Speaker: Dr. Alexey Leontyev, North Dakota State University
Title: “Assessment of Students’ Knowledge and Curriculum Adoption of Green Chemistry”
Abstract: While instruction in green chemistry is becoming more common, it is not well represented in the textbooks, leaving instructors responsible for deciding what to include and how to include it. Therefore, to evaluate how green chemistry is currently incorporated into the organic chemistry curriculum and the factors affecting its implementation, a nationwide survey was administered. It was found that faculty were most familiar with the green chemistry topics of reaction efficiency and catalysis and least familiar with the topics of efficiency metrics and life cycle impacts of chemicals. To identify which factors affected the integration of green chemistry, the survey items were developed using the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform model. Overall, it was found that teacher thinking factors held the most significant impact.

As the implementation of green chemistry into university-level courses increases, it is becoming increasingly important that educators have tools to measure student knowledge of green chemistry principles. We investigated two different approaches to capture changes in students’ learning – using selected-response and constructed-response questions. For the selected-response approach, we designed the Assessment of Student Knowledge of Green Chemistry Principles (ASK-GCP) instrument. However, one of the disadvantages of selected-response questions is their limited ability to provide insights into student misconceptions and reasoning. We utilized constructed-response case comparison prompts to address this problem and elicit their reasoning about green chemistry. In these prompts, two reaction alternatives were presented, and students were asked to identify which of the two reactions would be the “greener” option and explain their reasoning. Both approaches were investigated for psychometric qualities and sensitivity to distinguish known groups with various levels of exposure or pre-/post-conditions.

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Departmental Seminar Series covers a broad range of fields in the Chemical and Biochemical Sciences. In past seminars, scientists from Academia, Government, and Industry have presented their most recent discoveries and contributions in their respective areas. This Seminar Series offers students and faculty the opportunity to interact directly with other leaders in their specializations and to gain a good overview of the entire range of fields in Chemistry and Biochemistry.