Online Tutorials and Computer Animations for the Organic
Chemistry Laboratory
Laurie S. Starkey, Ali Saffari, Zachary Bogorad
Chemistry Department, Cal Poly Pomonahttp://www.csupomona.edu/~lsstarkey
About CHM 317L• 1st quarter of year-long Organic Chemistry Lab
sequence
• Multiple sections offered every quarter
• Taught by many different instructors
• Laboratory Exercises focus on techniques: melting point TLC
extraction distillationrecrystallization IR spectroscopy
Recurring problem: unprepared students
Prelab Survey: How did you prepare for lab?
Lab Challenges & Solutions• Limited lab time
– One 3-hour lab/week
• Lack of incentive
– Easy to copy prelab
• Lab textbook format
– No discussion of common mistakes
– No answers to end-of-chapter problems
• Create an online prelab tutorial
– Use time outside of class
– Audio, video and animations make it interesting, engaging
– Thoroughly explore theory and practice
• Develop animations
Research Plan (FCPD ITaL Fellow)
Collect Pre-tutorial data• Seven sections of CHM 317L (W07, F07)• Administer prelab quiz & survey
Incorporate online Distillation Tutorial
Collect Post-tutorial data• Five sections of CHM 317L (Sp07, W08)• Administer prelab quiz & survey
Creating the Tutorial
• Developed in Adobe Presenter (a.k.a. Breeze, Connect)
• Designed Flash animations(CPP I&IT provided designer)
• Videotaped lab demonstrations(CPP Mediavision)
http://connect.csupomona.edu/distillation
(local copy)
Prelab Quiz: Overall Score
n=150Mean = 31/65Median = 34
n=52Mean = 47/65Median = 50
Percent of Students at each Score(10/52 watched “some”)
Prelab Quiz: Apparatus SketchPercent of Students at each Score (Max Score = 10 points)
Prelab Survey: Confidence in Running Distillation Experiment
Median = 6
Median = 8
Student Comments (Exit Survey)• “Helped in preparation for lab so I felt more
comfortable with what I was doing.”
• “The tutorial was extremely helpful. The notes I took really made the lab run smoothly.”
• “Distillation tutorial was very animated and provided a view that made it interesting to watch.”
• “Please leave the distillation on the Bb so I can review it again for my next class.”
• “More tutorials on other difficult subjects would be greatly appreciated.”
• “Thanks for all the work you put in to find ways to help students learn.”
New Research Question• Which TLC animation is most effective?• Does any animation make a difference?
(Future work: what is the impact of varied multimedia support on student learning?)
Textonly
Powerpoint“animate”
Powerpoint + audio
Powerpoint+ audio
+ animations
Research PlanCreate Four Versions of TLC Tutorial• One tutorial with NO animation• Tutorials with various animations
– One “best” (interactive) + two others
Students watch a tutorial and take TLC quiz• Quiz includes two basic General Chem. Questions
– Distractor– Evaluate students (“Competency”)
Distribute online survey one week later• Any information retained?!
http://www.csupomona.edu/~lsstarkey/ochemlab(local copy)
Student Sample• 84 General Chemistry students
– Week 10, after check-out
• 40 students had NO animation• 44 students had an animation
– 24 of these had “best” animation
• “Competency” rating out of 6 points– 20 had low performance (0-2 score)– 25 had mid performance (3-4 score)– 39 had high performance (5-6 score)
(Woo-hoo!)
Some Results (wrong/correct)
Use of animations improved some results.
A LESS polar compound has a higher/lower Rf (circle one).
All questions were found to be challenging.
w/out with
Prior Experience = Good or Bad?Before watching the tutorial today, how familiar were you with the technique of Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC)?
Students new to the topic performed better
Tutorial challenge: how to confront/correct previous misconceptions?!
Some Improvements w/Animation(wrong/correct)
A LESS polar compound has a higher/lower Rf (circle one).
w/out withw/out with
A LESS polar solvent will cause spots to have higher/lower Rf
Animations May Especially Benefit Weaker Students
A LESS polar compound has a higher/lower Rf (circle one).
Strongest students
w/out with
Weakest students
w/out with
AcknowledgementsAli Saffari, Zachary Bogorad
CPP Faculty Center for Professional DevelopmentInvestigating Teaching and Learning (ITaL) Fellowship 2007/08
Dr. Peggy Perry, Dr. Carol Holder
CSUPERB Programmatic Grant Summer 2008
I&IT LearningKaren Brzoska April McKettrick
Daniel Smith Bo SohErick Zelaya and Jason Beers (Flash animations)
Tutorial Video produced by MediavisionTerry Hogan
Thank you!