Research shows student centered learning techniques incorporating problem-based, project-based and research-based activities are currently accepted by many chemistry educators as high impact pedagogical practices.1 While these modern teaching techniques are gaining popularity in general chemistry courses, implementation of these techniques in upper level undergraduate courses such as physical, analytical and inorganic chemistry courses is in its infancy. Of these upper level courses, physical chemistry is an especially challenging course because of its inherent intense mathematical nature. Most often asked questions in a physical chemistry course are ‘why do I have do all this math? and ‘what is the relevance of this equation’? In this context, discovery-based or inquiry-based learning can and will connect the theory and practical applications of physical chemistry. Current literature shows that chemistry educators are slowly but surely using the physical chemistry laboratories as a platform to introduce the inquiry-based learning.2 This presentation will primarily focus on “is it possible to adopt discovery-based experience in a physical chemistry lecture class room, especially in a public university with a diverse skills set?” and “what are some of the challenges and potential solutions to do so?”. (1) Bradforth, S.E., et.al. (2015), “Improve undergraduate science education”, Nature, 523: 281-284. (2) Hinde, R. J., et.al. (2001), “Student Active Learning Methods in Physical Chemsitry”, J. Chem. Educ. 78: 93 – 99.

Discovery-based research experiences in physical chemistry: Hallucination or reality?

251st National Meeting (2016)

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