Chemistry 111 Solutions for Solutions

ILF project

Solutions for Solutions ILF project:

• Traditionally grade 11 Chemistry students have had the greatest difficulty with and lowest marks in the solutions unit.

• Lisa Holyoke Walsh and I designed an ILF project to improve student learning with a hands on project that spans the entire semester.

• Project partners were: the UNB Chemistry Department and the Research and Productivity Council (RPC)

• The project was awarded $ 19,997.00.

Solution for Solutions ILF projectChemistry 111 students work as teams of junior analytical Chemists to:• analyze water or consumer products • compare their results to acceptable or quoted values

Students receive training in the following areas: • literature searching• WHMIS • lab book keeping• standard solution preparation• the use of a wiki for collaboration purposes• the proper use of analytical equipment and instrumentation

Students conduct their investigations and present their results at a final culminating event.

Project introduction:

The project is introduced with:

• an introductory letter to parent(s)/guardian(s)

Handouts for session participants\Parental communications\Parental communication 1 - Introductory letter to parents - general.doc

• an introductory handout for students

Handouts for session participants\Student Communications\ILF - Chemistry 111 Consumer Investigations - initial handout - general.docx

Project introduction:

A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in January 2010, found that fast food and frozen packaged foods often contain many more calories than advertised.

…Some individual restaurant items contained up to 200% of stated (calorie) values… (Roberts, Urban, Dallal, Robinson, Saltzman & Ausman, 2010)

Another study investigated the calorie content of pop corn snacks at some of the top cinemas in the United States.

(Hurley, & Liebman, 2009)

Regal Cinemas Popcorn size

Quoted Calorie Content

Actual Calorie Content

Medium 720 calories 1,200 caloriesLarge 960 calories 1,200 calories

• Considering these studies, can we trust other consumer product concentration claims?

• Do we really know the concentrations of many of the chemicals in consumer products and other things we are using on a daily basis?

• Do the concentrations quoted on the food product labels really match the concentrations of the chemical actually found in the products?

• What about items we consume that have no labels, like tap

water and other items? Do these products meet suggested guidelines?

Solutions for Solutions ILF project:

• Students embark on a journey to investigate the concentration of a chemical in water or a consumer product and they compare the level of chemical determined to amounts quoted on the label and/or to recommended guidelines.

• Students are presented with a number of potential investigation topics.

• They may choose an alternate investigation as long as the required materials are available.

Students have access to analytical instrumentation available at Leo Hayes High School as well as the Chemistry department at the University of New Brunswick.

Real life Chemists must work within the restrictions of the equipment and supplies are available to them at the laboratory

Students have access to analytical instrumentation available at Leo Hayes High School as well as the Chemistry department at the University of New Brunswick. Real life Chemists must work within the restrictions of what equipment and supplies that are available to them• Vernier visible-nir spectrometers (LHHS)• Vernier fluorometers(LHHS)• colorimeter (LHHS and UNB)• sodium ion selective electrode (LHHS)• fluoride ion selective electrode (LHHS and UNB)• pH electrodes (LHHS)• uv-visible spectrometer (UNB)• high performance liquid chromatograph with uv-visible

detector (UNB)• flame photometer (UNB)• gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector (UNB)

Project options for students:• Caffeine in K-cups• Caffeine in coffee• Caffeine in tea• Caffeine in energy drinks• Sodium ion levels in electrolyte drinks• Sodium ion levels in potato chips• Sodium ion levels in untreated and treated drinking water• Fluoride analysis in toothpaste• Fluoride analysis in water• Iron analysis in water samples • Hexavalent chromium levels in water• Free and total chlorine levels in drinking water• Free and total chlorine levels in pools and hot tubs• Concentration of Riboflavin in Vitamin B supplements• Vitamin C content in fruit• Vitamin C content in fruit juices• Vitamin C content in Vitamin C supplements• Vitamin C content in Vitamin water

Junior Analytical Chemistry teams

• Students submit their top three project preferences

• Junior Analytical Chemist research teams are formed.

