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Sustainability in undergraduate practical classes:: From green chemistry metrics to environmentally friendly process design
No full textThe times of COVID-19 and beyond: how laboratory teaching evolved through the pandemic
No full textPre–during–post lockdown waves, or how COVID-19 catalysed a change in practical chemistry instruction. This time-lined slogan reflects the University of Southampton’s response to recent imperatives in chemistry education. During the pandemic students had limited access to laboratory training. However, laboratory time has always been precious, and educators constantly have to rethink their approach to lab classes; how to best assess practical learning goals and focus students’ attention on the practical aspects during timetabled – and therefore time-limited – lab classes. The pre–during–post pandemic phases also govern the teaching split of our typical laboratory instruction, and the development during the three phases will be discussed. This article describes the evolution of the University of Southampton’s laboratory training, how resources changed, how in-laboratory student participation improved, how the pandemic influenced the scheduling of teaching activities and informed a development of our assessment strategy. It considers where the rethinking process has led to so far while acknowledging that the current laboratory course is not the end of the process but an interim position, subject to future improvements.</p
Synthese von trifluormethylsubstituierten Kohlenhydraten. Neue Strategien mit Methyl 3,3,3-trifluorpyruvat als building block für 2-C-Trifluormethylpentosen
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Systems thinking in the laboratory classroom
No full textSystems Thinking[1] has been well established in most STEM subjects before chemistry picked up on this topic. Meanwhile, Green Chemistry[2] and Sustainable Development Goals[3] have been introduced to chemistry curricula in the previous millennium. Yet, they are connected[4] and this link paves the way to incorporating systems thinking into the chemistry classroom. The chemistry laboratory is an integral part of chemistry and chemical engineering education. This location and mode of education is precious in many ways (e.g. timewise, financial commitment, infrastructure, teaching workload, health and safety implications) and rightly the trend pushes towards using a laboratory class to focus on dedicated chemistry and transferable practical skills[5].With a fragmentation into shorter teaching components, i.e. individual practicals in a laboratory class, it was found inherently more challenging to forge a unit that combines teaching laboratory skills, highlighting progressive sustainable development, and kindling the learners’ interest in the bigger picture: systems thinking – the impact of a given “chemistry” on societal, cultural, environmental, economic and other related aspects. Here, discussion will be examining the challenges encountered by this approach, and how some of these have been overcome, and using this forum to solicit ideas how to best meet remaining issues
Through refurbishment and lockdown: an unprecedented evolution
No full textChemistry laboratory teaching has undergone a development that started with an expansion and a refurbishment of our teaching spaces at the University of Southampton. This was in part interrupted and then continued during the pandemic-induced lockdown. The lab courses have had limited time to evolve afterwards – if there has been an end to it already – but this contribution highlights the process and outcome up to and including the past academic year. This time-line directs to the University of Southampton’s response to the recent imperatives in chemistry education. During the pandemic students had very limited access to laboratory training and at times none at all, however, laboratory time has always been precious, and educators constantly had to rethink their approach to lab classes; how to best assess their practical learning goals and how to best focus students on the practical aspects during the timetabled – and therefore time-limited – lab classes. A timeline divided into “pre” – “during” – “post” governs the teaching split of our typical lab instruction. Our PRE-LAB phase involves preparation for the practical work through a virtual learning environment and library resources. During this phase that is similar to flipped lecture-instruction, the theory background is addressed, and laboratory techniques explained. During the IN-LAB phase skills are developed and tested while a practical is performed, the learning accentuates a “doing, applying” mode. In the POST-LAB phase results and knowledge are consolidated and reported. This contribution emphasises the evolution of Sotonian laboratory training, how the resources and types of resources changed, how student participation in the lab improved, how the pandemic influenced the positioning of teaching activities and informed a development of our assessment strategy; in summary, where the rethinking process has led to so far – acknowledging that also this stage is not the end but an interim position, subject to future improvements
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