ELNES investigation of spinels

Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) provides information about the energy loss suffered by primary electrons when they interact with a specimen. The resulting energy loss spectrum contains edges due to the excitation of core electrons to unoccupied states in the conduction band. These edges exhibit fine structure, known as energy-loss near-edge structure (ELNES), which is dependent on the local chemical and structural environment of the absorbing atom. The interactions that cause ELNES are complex and not well understood, making the interpretation of the fine structure from complex materials very difficult. The understanding of this technique can be improved by examining data collected from a series of compounds with the same crystal structure, to investigate the effect on the fine structure of changing the element in a specific crystallographic site. Further understanding can also be obtained by modelling the fine structure and investigating how changes in the model modify the spectral features. The aim of this project is to improve the understanding of the fundamental interactions which cause ELNES by collecting and modelling the near-edge structure from a series of spinels, which have the general formula AB2O4. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the theory of ELNES and reviews studies of this type which have been carried out previously. It also gives an introduction to the structure and chemistry of spinels and details the experiments planned in this study. In chapter 2 a detailed description is given of the key features of the HB5 scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) used to acquire EELS data, and the mode of operation used. This chapter finishes with an account of how the data was acquired, and the processing routine employed. A discussion of the three main methods used to model the fine structure is given at the start of chapter 3. It is followed by a more detailed description of the multiple scattering technique, and the FEFF code, which was exclusively used to simulate the fine structure. Chapter 4 describes the syntheses of most of the spinels used in this study. Since these materials are used as standards in the EELS experiments, it is crucial that they are well characterised. This chapter therefore also describes the characterisation techniques employed, including X-ray and neutron diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Information on structural parameters and purity was obtained from these techniques and where possible the results from different methods are compared and found to be consistent. The ELNES data recorded is first presented in chapters 5 and 6. In both chapters attempts have been made to correlate the observed features in the ELNES with the structural information obtained in chapter 4. Chapter 5 explores the oxygen K-edges from all of the spinels synthesised. Extra fine structure in the region up to lOeV beyond the edge onset is observed for the chromium and iron-containing compounds, and is assigned to transitions to states created by mixing of oxygen 2p and metal 3d orbitals. The possible fingerprints in the oxygen K-edge ELNES corresponding to a high degree of inversion in the spinel structure and for tetragonal distortions of the cubic structure are discussed. Simulations of the experimental data using the multiple scattering code FEFF8 are also presented in this chapter. Good agreement was obtained in the case of magnesium aluminate, but relatively poor agreement was obtained in the cases of the chromites and ferrites. It is though that this may be due to the influence of factors such as magnetic effects which are not considered in the calculations. For a full interpretation of the ELNES present on the oxygen K-edges, the cation edges must also be considered. These are addressed in chapter 6. The first part of this chapter compares the L3 and La-edges recorded in this study with simulations from the literature. The relationship between the intensity of these edges and the number of d-holes in the metal, and the pairing of the d-electrons is then explored. The methods available to obtain the intensities of these edges, and the difficulties encountered are discussed. The second part of this chapter presents the magnesium and aluminium K-edges acquired. The fine structure recorded in this study is compared to examples from the literature recorded from materials in which the magnesium and aluminium ions are in similar coordination environments to these ions in the spinel structure. Chapter 7 compares some of the oxygen edges and metal edges recorded to investigate the consistency of the information obtained from each type of site. The findings of the study are summarised in chapter 8 and suggestions for further work that could undertaken are made

Risks, reflection, rewards, and resistance: academic perspectives on creative pedagogies for active learning

In recent decades there has been a paradigmatic shift in higher education towards active learning, requiring educators to adopt student-centred approaches to teaching to promote deep learning and the development of essential graduate attributes. A ‘Creative pedagogies for active learning’ course was designed to offer academic staff an opportunity to take risks in developing innovative student-centred teaching approaches. While participants encountered ‘dissonance’ during the early stages of the creative pedagogies course, the course leads were able to support participants through this period of uncertainty and risk-taking towards successfully disrupting their own teaching practice. This reflective analysis paper outlines the course and showcases several case studies of practice by participants. We also reflect on their experiences through a subsequent roundtable discussion. This revealed that the course had made a longer-term impact on some participants in terms of their teaching and assessment practice and showcasing this to other educators. However, resistance to change in some departments was noted, making it difficult for staff to implement creative pedagogies more widely in practice. Suggestions for overcoming resistance are presented, and the paper concludes with future directions for taking this work forward

Using Class Responses Systems to Promote Engagement and Feedback in Maths for Chemists Lectures

Third year students in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow are required to undertake Maths for Chemists lectures to ensure they have adequate mathematical skills for the physical chemistry component of their degree. This cohort of around one hundred students has a wide range of backgrounds and abilities and includes pure chemists, medicinal chemists and those studying for joint honours degrees in chemical physics and chemistry and maths. On-line voting was introduced to the lectures in a traditional way to allow students to attempt worked examples in the lectures. In addition, the voting system was used to ask students about their maths background and experience in specific topics. This allowed teaching to be tailored to areas where most students were weakest. The exercise also uncovered that the highest level of maths students had ranged from GCSE to 2nd Year University maths. This was surprising and gave the opportunity to create a support system for those with the most basic maths. Students gave a very positive evaluation of the use of on-line voting in lectures and recommended it be used in subsequent years

Using Class Responses Systems to Promote Engagement and Feedback in Maths for Chemists Lectures

Third year students in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow are required to undertake Maths for Chemists lectures to ensure they have adequate mathematical skills for the physical chemistry component of their degree. This cohort of around one hundred students has a wide range of backgrounds and abilities and includes pure chemists, medicinal chemists and those studying for joint honours degrees in chemical physics and chemistry and maths. On-line voting was introduced to the lectures in a traditional way to allow students to attempt worked examples in the lectures. In addition, the voting system was used to ask students about their maths background and experience in specific topics. This allowed teaching to be tailored to areas where most students were weakest. The exercise also uncovered that the highest level of maths students had ranged from GCSE to 2nd Year University maths. This was surprising and gave the opportunity to create a support system for those with the most basic maths. Students gave a very positive evaluation of the use of on-line voting in lectures and recommended it be used in subsequent years

Student-led Curriculum Innovation: Developing Graduate Attributes Whilst Supporting Student Learning

The MSc programmes in Chemistry and Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Glasgow are one-year programmes comprising of two semesters of lectures and a formal exam followed by a summer research project. PGT students come to the University of Glasgow from very varied backgrounds and with a diverse range of practical knowledge and skills. In preparation for the project work, it is essential that all students have an equitable and balanced level of training. In this presentation we will describe a student-led project : “Bridging the gap between student and researcher: the development of the Research Skills MSc project module”. This project, led by final year undergraduate students, investigated examples of good practice and used this information to create new practical projects that combine aspects of inquiry-based learning and practical skills. We intend to illustrate how student-led projects can support students’ learning and integration, as well as providing the student researchers with an opportunity to develop positive graduate attributes such as work-related learning; problem-solving, collaboration, organisation and communication (e.g sparqs 2019 conference). This Research Skills module was implemented for the first time in academic year 2018/19. To evaluate its effectiveness, the undergraduate researchers gave the PGT students pre and post module questionnaires and held a focus group to learn about their experiences and needs. The outcomes from this evaluation, which provided valuable feedback for supporting international students in the future, will be discussed. This project describes a model for student-led curriculum development which is beneficial to those developing as well as those receiving the training. In addition to creating valuable material for supporting PGT students it has given undergraduate researchers exposure to a wide range of transferable skills which will be beneficial in their future careers. References Bownes, J., Labrosse, N., Forrest D., MacTaggart, D. Senn, H., Fischbacher-Smith, M., Jackson, M., McEwan, M., Pringle Barnes, G., Sheridan N. and Biletskaya, T. (2017). Supporting Students in the Transition to Postgraduate Taught Study in STEM Subjects, Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 5, 3-11. Brown, L. (2008). Language and anxiety: An ethnographic study of international postgraduate students. Evaluation & Research in Education, 21, 75-95 sparqs 2019 Conference; https://www.sparqs.ac.uk/page.php?page=80

Evaluation of NUMBAS Software for Creating Undergraduate Chemistry Online Lab Resources

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the benefits of electronic resources for pre and post lab teaching in the sciences. For example, pre-lab tasks have been shown to reduce cognitive load, introduce lab techniques, highlight safety considerations and increase students’ confidence1,2. Electronic post-lab reports can save time marking and provide immediate feedback as well as offering students step-wise hints to help them work out questions they have difficulty with, and can also generate a large supply of practice questions until the student is happy with the topic. These smart worksheets can be combined with video footage to create a completely virtual lab experience. The need for such resources has been particularly prevalent since face to face lab teaching has not been possible during the global Covid pandemic. There are a variety of routes to creating smart worksheets for electronic lab reporting both in-house and from commercial companies. In this talk we evaluate the use of the free software NUMBAS3 to create a virtual lab for our 1st year chemistry undergraduates. The talk will describe the process of creating a resource by people with no specialist computational background and no programming experience. The resource created was tested by staff and students who compared it to another version of the e-lab created by a commercial company, as well as to traditional paper based lab reports used in previous years. We will report on their critical evaluation from the perspectives of user experience of students and on staff’s assessment of its potential use in teaching undergraduate chemistry. The project was led by a final year undergraduate student and we will describe the advantages of involving students in co-creation of the curriculum from the viewpoints of both staff and students. As well as describing our experiences of creating the resource and the results of our preliminary study, we will discuss how NUMBAS could be used in other aspects of teaching as well as in the lab. 1. Jolley, D.F., Wilson, S.R., Kelso, C., O’Brien, G. and Mason, C. (2016) Analytical Thinking, Analytical Action: Using Prelab Video Demonstrations and e-Quizzes To Improve Undergraduate Preparedness for Analytical Chemistry Practical Classes, J. Chem. Educ. 93, 11, 1855–1862 2. Agustian, H.Y. and Seery, M.K. (2017) Reasserting the role of pre-laboratory activities in chemistry education: a proposed framework for their design Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2017,18, 518-532 3. https://www.numbas.org.uk

Developing a University-Council Partnership to Create a Network to Promote STEM in Rural and Deprived Communities

STEM activities are often centred around city hubs such as Universities and Science Centres. This makes them inaccessible to rural and deprived communities due to long travelling distances and associated costs. In this seminar we describe the experiences of a University-Council partnership created to develop a model to provide STEM engagement in remote and disadvantaged areas of Scotland, particularly the Highlands. The partners from the University of Glasgow have experience of delivering STEM activities in their local community and wanted to extend these events to more remote parts of Scotland. The partner from RAiSE and Highland Council has an excellent local knowledge of this area, and other ongoing intervention at local authority and 3rd party organisations. A combination of the partners’ experience in outreach and expertise in the local area helped establish partnerships with Universities, schools and local communities and increase exposure to STEM and Science Capital in these areas

Developing a University-Council Partnership to Create a Network to Promote STEM in Rural and Deprived Communities

STEM activities are often centred around city hubs such as Universities and Science Centres. This makes them inaccessible to rural and deprived communities due to long travelling distances and associated costs. In this seminar we describe the experiences of a University-Council partnership created to develop a model to provide STEM engagement in remote and disadvantaged areas of Scotland, particularly the Highlands. The partners from the University of Glasgow have experience of delivering STEM activities in their local community and wanted to extend these events to more remote parts of Scotland. The partner from RAiSE and Highland Council has an excellent local knowledge of this area, and other ongoing intervention at local authority and 3rd party organisations. A combination of the partners’ experience in outreach and expertise in the local area helped establish partnerships with Universities, schools and local communities and increase exposure to STEM and Science Capital in these areas

Evaluation of NUMBAS Software for Creating Undergraduate Chemistry Online Lab Resources

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the benefits of electronic resources for pre and post lab teaching in the sciences. For example, pre-lab tasks have been shown to reduce cognitive load, introduce lab techniques, highlight safety considerations and increase students’ confidence1,2 . Electronic post-lab reports can save time marking and provide immediate feedback as well as offering students step-wise hints to help them work out questions they have difficulty with, and can also generate a large supply of practice questions until the student is happy with the topic. These smart worksheets can be combined with video footage to create a completely virtual lab experience. The need for such resources has been particularly prevalent since face to face lab teaching has not been possible during the global Covid pandemic. There are a variety of routes to creating smart worksheets for electronic lab reporting both in-house and from commercial companies. In this talk we evaluate the use of the free software NUMBAS3 to create a virtual lab for our 1st year chemistry undergraduates. The talk will describe the process of creating a resource by people with no specialist computational background and no programming experience. The resource created was tested by staff and students who compared it to another version of the e-lab created by a commercial company, as well as to traditional paper based lab reports used in previous years. We will report on their critical evaluation from the perspectives of user experience of students and on staff’s assessment of its potential use in teaching undergraduate chemistry. The project was led by a final year undergraduate student and we will describe the advantages of involving students in co-creation of the curriculum from the viewpoints of both staff and students. As well as describing our experiences of creating the resource and the results of our preliminary study, we will discuss how NUMBAS could be used in other aspects of teaching as well as in the lab. 1. Jolley, D.F., Wilson, S.R., Kelso, C., O’Brien, G. and Mason, C. (2016) Analytical Thinking, Analytical Action: Using Prelab Video Demonstrations and e-Quizzes To Improve Undergraduate Preparedness for Analytical Chemistry Practical Classes, J. Chem. Educ. 93, 11, 1855–1862 2. Agustian, H.Y. and Seery, M.K. (2017) Reasserting the role of pre-laboratory activities in chemistry education: a proposed framework for their design Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2017,18, 518-532 3. https://www.numbas.org.u

NUMBAS Online Assessment – an Introduction to Creating Exams and Resources and Editing Questions

Numbas is an open-source e-assessment system aimed at mathematics and other numerate disciplines. It generates SCORM 2004-compliant, self-contained assessment packages.’ (https://docs.numbas.org.uk). It is freely available, has Moodle integration, works on phones and tablets as well as computers, has strong randomization and maths presentation/calculation capabilities and can include videos, images and interactive diagrams. It was originally developed for use in undergraduate degree courses in mathematics. See here for frequently asked questions: https://www.numbas.org.uk/faq/ The workshop presenters are Elizabeth Petrie (using Numbas for 2 years for maths assessment in Geographical & Earth Sciences), Frances Docherty and other members of the School of Chemistry (Numbas users in Chemistry, including lab and smart worksheet development) and Christian Lawson-Perfect (Numbas developer and e-Learning officer at Newcastle University). The Numbas documentation is generally good – this workshop will provide an opportunity to ask questions while trying out first steps, and ask the expert about possibilities relating to your interests. The workshop will begin with a short introduction, then the students will have the opportunity to move to different facilitated spaces: 1) tech acclimatisation and any Numbas login troubleshooting, and a demonstration of what a simple test looks like. 2) ‘setting up my first exam’ using existing questions created by the presenters which illustrate the range of Numbas possibilities and downloading the exam for Moodle integration. 3) creating or editing your own question and ‘can Numbas do X?’ We would expect students to progress from one room to another during the workshop, but at different rates. There will be advance registration and a numbers cap for the workshop, with a question on any previous experience and individual learning goals, so the spaces may be tweaked depending on interest