Application based service learning (ABSL) is a pedagogy that infuses research and community service into undergraduate laboratory courses.  The research and community service are both thematically connected to a common community problem.  Using the ABSL pedagogy, the New York City College of Technology (NYCCT) has overhauled the curriculum of its Instrumental Methods of Analysis course to include a focus on the chemistry of local Brooklyn brownfields.  This current incarnation of the Instrumental Methods of Analysis course aims to provide students with a stronger connection to analytical methods by tying the learning of spectroscopy, chromatography, and electroanalytical chemistry to the problem of characterization and remediation of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.During the first year of transforming the traditional Instrumental Methods of Analysis course into an ABSL course, we re-configured the syllabus and used student input to construct both the research and community service activities.  During the second year of the transformation, students participated in a group community service project and began performing in-class research about the quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contaminants in the Gowanus Canal and its vicinity.  This talk will focus on the methods used to transform the Instrumental Methods of Analysis class and on the effects of the transformation on student learning and engagement.

Analytical chemistry in context: Incorporating application-based service learning into an instrumental method of analysis course

248th National Meeting (2014)

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