, image captured, 81f problem-solving session, image of a correct solution, 80f process, overview, 78f Chemistry education, final thoughts on videos, 119 CHEMTERTAINMENT, using video clips in introductory chemistry lecture class CHEMTERTAINMENT, 24 teaching general chemistry I concepts, movie and video clips used, 25t course content, 22 full semester lecture schedule, 23t introduction, 21 limitations, 32 methodology, 26 results, 27 chemistry classes, using video clips, 31 chemistry majors, 30 survey, results, 28t use of video clips, results from the survey, 29t Class time background, 53 conclusion and future directions, 66 chemical phenomena, 67 implementation, 56 2.00, solution on the left has pH, 63f 12.00, solution on the left has pH, 64f acetic acid, solution on the left, 61f acetic acid/acetate ion buffer, solution, 65f buffer's response, molecular representation, 59f buffers II in-class work, 62 buffer solution, molecular representation, 57f buffer solution response to added strong acid, molecular representation, 58f 2.00 containing HCl, 100 mL of solution with pH, 63f 0.35 M acetic acid solution, 100 mL aliquot, 61f necessary solutions, appropriate amounts, 60 129

pH 12.00, 100 mL of a solution, 64f students to answer a question, information provided, 66t two lectures on buffers, solutions, 65f motivation, 55

online cohort exams, neurotransmitter questions, 16f six semesters, analysis, 17t Game of Thrones lesson, creation and evolution, 6 introduction, 2 my lecture on this topic, overview, 9 student notes, excerpt, 9f payoff, 9 instructor notes, excerpt, 10f POD, 12 POD, analysis, 14t POD3, copy, 13f The Rock, 11 preface, 2 science communication, round table, 3 round table, four foundational supports, 6t round table, representation, 4f science communication, five different target audiences, 5t teaser alert!, 1 using YouTube videos, 7 textbook page from the Game of Thrones chapter, excerpt, 8f

O Organic chemistry 2 labs, impact of studentcreated mechanism videos, 107 conclusion, 115 technology, recent advancements, 115 introduction, 108 methodology, 109 results and discussion, 110 final exam answers, pie chart analysis, 114f Grignard reaction and Wittig reaction, two answers, 115f Linkert-style survey responses, compilation of actual percentages, 110t questions 9 and 10, pie chart analysis, 112f questions 1 to 4 of the survey, pie chart analysis, 111f questions 5 to 8 of the survey, pie chart analysis, 111f survey responses, small portion, 113

S Students' lab skills, video assessment lab assessment, why use videos, 87 large-scale general chemistry program, implementing the skill badges, 90 submission instructions provided to students, 91t vacuum filtration badge instructions, 91t vacuum filtration skill instructions, 90t skill badges, grading, 92 vacuum filtration badge rubric, spring 2019, 93t summary and future plans, 94 troubleshooting, 93 using skill badges, skills to assess, 89

T Teaching biochemistry to nonscience majors, key ingredients conclusion and future work, 15

V Videos and animations, teaching animations and simulators, 41 animated extraction procedure, student steps, 41f TLC simulator, students select solvent, 42f putting your plan into action, 45 online homework, qualitative data gathered, 47f quantitative data demonstrating improved pass rates, 47f resources web site, QR code, 48f Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), 46 right job, selecting the right tools, 37 Adobe Spark, quickly create professionallooking videos, 40f Explain Everything, cyclohexane tutorial built, 38f lightboard lecture, Professor Starkey's enantiomer, 40f screencast video created with Doceri, 39f 130

supplement the lecture and textbook, use video, 36 sustained learning, 35 building relationships, deep, sustained learning, 36f

video's impact on YouTube, 42 captioning your video, 43 video project, planning, 44 prelab quiz, results, 45f

131