An Innovative Project to Strengthen and Improve the Knowledge Acquisition in the Degree in Chemistry Using e-Learning Tools

Comunicació presentada a EDULEARN2018, 10th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (July 2-4, 2018, Palma, Mallorca, Spain).The subject "Chemistry II (QU910)" is taught at first academic year (second semester) of the Degree in Chemistry at the University Jaume I. Some of its specific and general competencies are selflearning and writing and oral communication, regarding the main chemical concepts: chemical reactions, elements of the periodic table and calculations of the concentrations of the formed products and the remaining reagents in acid/base, complex, precipitation and redox reactions. We have noticed that 65% of the students have not studied any chemistry subjects (or only one) in High School or Professional Training before undertaking the Degree in Chemistry. The present project aims firstly to help these students to overcome their lack of background, secondly to compare the academic results of the students with and without previous contact with chemistry and finally, to establish actions to solve this prejudicial situation. This objective was reached by the implementation of a zero course, a course including the basic content of chemistry taught in the last years of High School, the month before the beginning of the first academic year. After the first year, students having attended chemistry before university obtained only 0.75/10 points more than the others. The Virtual Classroom, the emails and tutorial played an important role in the achievement of this zero-course

Implementation of Computer Assisted Experimental Work in Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Teaching

[EN] Computer-Assisted Experimental Work (CAEW) consists in the incorporation of computer-connected apparatus in the laboratory. This is a new insight into teaching of Classical Analytical Chemistry, wherein the experiments are usually manually conducted. However, it does not represent a complete break with traditional methodology, as the design and goal of the experiment are essentially the same. In this work, we present the implementation of CAEW to a practical included in the Laboratory part of “Analytical Chemistry IV”, taught at the fourth academic year of the Degree in Chemistry: “Potentiometric titration of a mixture of iodure and chlorure with silver”. Three couples of students used an Ag-ion selective electrode connected to a computer, while the other three couples employed a digital one. The results were comparable, though the computer-assisted method provided significant improvements, like; the students get familiar with new technologies at an accessible level, the titration can be visually followed on the screen via the titration curve, the calculations are automatically performed, allowing the detection of experimental and registration of mistakes, it avoids errors caused by the transcription and processing of the data, and the students achieve their practical disposing of the final results, and all their work corrected by the teacher.The work was carried ouy thanks to the financement of Educational Support Unit Unitat de Suport Educatiu of the University Jaume I, by projects GIE 2018/2019-Química Bioanalítica 3603 and GIE-Teaching Innovation 3603/18.Albiol Chiva, J.; Peris Vicente, J.; Ruiz Ángel, MJ.; Esteve Amorós, M.; Carda Broch, S.; Esteve Amorós, P.; Esteve Amorós, E.... (2019). Implementation of Computer Assisted Experimental Work in Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Teaching. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 983-990. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9161OCS98399

Design of the laboratory script by the students in chemistry practicals: Analysis of water

Comunicació presentada a INTED2018, 12th International Technology, Education and Development Conference. (March 5-7, 2018, Valencia, Spain).The laboratory practices during the Degree in Chemistry are currently designed so that the student must learn and execute a fully developed experimental protocol, previously written up by the professor, which contains all the information and requirements for the correct development of each laboratory session. Under these conditions, students do not need to take any initiative and, consequently, they do not put enough effort in reaching practical abilities with a well-based scientific criterion and do not try to think over the purpose of each lab operation, as well as the reason to use each material and/or each reagent. Thus, with the aim to promote a more active role of the students in their learning process and to improve their autonomy, a new laboratory practices design has been developed in this work, which follows methodologies on project-based cooperative learning: the students have been requested to elaborate themselves the laboratory script by pairs. With this innovative design, we pursue to involve the students in both elaboration and execution steps of the laboratory practicals, and then to increase their attention on them. Besides, the required bibliographic research would improve their knowledge about the studied topic and all aspects about the work at the laboratory. The practicals to-be-developed were related to the study of the physico-chemical quality of natural water, which has a high social relevance

Management of diversity in master classroom: an increasing challenge for science education in valencian universities

Comunicació presentada a INTED2018, 12th International Technology, Education and Development Conference. (March 5-7, 2018, Valencia, Spain).Currently, many foreign students study a Master degree at the Valencian Universities. We can find students, which have immigrated to Spain in the recent years, and then have partially or fully follow the Spanish curricula (High School and/or Grade), and others which have come specifically to study the Master, attracted by the reputation of the Universities and the job and way-of-life offered by the country, and then have achieved their Grade in their countries. This has increased the diversity of the students in the classrooms, related to the ethnic origin, mother language, study practices, background and integration in the society. The present work gives an overview on how students and teacher manage the heterogeneity and diversity in a Master classroom related to chemistry. The term “diversity” is first detailed prior to discussing explicit studies. Different aspects of diversity are stated. The personal experience of the foreign students to adapt to the Spanish courses and environment was investigated. The actions taken by the lecturer to take advantage of diversity and minimize its negative effects were examined. A comparison between the academic results obtained by international and national students is given. Finally, the attention will be focused on language, study practices and background, since these dimensions are frequently discussed in the Valencian context. The implications and opportunities that offer diversity for national but also for international science research are presented

Taller de revistes digitals com a eina didàctica: de l’ensenyament no universitari a la universitat

El novembre de 2014 el CEFIRE d’Alacant organitzà el I Taller d’Intercanvi d’Experiències per a l’elaboració i divulgació de revistes digitals, hereu de la I i II Jornadas de Prensa en los IES de Alicante que es celebraren els anys 2007 i 2011. Aquest taller tingué com a objectius, entre d’altres, divulgar i intercanviar experiències didàctiques relacionades amb revistes digitals entre centres de diversos nivells, afavorir la creació de projectes educatius cooperatius mitjançant les revistes digitals o establir les bases que permeteren la creació d’una xarxa col·laborativa de revistes digitals. A banda de palesar les diverses propostes dels centres escolars i la incorporació de la revista escolar tradicional al món digital, d’aquella experiència, i parant sobretot atenció al darrer dels objectius citat, ha sorgit la xarxa en docència universitària “Taller de revistes digitals com a eina didàctica: de l’ensenyament no universitari a la universitat”, amb l’objectiu d’aprofundir en les possibilitats didàctiques de les revistes digitals tant pel que fa a l’alumnat no universitari com en les diverses titulacions que ofereix la Universitat d’Alacant. A més de compartir experiències i fomentar l’aprenentatge col·laboratiu de l’alumnat i del professorat implicats, aquesta xarxa en docència universitària vol articular-hi un espai digital permanent en que es puguen recopilar les revistes digitals dels diversos centres educatius

La docencia durante el confinamiento: una mirada al funcionamiento de la docencia en línea en dos clases del último año de infantil

Treball Final de Master en Comunicació Intercultural i d'Ensenyament de Llengües. Codi: SBC042. Curs: 2019/2020Cuando en marzo de 2020 se decretó el confinamiento en España, los centros educativos se tuvieron que adaptar a este contexto. El presente TFM tiene como objetivo conocer cómo esta situación excepcional afectó a docencia del último curso de infantil. Esta investigación se sitúa en el contexto de la enseñanza de lenguas, la enseñanza a distancia y sus tipos y la interacción docente-alumno. Mediante el análisis de los testimonio de dos maestras, se analizan aspectos de su propia organización, la evolución de las relaciones profesoralumno, las vivencias emocionales por las que han pasado, así como las ventajas y desventajas de la educación online para el alumnado de infantil. El estudio de estos dos casos permite identificar cuestiones muy relevantes sobre lo que supone el aprendizaje online en los niños más pequeños.Quan en març de 2020 es va decretar el confinament en Espanya, els centres educatius es van haver d’adaptar a aquest context. El present TFM té com a objectiu conèixer com aquesta situació excepcional va afectar la docència de l’últim curs d’infantil. Aquesta investigació es situa en el context de la ensenyança de llengües, l’ensenyament a distància i els seus tipus i la interacció docent-alumne. Mitjançant l’anàlisi dels testimonis de les mestres, s’analitzaran aspectes de la seva pròpia organització, l’evolució de les relacions professor-alumne, les vivències emocionals per les que han passat així com els beneficis i les limitacions de l’educació online per a l’alumnat d’infantil.When in March 2020 the lockdown was decreed in Spain, schools had to adapt themselves to this situation. The main objective of the following thesis is to evaluate the changes undertaken in infant teaching due to the lockdown. This investigation falls within the context of language teaching, distance teaching and its types, and teacher-student interaction. Through the analysis of two teachers’ testimonies, aspects of their own organisation will be explored, as well as the evolution of teacher-student relationships, their emotional experiences during this time and the benefits and limitations of online education for infant students

Study on studen's Previous Background, Interest, Insight, Preferences and Success Rate in the Subject Chemistry in Several Engineering Degrees

Comunicació presentada a EDULEARN2019, 11th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (July 1-3, 2019, Palma, Mallorca, Spain).Several Degrees in Engineering taught at the Universitat Jaume I, such as Chemical, Industrial Technologies, Electrical, Mechanical and Agrifood and Rural, include in their curriculum program a subject on General Chemistry (as Basic Training), as well as one about enlargement of Chemistry (as optional). The groups are made of students from the five Degrees, randomly distributed. As in other Degrees, the students can get access without having studied Chemistry subjects in the pre-University education period (High School or Vocational Training), and then with a weak background knowledge on this topic. The subject “Chemistry for Engineering” (General Chemistry) consists in seven Thematic Blocks: Chemical link, Acid/base, Metal Complexes, Solubility, Redox, Bases of Organic Chemistry and Industrial Applications. A comparative study among the students from several Degrees in Engineering about their experience on studying “Chemistry for Engineering” was carried out during five academic years, considering the following points: previous background on chemistry, personal opinion, perception and interest on the subject and its didactic content, the acquired learning outcomes, the developed competencies, and the success rate. From the obtained data, extracted from 320 questionnaires and the corresponding final qualifications, which are calculated from the grades reached in the different evaluation parts (tutorials, practical, oral presentations and written exams), obtained by the students, we can highlight the following findings: first, 81% of the students of Chemical Engineering have previously pursued Chemistry subjects, face to 20-30% for the other Engineering Degrees; second, Industrial Technologies has the least percentage of students having pursued Chemistry courses in the pre-University education, as they preferred to choose Physics and Technical Drawing as optional subjects; third, 94% of the students of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering have previously studied the topic redox (oxidation-reduction) equilibria, wherein they are highly interested; four, most of the Engineering students, whatever the especialization, have great calculus skills, offering them many guarantees to pass the subject, as the final exam consists in the resolution of numerical problems. In fact, nearly 86% of the students pass the subject each academic year, taking into account the two calls

Monitoring of Student Progress and Evaluation in the Subject "Chemistry Laboratory I"

The subject “Chemistry Laboratory I” is taught in the first academic year of the Degree in Chemistry. Its main objective is for the student to get a first contact with the basic laboratory operations and become aware of the importance of preparing the experimental work, in addition to manage registration, analysis and the presentation of results. It is therefore a basic knowledge which will be in the future of great help in further chemistry laboratory subjects, regardless of the specific topic (analytical, physical, inorganic, organic and general). The course consists of 10 laboratory sessions and 5 seminars. The final score obtained by the student is based on the assessment of laboratory notebook, the resolution of a test prior to the practical (to ensure that the student have prepared this practical) and a written exam. The qualification is calculated by the average of the score obtained at each activity, with the following weighing: laboratory / seminars / notebook / test / exam 30: 10: 20: 10: 30; respectively. In this study, the results of 72 students were analyzed, noticing that the average score was 7.7 (24/9/15/7/22 at each evaluation item, respectively). From these results we deduced: firstly, the attitude of students in the laboratory is excellent (laboratory and seminars scores are very high), and second, we have to focus on the organization of the laboratory notebook, the preparation of the practical, the attention from the teacher explanation and the study of the content of the subject, as the scores of notebook, test and final exam can be ameliorated

Taller de revistes digitals com a eina didàctica: de l’ensenyament no universitari a la universitat

El novembre de 2014 el CEFIRE d’Alacant organitzà el I Taller d’Intercanvi d’Experiències per a l’elaboració i divulgació de revistes digitals, hereu de la I i II Jornadas de Prensa en los IES de Alicante que es celebraren els anys 2007 i 2011. Aquest taller tingué com a objectius, entre d’altres, divulgar i intercanviar experiències didàctiques relacionades amb revistes digitals entre centres de diversos nivells, afavorir la creació de projectes educatius cooperatius mitjançant les revistes digitals o establir les bases que permeteren la creació d’una xarxa col·laborativa de revistes digitals. A banda de palesar les diverses propostes dels centres escolars i la incorporació de la revista escolar tradicional al món digital, d’aquella experiència, i parant sobretot atenció al darrer dels objectius citat, ha sorgit la xarxa en docència universitària “Taller de revistes digitals com a eina didàctica: de l’ensenyament no universitari a la universitat”, amb l’objectiu d’aprofundir en les possibilitats didàctiques de les revistes digitals tant pel que fa a l’alumnat no universitari com en les diverses titulacions que ofereix la Universitat d’Alacant. A més de compartir experiències i fomentar l’aprenentatge col·laboratiu de l’alumnat i del professorat implicats, aquesta xarxa en docència universitària vol articular-hi un espai digital permanent en que es puguen recopilar les revistes digitals dels diversos centres educatius