Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

A New Approach to Teaching Introductory Science: The Gas Module

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Sandra Clarkson

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Hunter College, New York, NY 10021

Pamela Mills and William V. Sweeney

Department of Chemistry, Hunter College, New York, NY 10021-5024

Robert Marino

Department of Physics, Hunter College, New York, NY 10021

J. Chem. Educ., 2000, 77 (9), p 1161

DOI: 10.1021/ed077p1161

Publication Date (Web): September 1, 2000

Abstract

We report a lecture/laboratory module about the behavior of gases that is designed to expose students to the process of scientific discovery, not to teach the gas laws per se. The topic of gases is only the medium used to illustrate other important aspects of physical science: how to process experimental data and reduce it to symbolic mathematical relationships, how to evaluate the reliability of experimental data, and how to view the relationship between experimental data and scientific models. Students measure the macroscopic properties of a gas in the laboratory, reduce their data to a mathematical relationship between the variables, and use that mathematical relationship to help develop a model for microscopic behavior. The students are tested using a poster exam that resembles a scientific meeting in its structure, requiring students to explain verbally the connection between experimental measurements and models of microscopic behavior. We have piloted the module in an experimental integrated chemistry/physics/mathematics course for introductory students. Although designed for an integrated format, the module could be used in a traditional chemistry or physics class.