This semester Lyndsay Munro, teaching professor and general chemistry coordinator, introduced a new assignment in her chemical synthesis laboratory course. The assignment was to build a model of a chemical structure using resources from the University Libraries' DeLaMare (DLM) Science and Engineering library's Makerspace, and Munro said that assignment was a game-changer for her students.
Munro teaches a chemical synthesis lab course for senior chemistry majors that complements advanced inorganic chemistry lectures.
“It introduces a lot of advanced techniques that students haven’t seen before, and it introduces a lot of teamwork that they haven’t really had to do before,” Munro said.
In the chemistry labs students took prior to the chemical synthesis lab the students are given a very straightforward procedure, warned of the hazards and instructed step-by-step in how to get the end product they are searching for. In Munro’s chemical synthesis course, the students are put into groups and over the course of the semester, are assigned different chemical compounds they have to synthesize with their group. The students are given a research article they can reference and from there, they are expected to do research to learn how to synthesize the end product. Of course, the students are able to ask questions of their teaching assistant and of Munro, and their understanding of hazards is checked by Munro. The groups also analyze the substance and write a report.
“What I have noticed within the groups is that they really struggle with their time management,” Munro said. “They have to figure everything out on their own.”
That includes booking equipment, communicating about progress, dividing responsibilities amongst themselves and more, which takes place outside of the lab time.
Bringing the Makerspace into the classroom
At a faculty senate committee poster presentation attended by Munro, Rebecca Glasgow, an assistant professor and the engineering and fabrication librarian for the University Libraries, discussed the DLM Makerspace and how it can be used to support classroom learning objectives.
“As the fabrication librarian for the Libraries and DLM, I am always looking for new ways to integrate the Makerspace into a variety of disciplines,” Glasgow said.
Munro reached out to Glasgow to learn more. Glasgow outlined some of the major skills that the Makerspace can guide students toward. Munro noted that teamwork is an important skill the students in the chemical synthesis lab course need, and she worked closely with Glasgow to determine which Makerspace technologies could be applied in the course and develop students’ teamwork skills.
“When you go out and get a job, you're going to have to be efficient working in a group,” Munro said. “The course itself mimics a real-life experience.”
“When students come into the Makerspace, operating the equipment is not the main learning objective,” Glasgow said. “They are developing transferable skills that can be used outside of the classroom and prepare them for the workforce.”
Determining which of Munro’s courses would integrate the Makerspace work took some thinking on her part and Glasgow’s part. There were a variety of considerations, including space needs and costs. They landed on introducing the assignment in Munro’s chemical synthesis course.
“This was an obvious addition to what we were already doing,” Munro said.
Glasgow said that the workflow for implementing maker lessons into a course includes mapping maker literacies to the course content, looking over the syllabus and determining which transferable skills fit best within the context of the course and developing a plan to integrate the Makerspace into the course, often done through a Makerspace instruction session, online module or one-on-one consultations with students.
Implementing a new assignment
When Munro first taught the course, the students were working through five or six experiments in the semester, which put the class on a tight time crunch. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, students had to work individually, so Munro reduced the number of experiments. She noticed the papers and products from students were better when they were given more time, so when students were able to work in groups again, she kept fewer experiments.
“That allowed for a little bit more flexibility in other areas of the course,” Munro said.
With that flexibility, the students learned more about conducting a literature review and how to operate the instruments. When Munro introduced the Makerspace component of the course, it was like adding one lab back in, but without the chemicals. It also didn’t require the students to use the chemistry lab, but rather the Makerspace where there was ample time outside class for the students to work on their projects.
In addition, the Makerspace provided a project management plan module in WebCampus that lays out deadlines, introduced communication tools and provided additional resources.
With this part of the course, students got a practice run at working with their group to plan and implement strategies to achieve a common goal. They learned communication and teamwork skills with a lower-stakes project.
“These chemistry students acquired project management and communication skills as they navigated fabricating this molecule into a physical 3D object as a team,” Glasgow said. “They learned how to utilize project management tools to assign tasks, determine communication methods for accountability and reflect on how collaborating with others who have diverse experiences and perspectives affected the outcome of the project.”
The unusually small class size of six students Munro had this semester allowed for the perfect opportunity to launch the new course model. The groups each picked the structure of a chemical compound they would try to make later in the semester to model.
Putting the “A” in STEAM
Glasgow and Munro landed on several ways the students could model their chemical structure, including vinyl cutting, 3D modeling, 3D printing and laser wood cutting. Munro was surprised that both groups of students chose to make their models using 3D printing because despite the fact that it is “arguably the coolest looking thing, it’s also the most difficult,” Munro said.
Munro wanted to ensure that the students were learning skills they would need in a chemistry career, and she and Glasgow brainstormed to find a software that could be used to 3D print the models without the students having to learn a software they wouldn’t need post-graduation.
“To create this model, they had to use a software called Avogadro that we use a lot as chemists to model molecules,” Munro said.
The students tapped into their creative sides, using Avogadro and Blender software to scale up their chemical structure. Munro noted that a lot of chemistry students are also artists, and that bringing this assignment into the course felt like a natural way to bridge the disciplines. The outcomes were exactly what Munro and Glasgow had hoped for. The students successfully designed and printed their models, but more importantly, “I noticed early in the course that tasks were shared more equally,” Munro said.
There were some stumbling blocks. One group’s 3D model broke just before they turned it in, but Munro said that even that setback was a good learning opportunity. Oftentimes, if a student is unable to get the final product in a chemistry lab, the student sees it as a failure (though as Munro points out, this is common in chemistry and prepares them for research). This project allows students to manage unexpected challenges and do so as a team.
“It’s a really cool space, and the people there are very helpful,” Gabriel Tejeda, one of the students in Munro’s class, said. “They give you a lot of autonomy.”
“They always made time for me,” Aspen Easter, another student in the class, said.
Creativity in teaching
Munro said she would love to bring the Makerspace element into her other chemistry courses, but those have much higher student numbers, up to 1500 in a semester. She’s working with Glasgow to see if they can come up with another opportunity that wouldn’t overwhelm the Makerspace but would allow students to make their own learning tools.
“I like, live and breathe pedagogy and curriculum and I'm constantly like trying to, you know, do new things and do things better.”
The Makerspace collaboration isn’t the only unique part about this particular chemistry course. Munro implements a pedagogical strategy called “ungrading” which, instead of giving students a score or points on a project to indicate their level of success on the assignment, provides areas of improvement. The students do two self-assessments throughout the semester, and at the end of the course, Munro asks students what grade they think they should receive in the course.
“Everyone is almost always harder on themselves or right where I think they should be,” Munro said.
The point, though, is to reframe the purpose of the assignments in the students’ minds.
“The focus is on learning and not grades,” Munro said.
“Lyndsay’s creativity with her teaching is an asset to the chemistry department,” Department Chair Ana de Bettencourt-Dias said. “Including unique assignments like this can keep students focused on learning the skills they will need after they graduate.”
For her part, Munro hopes that other professors will consider collaborating with the Makerspace to enhance the learning experience of students.
“This is a very flexible process, where Lyndsay and I worked through lots of ideas and narrowed down on specific learning objectives that she wanted her students to achieve by the end of the assignment,” Glasgow said. “From there we built the Makerspace curriculum based on her course needs.”
