1. What’s Up With CHEM 125? FAQ

2. Who is a scientist and how does science work? What do these images have in common?

3. A more realistic view

4. Structural Basis for Efficient Chromophore Communication and Energy Transfer in a Constructed Didomain Protein Scaffold James A. J. Arpino, Honorata Czapinska, Anna Piasecka, Wayne R. Edwards, Paul Barker, Michal J. Gajda, Matthias Bochtler, and D. Dafydd Jones pp 13632–13640 Stable Alkanes Containing Very Long Carbon–Carbon Bonds Andrey A. Fokin, Lesya V. Chernish, Pavel A. Gunchenko, Evgeniya Yu. Tikhonchuk, Heike Hausmann, Michael Serafin, Jeremy E. P. Dahl, Robert M. K. Carlson, and Peter R. Schreiner pp 13641–13650 A Mononuclear Fe(III) Single Molecule Magnet with a 3/2↔5/2 Spin Crossover Susanne Mossin, Ba L. Tran, Debashis Adhikari, Maren Pink, Frank W. Heinemann, Jörg Sutter, Robert K. Szilagyi, Karsten Meyer, and Daniel J. Mindiola pp 13651–13661 Second-Generation Covalent TMP-Tag for Live Cell Imaging Zhixing Chen, Chaoran Jing, Sarah S. Gallagher, Michael P. Sheetz, and Virginia W. Cornish pp 13692–13699

5. What’s the point?  Science needs people who can:  work in diverse groups  on interdisciplinary problems

6. Why Not Lecture and Exams?  Lecture is passive  watching someone do something is not the best way to learn  Does watching World Cup Soccer make you a soccer player?  Does listening to music make you a musician?  What works?

7. How does?

8. We learn by mistakes but it is not always pleasant

9. How do we practice?  “Flipping the class.”  Traditional Class  Come to class, listen to lecture on the topic of the day, take notes.  After class, work on homework problems.  Next day, new topic  Repeat  Active Class  Before class, read about topic of the day and work a few simple problems  In class, practice on more sophisticated problems with support of a team and an expert (me).  Reinforce with homework  Next day, new topic, but periodically integrate old knowledge into new knowledge.

10. Why do we do this?  Most experts in the educational process say that we construct our own knowledge.  Active learning allows this construction to happen in class, with support from team members and instructor.

11. Why teamwork?  Collective IQ is higher in groups!  Research at Carnegie Mellon University  collaborative groups more efficient at completing tasks (and produced better results) than groups dominated by individual.  Two studies with 699 participants  Groups develop collective intelligence  “C factor” strongly correlated with interactions in the group  Groups can solve harder and more interesting problems Woolley, Science, October 2010

12. Why teamwork?  Employers want employees with teamwork skills.  70 biotech companies in MN surveyed for top characteristics wanted in employees  Top 16 characteristics:

14. Why teamwork?  Teams perform better than individuals  Death rates in hospitals and on airlines  Recent study in VA hospitals indicates that surgical teams trained in teamwork had 20% fewer deaths JAMA, 2010, 304(15), 1693-1700  70% of airline accidents and incidents over the past 20 years related to crew communication, workload management and decision-making skills

15. Why do we do multi-topic problems from the workbook?  Science is interdisciplinary.  Emerging fields arising at the boundaries of several disciplines.  Must consider issues from a variety of knowledge bases.  Workbook problems allow practice in the process of solving a problem.  Scientific issues change but a foundation in the process of problem solving (instead of getting the right answer to a particular question) will prepare you to be a 21 st century scientist.

16. What do the experts say?  Dr. Joseph Francisco, former chair of the American Chemical Society in a presentation in August.

17. The Increasing Multidisciplinary Nature of Chemistry  Curricula must challenge students to solve problems such as  Environmental issues  Energy  Materials  Catalysis  Drug discovery and synthesis  Nanoscience  All of these require a multidisciplinary perspective.

18. The Increasing Multidisciplinary Nature of Chemistry  What tools should students have?  Expertise in a domain of knowledge  Breadth of knowledge  Problem-solving skills  The ability to find and define new problems  Teamwork experience  Communication skills  Confidence, independence  Creativity  Ability to work across cultures

19. Teamwork  A good team member is  present at all meetings  prepared for the topic  a good communicator  is willing to listen to teammates  is an active participant, contributing ideas  able to resolve differences of opinion