The funding of the project called �Enhancing Undergraduate Chemistry Education through Incorporation of Art-based Experiments� started in January 2011 and is designed for chemistry and non-science majors. The goals of the project for the non-science majors are to increase their scientific literacy and understanding of chemistry and for the chemistry majors to develop their skills in using both classic and modern analytical instrumentation and expand their understanding of the use of chemistry in disciplines not traditionally perceived as linked to chemistry. The non-science majors are encouraged to enroll in a laboratory-based introductory chemistry course that uses art as a template for scientific teaching and because of this special connection, art majors are especially targeted in the recruiting process. On the other hand the chemistry majors take part in an elective course where they learn about the technical analysis of works of art while performing some hands-on activities related to this field using analytical instrumentation techniques as common as infra-red spectroscopy and as unusual as x-ray fluorescence. An external evaluator assesses the students' learning and attitude using test grades, pre- and post-surveys as well as in-class observations and end-of-the-semester interviews. The results range from very good to excellent, with for instance, chemistry majors reporting a 121% increase in their familiarity with advanced topics in analytical chemistry by the end of the course. Encouraging results have been obtained in both classes and will be discussed in this presentation. In addition this project has led to the creation of new activities in both courses, new collaborations on campus and in the community and to a newly-funded project designed to train high school science teachers to adopt and adapt some of these art-based activities. The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the NSF DUE TUES # 1043847 for support of this project.

Enhancing undergraduate chemistry education through incorporation of art-based experiments

246th National Meeting (2013)

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