The Chemistry Outreach Program of Virginia Tech

Overview The Chemistry Outreach program at Virginia Tech consists of the Mobile Chemistry Laboratory, the ChemKit Program, the developed chemical curriculum, the annual summer workshops for high school teachers, the training of preservice teachers, and the Industrial Scientist Partner Program. The Chemistry Outreach Program began in Fall 2000. The Mobile Chemistry Laboratory (MCL) is a 78-foot tractor/transporter that carries chemical instrumentation, computers, and chemical equipment and provides space for 24 students to conduct experiments that are aligned with the Chemistry Standards of Learning (SOL). It is a self-contained unit and provides access for mobility impaired students and teachers. The MCL travels to regional high schools in Appalachia (Southwestern Virginia), Southside Virginia, and inner city Richmond that lack adequate laboratory facilities. During the 2002-2003 academic years, 9,471 student-conducted experiments were performed on the MCL at 41 high schools. The ChemKit program is a delivery program, where the experiments that do not require advanced chemical instrumentation are mailed to the school in "kit" fashion. Pre-mixed solutions and supplies are included in the kit for easy set up by the teacher. When the teacher is finished, the kit is mailed back to Virginia Tech. Seven ChemKit experiments comprise the current program. As with the MCL experiments, the ChemKit experiments are aligned with the Chemistry SOL topics. During the 2002-2003 academic year, 7,984 student-conducted ChemKit experiments were performed at 33 high schools. The collective number of student experiments last year totaled 17,455 for the MCL and ChemKit Programs. The development of the curriculum began in Fall 1999, a year before the MCL entered service. A committee of high school teachers and college faculty was responsible for selecting and testing experiments. The college faculty was responsible for suggesting experiments that address specific Chemistry SOL topics and for helping adapt the experiments to the appropriate level of instruction. The high school teachers ensured experiments were of an appropriate level of difficulty and length, as well as to help with pre-lab and post-lab exercises to facilitate the successful integration of the material into the classroom. Experiments performed on the MCL were developed at these meetings, were tested by committee members, and then retested by chemistry teachers at regional high schools. As a result of curriculum development, the MCL manual (containing 39 activities) was developed for the Summer 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 teacher workshops. The 2003 curriculum had been changed substantially from the initial offering. It now consists of 20 experiments for use on the MCL and seven ChemKit experiments. These changes were in response to suggestions and requests from teachers, and from the findings of the external evaluator of the project. The current experiments (student handouts and teacher notes) can be downloaded from the web site http://www.chemistry.vt.edu/mcl as pdf or doc files. The experiments address activities at different levels (consumer chemistry through AP), covering different areas of chemistry (physical, analytical, organic, bio-, nuclear, medicinal, organic, and environmental), and using both traditional and modern high-tech equipment. The outreach program also has a workshop component in which high school chemistry teachers are involved in weeklong workshops. Since Summer 2000, over 80 teachers have attended MCL workshops. These workshops are offered at both the basic and the advanced levels. A ChemKit workshop trained 11 teachers in Summer 2002. Teachers from our target region (SW VA, Southside VA, and Richmond area) are invited to attend summer MCL workshops. ChemKit workshops are open to any high school chemistry teacher in Virginia. Attendees receive a stipend and a per diem. A new component of the program involves pre-service science teacher preparation. To date, three chemistry majors have performed their undergraduate research in chemical education with Dr. Long on this project. Research topics are the development of new MCL experiments and the testing of the proposed ChemKit experiments. The students also accompany the MCL and assist the MCL teacher several times during the semester. Such experience is valuable to the preservice teacher in order that they may see new opportunities and methods for introducing chemical experiments into the high school curriculum. Additionally, preservice teachers are invited to participate in the workshops. Recently funded (by the Dreyfus Foundation) is a new cooperative venture with regional chemical industries called the Industrial Scientist Partner Program (ISP). This work is aimed at extending the outreach of the Mobile Chemistry Laboratory and ChemKits to inner city schools and underserved regions of Appalachia through the partnering of Virginia Tech with regional chemical industries and local community colleges. The goals of the partnership are to increase the number and diversity of chemists involved with high school visits, and to build relationships with regional chemical. The first ISP workshop will be held at Virginia Tech in November 2003. Approximately 11 scientists will be trained at this workshop. It is hoped that the availability of this outreach program to the region chemical industry may been seen as a mechanism by which industry will contribute to the training of secondary school students, with this industrial involvement resulting in a commitment to the MCL and ChemKit Programs both in personnel and fiscal resources. Dr. Gary Long directs the Chemistry Outreach Project. He oversees an instructional staff of two teachers (that travel with the MCL), and a support staff of 3 individuals (driver, lab prep assistant, and administrative assistant. He is responsible for 6 grants from federal agencies ($497,894), and four grants from corporate partners ($90,000), and two private foundation grants ($65,000) for support of the MCL and ChemKit program.   Staff  Dr. Gary Long Associate Professor and Program Director long@vt.edu or mcl@vt.edu  Mr. Michael Johnson Laboratory Manager contactmcl@vt.edu  Dr. Barbara Bunn retired bcubed@vt.edu

Chemistry Outreach Program Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 voice: 540.231.7575, fax: 540.231.3255, email: long@vt.edu A University Sharing the Power of Knowledge