Incorporating Professional Service as a Component of General Chemistry Laboratory by Demonstrating Chemistry to Elementary Students

Abstract

Formalized participation in professional service is not often part of the college experience, especially for first-year students in chemistry courses. When service opportunities are offered, they are most often through elective credit, upper-level courses, extracurricular clubs, and the rare service-learning courses. We have successfully incorporated a large science service-learning opportunity into the general chemistry laboratory that provides multidisciplinary educational experiences for children and the community. The experience for the college students involves several weeks of preparation for a two-week laboratory module and participation in the public event on the university campus. College students involved in the second year of the event were surveyed to determine the impact of formalized participation in professional service on their attitude toward science and participation in future professional service events. Highly positive responses on the surveys and public interest in the event suggest continuing and expanding on the science offerings in our geographic location.

Characterizing the Landscape: Collegiate Organizations’ Chemistry Outreach Practices

“…Not only can a well-articulated set of purposes better guide individual chapters in working toward their goals, but it can also provide an authentic and context- and research-based description of outreach goals to external stakeholders, such as funding agencies and the national organizations which support these chapters. Additionally, these purposes may help faculty in designing learning experiences and outcomes for service learning courses and/or professional service experiences …”

Community Awareness and Service Learning in Analytical Chemistry Laboratories

“…Service learning may have many descriptors (community-based learning, community-based research, civic engagement), but under any name it has been shown to engage students in applied, meaningful projects in ways that standard pedagogies generally do not . In the chemical education literature, most higher education service-learning projects fall into one of three categories, including (1) college student chemical demonstrations at K-12 schools, − (2) connecting upper-level college students with high school or lower-level college students to work through an open ended problem, , or (3) college students partnering with a community organization to perform some service for the community. ,− In any of these contexts, the key factor is a problem with a defined goal, but an uncertain path to achieve that goal. With some guidance, students then must determine a path that can meet the goal within any imposed constraints.…”

National Chemistry Week: A Platform for Scholarship

“…Outreach events naturally and most strongly connect with the scholarship of engagement: that is, working within one’s area of expertise and with people and institutions for the service and benefit of others. Several efforts to provide opportunities for people to explore the wonders of chemistry during NCW − and at other times , illustrate this aspect of scholarship. These activities excite and inspire future chemists and scientists, educate the public, and foster collaborations between the university and the surrounding community.…”