Our Responsibilities
In our placement
as LSS mentors, the main goal was, as outlined by our contract, “To teach and
help students better understand basic organic chemistry lab skills through
weekly lab skills seminars.”
 |
| Natalia, Donald, and Lana attending to students' questions |
One of our main
responsibilities was preparing presentations for each of the five labs and a
“summary” presentation for the lab test. The lab manual for CHMB421
was our main guide, since it outlined all 5 labs including background
information, chemical reactions, procedures, and pre-lab questions. It also
included safety guidelines, policies, and an appendix with more details on
techniques. The presentations were to be done using PowerPoint slides, and we
decided that we would not post the originals on the CHMB42 Online
Blackboard site, so students do not have access to them. We wanted to encourage
students to attend the seminars, so that they can benefit from them. Instead,
we prepared modified and simplified versions of the slides that we did
post online. After completing both versions of the slides and before posting
the student version, we would email them to our supervisors for review.
Generally, this is accompanied by our biweekly meeting with them, so that we
can make adjustments, get our questions answered, and get things clarified to ensure
good quality in our presentations. Although not everyone—supervisors and/or
mentors—could always be present, we all tried our best to meet regularly. After
finalizing the slides, we would post the student version online, and every time
we did, we would also post an announcement and tell the students to bring them
to the seminars, where we would provide the “missing” information that they can
fill in. Another main responsibility in our placement was presenting the
seminars, of course. This includes preparing ourselves beforehand, such as by
practicing going through the slides and borrowing & preparing lab equipment
right before the seminar to be used as a demonstration. However, for the most
part, our team was split in two for this aspect of our placement. Donald and I
present the seminars in AC223 every Tuesday from 6-7pm, while Natalia and
Taleen present the ones in SW143 every Friday from 3-4pm. Each “sub-team” would
make sure to prepare themselves for their seminars. Donald and I were not
allowed to bring lab equipment to AC223 due to room policies, so we did not
have to prepare the physical demonstrations, but Wanda and Lana allowed us to
use their tablet computers throughout the term, so that we can write on the
slides as we present. Besides just presenting the material on our slides, we
knew it was important to engage students to participate. As we present, we
would ask the students questions to encourage them to think critically about
the theories and recall information they have already been taught. Of course,
they also had their own questions, and we needed to be able to answer them to
the best of our abilities before, during, and after the seminars. The questions
could pertain to theories, lab techniques, and procedural details in general.
Originally,
we were told that each of us should prepare one of the PowerPoint slides for a
single lab, and then for Lab 5 and the final lab test slides, we can work
together on them. But we felt that the work would be unevenly distributed
(imagine if a single student had to prepare Lab 3 or 4 slides, which were done
during the midterm period). So for the most part, we all contributed to
preparing the slides. However, we were each placed responsible for the first
four labs, and that included finalizing the slides, emailing them to the
supervisors for review, making the necessary adjustments, and posting them
online with an announcement. I was “in charge” of Lab 2, which was called Analysis of Unknowns – Spectroscopy.
This lab was unique in the sense that it was not even an actual lab. It was
more like a long tutorial about spectroscopy, since this is a large part of the
important essential material learnt in CHMB42. A quiz was to be done at the
start, as usual, but after that, a package of spectroscopy examples (handouts)
would be given out to students, and they would work on them to determine the
chemical compounds that they correspond to (determining the “unknowns”). At the
end, they would write a “final lab quiz.” Thus, we decided to make our
corresponding seminar to be tutorial-like, in which we go through some of our
own spectroscopy examples.
LSS 2 – Analysis of Unknowns - Spectroscopy
 |
| Slides 1-6 of the Lab Skills Seminar slides of Lab 2 |
Here are the first six slides of this presentation.
The large ones are the presentation version, and the smaller insets are the
student version. Notice that they are almost identical. This was because we
started by quickly summarizing the spectroscopy theory learnt in lecture and we
wanted to spend more time on the examples (besides the lab test slides, this
was the longest set of slides, and we only had an hour for the seminars). Here
are slides on mass spectrometry and IR and NMR spectroscopy.
 |
| Slides 7-15 of the Lab Skills Seminar slides for Lab 2 |
|
|
|
|
Here are the next nine slides. After the theory, we
outlined some steps they could take to solve the spectroscopy questions. Then
we went through two examples that we would answer ourselves, step-by-step.
