CHEM 280 - Analytical Chemistry - Joan Esson
Abstract:
CHEM 280 Analytical Chemistry students partnered with 4th and 5th graders in Whittier Elementary School's after school program to test toys for the presence of the toxic metal lead. During an initial meeting, the Whittier students learned about the hazards of lead from CHEM280 students and together they decided on a hypothesis to test. The following week everyone shared Happy Meals and then tested the Happy Meal toys, toys brought from home, and other locally purchased toys for lead. During their final meeting, the students recapped their results and thought about with whom they should share their results and how they should communicate them.
Partnership and Collaborative Development
This is the first time this project was completed so simply building a partnership, scheduling and carrying out the activities was a major milestone. Although the community partner was Whittier Elementary school, most of the planning was coordinated with the Otterbein students who coordinate the after school program rather than with administrators at the school. I would hope the next time I do this project that there is more involvement from the teachers or administrators so that it can be a true partnership with respect to planning. However, there was definitely a development of a partnership between the CHEM280 and Whittier students since together they decided on what question they were going to test and also how to communicate the results.
Evaluation
I would like to do a more extensive assessment the next time I do this project since I focused more on carrying out the project this time than assessing it. I did give my Analytical students a pre and post- term attitudinal survey about their comfortableness with various chemical techniques that we were discussing in class, both with respect to the theory behind them and being able to carry them out. Although I didn't specifically target how much this project aided in that, they did have higher ratings at the end of the term with respect to the methods used for this project.
Stories and Successes
The day the students conducted the testing, it was evident that they were very interested in finding out if any of the toys had lead. It was exciting to see their enthusiasm about a science project. When the students were deciding how to share their results, one group decided to put together a statement that one of the students would read as a school announcement the next morning. They wanted to be sure everyone at the school knew what they had found. I enjoyed seeing them find the significance in what they had done and be good citizens by sharing their important discoveries. I also feel that the fact the Whittier students could articulate their hypothesis and results several weeks after the project was a strong sign that this project had made an impact on them.
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