Transforming Chemistry Education

released 06.16.08

The Institute for Chemistry Literacy through Computational Science aims to improve chemistry education by giving teachers from Illinois' rural schools hands-on experience with the computational, visualization, and collaboration tools used by researchers.

It's just the second year of a five-year program to improve chemistry education in Illinois, but already the Institute for Chemistry Literacy through Computational Science (ICLCS) has changed classroom practices and led to improved test scores.

The Institute was established in 2006 with a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Math Science Partnership program. ICLCS is a partnership among the Department of Chemistry, the College of Medicine, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, A-C Central Community Unit School District #262, and the Regional Office of Education #38.

ICLCS aims to improve achievement in chemical sciences and computational literacy among students in rural Illinois high schools.

To help prepare high school students for advanced study and careers in chemistry and medicine, ICLCS brings the tools and techniques of 21st century science to their classrooms. One hundred educators from 93 school districts across rural Illinois participate in intensive summer workshops and receive extensive academic-year online support, gaining the competence and confidence to use computational tools and methods in their curriculum.

"Chemistry is a challenging subject to teach because it involves species—atoms and molecules—that fall outside the range of human perception," said NCSA Director and ICLCS principal investigator Thom Dunning. "By emphasizing the use of computational tools that allow students to visualize and interact with these species, ICLCS enables teachers to convert exercise in abstract thinking into exercises involving concrete objects that can be manipulated and understood."

Help is only a keystroke away!

Online interaction is a vital part of ICLCS. The Moodle course management system has been transformed into an active learning environment where ICLCS participants (called Fellows), researchers, mentors, undergraduate and graduate students collaborate with one another in a variety of ways, including content and leadership development, peer-to-peer and mentor support, and sharing of ideas and resources. This helps reduce the isolation commonly experienced by the rural teachers who are part of this program, who often are the only science instructors in their schools or districts.

"I have to admit that I was feeling slightly overwhelmed at the beginning of the year trying to implement so many new ideas, but the support of ICLCS staff and fellows is phenomenal. I love the Moodle for that very purpose. Help is only a keystroke away!" said ICLCS Fellow Sheila Stephens.

Over the course of last year, Fellows logged in 10,413 times for an approximate total of 1,635 hours, and there were 5,808 postings to the Moodle by Fellows, staff, instructors, researchers, and mentors. Each active member posts an average of 20 to 31 times each month. Since the delivery of the graduate-level course (Chem 492CT) during three semesters (summer and fall 2007, spring 2008) is through the Virtual Learning Community and information related to the program is posted to the Moodle, this online forum has become the lifeline for many of these isolated participants.

"It is truly great to be able to 'Moodle' about things to try, find out what others have learned, share trials and triumphs with others and break through the isolation I have often felt as the only chemistry teacher at my school," said Fellow Rodger Baldwin.

The Virtual Learning Community provides quality resources and access to experts in the field. Available resources include WebMO; ChemSketch; Vensim and Molecular Workbench for chemical kinetics and molecular dynamics; and materials from the Computational Science Education Reference Desk. Fellows notice that students are more engaged when using these computational tools.

"While I do not have empirical data (yet) to support a thesis that students learn and retain chemistry knowledge and skills better using computational tools than when not using these resources, I can strongly speak to the improvement in attitude among my students," said ICLCS Fellow Tom Thompson. "Often, students come to class with a hopeful attitude asking 'Are we going to the (computer) lab today?' rather than an apathetic 'What are we doing in class today?' query. They look forward to coming to class and see the study of chemistry in a more engaged and thoughtful way than in previous years."

In January 2008, NCSA upgraded the WebMO computational resources in anticipation of increased demand from the Fellows' students. In a two-day test, the new configuration allowed the equivalent of 15 WebMO calculations to be run simultaneously. This high performance enabled calculations to optimize molecular geometries, to view molecular structures, and to view molecular orbitals. Approximately 1,100 computations have been performed by the Fellows and their students in the past five months.

Improving student achievement

The first cadre of ICLCS fellows has completed a full year of professional development, with the second cadre starting the program in spring 2008. Already significant results are being observed in the practices of Cadre I fellows and the achievement of their students in comparison to Cadre II Fellows who have not yet participated in a summer institute or had the Virtual Learning Community at their fingertips.

Cadre I Fellows are using more computational science resources than the Cadre II Fellows who are just embarking on their ICLCS training. High school students taught by both cadres took the American Chemical Society High School Chemistry exam in August 2007 and in March 2008; the students of Cadre I fellows who have begun to implement new techniques and tools in their classrooms were higher.

"I think participation in ICLCS is also making me a better teacher in that I am more excited to try new things and push the envelope, moving out of my comfort zone," Baldwin said.

Improving undergraduate curriculum

The ICLCS is also impacting general chemistry courses at the University of Illinois. Faculty from the Chemistry Department are serving as mentors in the program and as critical links between the high school and undergraduate levels. Armed with the knowledge of what skills are needed to succeed in chemistry courses at the university, the high school curriculum is being reshaped by identifying important concepts that should be taught in-depth and those that can be left to undergraduate courses. As computational chemistry resources are incorporated into the high school curriculum, they are simultaneously being incorporating into the University's general chemistry curriculum.

Principal investigator: Thom Dunning, Director, Institute for Advanced Computing Applications and Technologies and National Center for Supercomputing Applications; Distinguished Chair for Research Excellence in Chemistry and professor of chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Co-Principal investigator, Project director/contact: Edee Norman Wiziecki, Cybereducation Lead, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign