Service-learning (SL) is an active
learning approach that connects
the knowledge a student acquires in the classroom to an application
that benefits the community. Increasingly popular in the chemistry
curriculum, service-learning is reported to provide student benefits
including improved cognitive goals; increased academic, interpersonal,
and leadership skills; increased ability to apply course concepts
to real-world situations; and increased community engagement. For
the work reported here, an analytical chemistry laboratory was modified
to include a service-learning component with the goal of allowing
students to apply their newly acquired analytical skills to relevant,
real-world samples; to learn new analytical techniques; and to develop
professional communication skills. Students implemented a study of
the wastewater effluent at the Orlando Easterly Wetlands, an engineered
water polishing facility that removes nutrients from treated wastewater.
Students designed a sampling strategy, collected samples in the field,
and performed standard analysis on the water, including pH, chloride,
total dissolved solids, and phosphorus. Students also tested the water
for the artificial sweetener, sucralose, and characterized the concentration
throughout the flow path of the wetlands. Sucralose has been proposed
as an indicator of contamination of natural waters by anthropogenic
waste. This type of analysis has not been performed for this public
utility until now, and the students shared the results in a public
seminar. Student learning outcomes were compared to those in a conventional
section, with SL students showing comparable subject mastery and improved
self-efficacy.
Informal learning (IL) venues such as museums, zoos, scouting, national parks, and community activities are increasingly recognized for their important role in enhancing the public understanding of science. Many benefits...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.