-Groupings of 2-4 are possible

Chemistry 111 ILF students work in teams as junior analytical chemists to perform an analytical Chemistry investigation

Students are trained in safety by a safety officer from a real life laboratory

Students receive wiki training -the student wikis are used as a collaboration site, to

document the progress of the research teams-privacy settings allow only members of the wiki to edit and

view the pages-The organizing teacher is e-mailed every time an edit or

post is made to the wiki, so it is easy to document the contributions made by each group member

Chemistry 111 wiki:https://lightfoot.wikispaces.com/Chemistry+111

ILF project collaboration wikis (an example from the fall of 2010):http://chem111groupwikis.wikispaces.com/home

Students are trained by the librarian at the UNB Science library on how to perform proper literature searches and what resources are available to students for this purpose-This training allows students to perform thorough background research on the subject matter they will be investigating and it also allows them to search for possible methodologies and procedures that may be used to perform the chemical analysis.

Students Receive training in how to keep a proper laboratory note book

-Students are required to keep a proper laboratory notebook for all work and investigations, just as real life Chemists do.

Handouts for session participants\Guest Speaker presentations\GLP - lab notebook and RPC presentation - by Chris Riley - shortened.pptx

Students participate in an official ILF project kick off party- Students will:

- complete a group contract ..\Group contract\ILF Group Contract.docx

- receive their lab note books and project planning handouts folder

- Handouts for session participants\Project Planning Tools for students

- present the background research for their project

Students participate in an official ILF project kick off party- Students will present the background research for their project• What is the chemical formula, chemical structure, molar mass and the CAS

Registry number of the analyte you will be working with?• Find and print out a free MSDS for the chemical you are studying.• What are the health benefits of consuming the chemical you are working with? • What are the health risks of consuming too much of the chemical you are

working with?• What is the normal or acceptable amount of your group's analyte, in the

substance you will be analyzing?• Investigate the instrumentation or techniques required to carry out the analysis.• How does the instrumentation or technique work to measure the substance you

are looking for?• What other chemicals are required to do the analysis?• Look up and print out the MSDS for each chemical required to do the analysis.• Outline the steps required to carry out the analysis.• Make a list of the skills you will need to have training in, in order to perform the

analysis properly.

Students participate in a field trip to UNB to complete a lab experiment

Students participate in an official ILF project kick off party- Students celebrate the official commencement of the project

Students are trained by a PhD analytical chemist in the proper analytical techniques and skills required to prepare a stock standard solution

Students conduct the study and report the results in a culminating event at the end of the semester, which involves parents/guardians, Chemistry experts, teachers and fellow students

Final Project Presentation Requirements:• Each group will be expected to make a presentation to the

class regarding their research topic. This serves as a trial process prior to the culminating event with final presentations.

• Students must have a poster board and a presentation (like a powerpoint or prezi), that must include the following:

• Title: • Background information: • Materials: • Safety considerations:• Samples: • Procedure: • Results: (results table) • Analysis: (Calculations and calibration curves go here) • Conclusion and evaluation: (including sources of error)

The first ILF class after completing the project

Students are awarded certificatesafter successful completion of the project

• Handouts for session participants\Project completion ceritificate\project completion certificate - general.doc

Extensions of the ILF• The project is being currently being completed for the

third time.• A number of students from the original group extended

their research as part of the project requirement for the Chemistry 121 course under Brent Jewett’s supervision.

• Two students from the original ILF group are currently working on senior projects involving analytical work. – One in microbiology at the Marysville Environment Lab– Another one in Chemistry at LHHS and UNB

• Two groups from the original ILF project class, participated in the district STEM expo this spring. Both groups moved on to the regional Science fair after placing 1st and 3rd in their division.

• The two groups mentioned above won silver and bronze at the provincial Science fair.

Our regional Science fair winners

Travis Rutherford and Kent Beattie

Tyler Trask and Scott Wallace

References:• Roberts, S.B., Urban, L.E., Dallal, G.E., Robinson, L.M.,

Saltzman,E., & Ausman, L.M. (2010). The Accuracy of stated energy contents of reduced-energy, commercially prepared foods. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(1), Retrieved from http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(09)01679-4/abstract

• Hurley, J, & Liebman, B. (2009, December). Big - movie theatres fill buckets ... and bellies. Nutrition Action Health Letter, Retrieved from http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/nahpopcorn.pdf