First, we gave them three IR spectra, and told them they corresponded to three
almost identical compounds (isomers). We first showed how to interpret the
peaks shown in the spectra, then how to distinguish the three compounds by
looking at the one area that they differed. We did this by writing on, circling
peaks, and labelling the spectra using the tablet computers. The students could
then do the same on their copies. Then we went through a more typical example,
which included both an IR and an NMR spectra for the same compound. Again we
wrote on the spectra to show them how to interpret them.
 |
| Slides 16-21 of the Lab Skills Seminar slides for Lab 2 |
Here are the last six slides. Next, we would give the students a
chance to try some examples. We gave them a few minutes to work them out and
walked around to see how they were doing. We usually only had time for two of
these. After they tried them out, we would take up the answers by asking the
students questions about what they got as we showed how to get the answer by
writing on the spectra again.
For
the final lab, we were all pretty much “equally in-charge”. Lab 5, Aldol Condensation Using an Unknown Aldehyde
and an Unknown Ketone, could be considered the most complicated lab in the
course. The students would obtain two unknown chemicals and only until they
synthesize a final product, purify it, and perform a melting point analysis,
can they determine what they started with. Then they would be required to
predict the peaks that they would obtain from IR spectra for these starting
materials.
LSS 5 – Aldol Condensation
Using an Unknown Aldehyde and an Unknown Ketone
Click here to open this ppt file.
 |
| Slides 1-6 of the Lab Skills Seminar slides for Lab 5 |
Here are the first six slides of this presentation. As
usual we began by going through the theory behind the lab. Here there is a more
noticeable difference between the presentation and student versions of the
slides. Most of the “yellow” text and objects do not appear in the student
copy. This included answers to some raised questions on the slides, some labels,
and the reaction arrows in the mechanism that shows the movement of electrons.
Next we went through the details of the procedure.
 |
| Slides 7-12 of the Lab Skills Seminar slides for Lab 5 |
After going through the procedure and explaining why
each step is done, we reviewed a purification technique they would use
(recrystallization) and should be familiar with. Then we went through a
specific example (solubility question) given in their manual. According to
Wanda, this type of question is usually used in the final lab test, and
students usually don’t do so well on it. So we felt it was good to go through
it with them. Next, we were planning to explain how to read an experimentally
obtained IR spectrum (would not be as ideal as the examples they’ve seen), but
it turned out there was a bit of miscommunication with the supervisors.
Students in this course will not get to obtain IR spectra of their own
products. Thus, we told students they can refer to this (slide 10) for future
reference in later courses. At the end, we went through two sets of spectra and
compared them, to help them when they predict the peaks for their starting
chemicals.
Links to Academic Knowledge
 |
| Consulting Wanda before Donald and I begin the LSS |
While in this placement, it was important that I
wasn’t just doing a service. After all, it was a service learning
course. I found that as a LSS Mentor in CHMB42, I was finally able to apply the
knowledge I have been gaining for years. I have already completed CHMB41 and
B42 two years ago. Since then, I have also taken analytical chemistry (CHMB16)
and third year organic chemistry courses (CHMC41 and C47), which all have labs.
I have been gaining a lot of experience on how to do well in the labs, and now
I was able to share this knowledge with the CHMB42 students. I knew how to
perform techniques such as refluxing, recrystallization, spectroscopy analysis,
melting point analysis, thin layer chromatography, extraction, refractive index
analysis, and using microscale apparatus, since I have done them many times in
my past lab courses, and the students had to be able to do all of these in
CHMB42. However, at times it was necessary to review the techniques and
theories, especially if I had trouble with it in the past when I took the
course. Sometimes, this involved asking questions to Wanda or Lana, or to the
others in the LSS team. This would help me to recall information that I might
have forgotten, and better fully understand concepts that I was unsure about.
