Undergraduate analytical chemistry
courses emphasize fundamental
stoichiometric and physicochemical analytical techniques with statistical
analysis and linear calibrations. Higher-level data analysis techniques
may not be included in the college junior-level curriculum, but widely
available software enables more complex analysis to be accessible.
In this work, activities to train students in multicomponent spectral
curve fitting (using Microsoft Excel’s Solver) and utilizing
matrix algebra were incorporated within a large-enrollment undergraduate
analytical chemistry lecture setting. When analyzing multiple compounds
in solutions without separation
pretreatment, both curve-fitting and classical matrix approaches are
valuable techniques for students to understand and execute using commercially
available software. When hands-on activities, multimedia screencasts,
and in-class data collection and analysis were implemented, students
were trained to employ these advanced analysis methods. The efficacy
of the in-class practical activities was assessed with pre- and post-test
instruments that quantified gains in learning outcomes. Inclusion
of such activities will empower students with an expanded repertoire
of these important analytical methods and their applications with
a real world, portable, active-learning approach that can be completed
in a lecture setting with nonhazardous samples.
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