Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

631

Date

2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Chemistry

Concentration

Inorganic Chemistry

Committee Chair

Abby L Parrill

Committee Member

Richard L Petersen

Committee Member

Celia K Anderson

Committee Member

Daniel L Baker

Abstract

In this work, various alternative teaching methods and activities for chemical education are developed, presented, and evaluated. In the first study, an original hands-on activity using LEGO® blocks to model ionic chemical formulas is presented together with quantitative and qualitative data regarding its educational effectiveness. Students explore cation to anion ratios using LEGO® blocks to represent trivalent, divalent and monovalent cations and anions. High school chemistry students who participated in theLEGO® lab showed significantly higher post-test scores than other students. The secondstudy grows out of the creation of a computational lab module that is shown to significantly increase student learning in the subject of molecular orbital theory in first semester college General Chemistry. The third and final study presented is a course redesign project for college CHEM 1100, Preparation for General Chemistry. In this project the classroom is “flipped”. Students watch video lectures at home, and spend class time working with peers and the instructor on problem solving activities. The results presented here are one of the first quantitative studies showing the effectiveness of “flipping the classroom”. Students who were taught using the Reverse-Instruction (RI) method had significantly higher success in both the Preparation for General Chemistry course and traditionally taught General Chemistry I the following semester.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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