Furthermore, I was able to gain teaching and presentation skills by being able
to explain to the students how to perform these techniques and why they are
done. I was able to give them helpful tips and warnings based on my own
experience using the techniques. But I wasn’t the only one—Donald, Natalia, and
Taleen have also had their own lab experiences. I found myself learning new
things from them as well, such as their own tips on how to perform techniques
more effectively and efficiently. I also found myself making links between my
placement and the lab course I was taking at the same time, CHMC31Y
(Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry). I was able to actually apply the knowledge
I gained through my placement in an actual lab setting! I started to use some
of the tips I learnt to improve my own performance in the lab. Also, I was able
to learn new concepts in CHMC31Y more effectively, because they built upon the
knowledge from previous courses such as CHMB42 (for example, we learn more on
the theory of IR and NMR spectroscopy and how they are applied in the analysis
of inorganic compounds). Of course, this knowledge gaining-application
process “worked the other way” as well. I was able to apply the knowledge and
experience from CHMC31Y to perform better in my placement (for example, I
accidently ripped my filter paper when trying to wash my product in the lab
while vacuum filtering, and I warned students in the seminar about this, since
they would also be washing their products while vacuum filtering). Overall, I
was glad I was taking these two courses at the same time. I found myself
appreciating and understanding the material in CHMC31Y, and this allowed me to
perform well in the lab and in other evaluations. And at the same time, I found
myself improving when I present at the Lab Skills Seminars, since I was gaining
more knowledge to become more prepared to help students and explain concepts
more effectively. Without service learning, I would probably not have learnt
the concepts in CHMC31Y well, and I would still be lacking a solid understanding
of the concepts from previous courses such as CHMB42. Because of this
placement, I can now go on to my final year more confidently, and be more
prepared for future challenges, such as CHMD91 (chemistry research, which
definitely requires plenty of lab experience)!
The Final Challenge
Although, just as outlined in our contract, we had no
“final product” for our placement, we completed two things at the end of our
placement that allowed us to bring together all that we have learnt:
 |
| Slides 1-3 of the final Lab Skills Seminar slides for the lab test review |
|
Final
LSS Slides – Jeopardy! (Lab Test Review): For our final two
seminars, we needed to bring together all five labs for a final review to help
the students prepare for their final lab test. We decided to use a different
style for this final culminating set of slides: a game! The popular game that
is usually used for final reviews is “Jeopardy!” and we felt it would allow us
to get through many topics in a short amount of time. We would use the
information from our previous presentations and the lab manual1 as
our guide. For more information, click here to go to the Educational Methods: Jeopardy! page!
After the slides have been reviewed and finalized, we
received some final emails from our supervisors in which they have shown their
gratitude towards us:
Hello everyone,
I really like the way you made this game. I hope that our students will like it
too and the most important thing - will learn something. It was a joy to work
with all of you as a team and in this sense I am sorry that this term is
over:(. Very best wishes for your future.
Cheers,
Lana :)
Hi Mario and team,
I'll print out about 100 copies [of the final survey] and we'll see how it goes for Friday. If need be I can print out some
more on Tuesday. Thanks so very much to all of you for all the hard work and effort you have put
into this course and at such a busy time in your academic career. You were
fantastic to work with and have raised the bar for those doing this in the
future. I wish you all the best in your present and future courses and of
course your career in chemistry.
With much appreciation,
Wanda
And with that, I felt a sense of accomplishment and
success with not only the final product “game” review, but with all of the work
that our team has done this term. We could not forget about all that the
supervisors have taught us, and to show our gratitude back to them, and as a
way to remember us by, we got cards and some “small” gifts for both of them.
 |
| Some final photos with our supervisors after they receive their gifts |
Movie
about Our Experiences: As an extra project, we have been filming
clips of ourselves in action during our placement. It includes some of the
great moments, but also some of our less successful moments. We decided to
create a film that would outline some of the experiences we have been through
as LSS mentors: the challenges and the achievements. It allowed us to reflect
more on our placement, what we did that might not have been so great, and also
what we discovered that we were able to gain from it. The title of our film is The Journey of the Lab Skills Seminar
Lecturers. For more information, click here to go to the Experience Film page!
 |
| Screenshots of the film "The Journey of the Lab Skills Seminar Lecturers" |
|
Reference
1.
Restivo, W. CHMB42
Organic Chemistry II: Laboratory Manual Winter 2012. Academic Printing
& Custom Publishing Services. 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment