NSF Award
9951392
The prevalence of spectroscopic techniques in scientific and technological fields requires that science students obtain both practical experience with spectroscopic instruments and a solid understanding of spectroscopic theory. Many departments introduce UV/Vis, IR and even NMR spectroscopies in introductory chemistry courses, using fast, user-friendly instruments to expose students to spectroscopic techniques and the information that they provide. Unless this use is accompanied, however, by sufficient background and time to explore the link between quantum mechanics, electronic transitions and spectroscopy, students will not obtain a thorough understanding of the underlying principles of quantization and energy transfer. Through curriculum revisions a UV/Vis photodiode-array spectrometer and a spectrofluorimeter are used in general chemistry and throughout the chemistry and biology curricula to impart these gains. This work adapts approaches used at other institutions (Lebanon Valley College - DUE 9354642 and DUE 9551199, and Bucknell University - College Science Instrumentation Program) into a series of experiments that help students make these correlations. In this series, introductory students are not only exposed to modern instrumentation, but use it to explore absorption and emission phenomena, to quantify unknowns, and to study reaction kinetics. The improved comprehension and enhanced skills that result are reinforced and expanded as IR, NMR, phosphorescence, and bioluminescence are covered in subsequent upper-division courses. This increased focus on quantum theory and spectroscopic techniques helps chemistry, biology and health science graduates from Saint Mary's College of California gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles behind the imaging and spectroscopic techniques used in their fields and be better qualified to enter the job market, professional schools, or graduate programs.
