ERIC Number: EJ1101529
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-May
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Transforming Undergraduate Students into Junior Researchers: Oxidation-Reduction Sequence as a Problem-Based Case Study
Saloranta, Tiina; Lo¨nnqvist, Jan-Erik; Eklund, Patrik C.
Journal of Chemical Education, v93 n5 p841-846 May 2016
In our upper-level undergraduate laboratory course in organic chemistry we focus on a research-oriented task in a context-based and problem-based learning approach. The course starts with a preliminary training period where the students learn how to safely and independently perform synthesis and purification procedures and to operate the most common analysis instruments. In the latter part of the course, the students are asked to perform an oxidation-reduction sequence with a chiral, optically pure terpene alcohol, such as menthol or borneol, as a starting material. This part is presented as a problem scenario and the students, working in small groups, are supposed to plan and execute the experimental work independently. Importantly, the research task presented herein is aimed to promote the undergraduate students' creative thinking as well as the problem solving skills in organic chemistry.
Descriptors: Science Instruction, College Science, Undergraduate Study, Student Research, Problem Based Learning, Organic Chemistry, Science Process Skills, Cooperative Learning, Science Experiments, Foreign Countries
Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A