Elements™ of Science Education Joint PerkinElmer and University of Illinois Springfield pilot on collaborative chemistry. March 18th, 2014 – ACS Dallas

Nic Encina, PerkinElmer Layne Morsch, PhD, University of Illinois Springfield

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© 2009 PerkinElmer

Agenda Intro: Nic Encina  History & Trends  Review of PerkinElmer Elements  Overview of Pilot

Pilot: Dr. Layne Morsch  University of Illinois Springfield  Future opportunities

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Software is Everywhere

Technology is ubiquitous:  Laptops, Mobile, Tablets, Wearables, Home, etc

Information has become social:  Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, etc

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Today’s kids expect it, and if it’s not an app or on a website somewhere then it’s not worth knowing. Need to engage students in a way that feels modern yet natural.

And Yet… The way that students engage with science is static and dated. This affects their perspective. Which affects how they learn. It also affects how they interact with their professors. Ultimately, it leads to an overall negative experience. 4

But Science is Evolving Local Labs

Globalization

Distributed Research

Distributing Discovery 5

Technology

Social & Immediate

OLD

NEW Mainframe Centralized Concrete Isolated Secretive

Cloud Distributed Virtual Social Public

Science is Additive Today’s research is possible due to yesterday’s discoveries.

We are constantly losing valuable data. Imagine the overall cost of this data loss. Source: The Atlantic, Dec 19, 2013 6

We Need: A modern learning environment that delivers information how students are accustomed to consuming it. A platform that addresses the deficiencies in today’s research labs and teaches future researchers the skills and habits that will empower them. New technologies that make today’s science curriculum relevant and exciting. 7

So What Can We Do To Create A Better Learning Environment?

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Software as a Service (Saas) • Create an online collaborative platform for science where students can absorb material and upload their own data. • Coordination by Design    

Model research workflows Integrate across disciplines Make science immediate and social Provide an additional medium of communication

• We created an environment that will feel natural to students familiar with apps, cloud, social.

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Modeling Research Workflows Evolutionary Applications

elements

pages

Compound

workflows

SOP’s

Protein

Protocol

Chemist

Biologist Reactants & Reagents

References

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Tool compound

System Record

Start In The Classroom Let’s bring modern technologies that enhance student engagement into the classroom. Science can be interesting, relevant & cool.

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Elements Pilot – University of Illinois Springfield - Education Perspective Background and Framework

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Elements Overview  Intuitive to set up  Sharing for research or teaching  Flexible for many experimental designs – From very simple experiments to complex

Dashboard

 Login Screen shows materials on left  Prompts in the middle

Creating New Experiments

 Can create from a blank layout  Or use a template you have created

Deliver Lab Material

 The experiment can be used to deliver background and instructions to the students  Questions can be included for the students to answer (shown in red)

ChemDraw Integration

 There is a ChemDraw element that allows for drawing reaction schemes, mechanisms and products

Lab Procedure

 Students can write their detailed lab procedure just as they would in a paper lab notebook

Incorporate Spectra into the Notebook

 Pdf files of Spectra can be uploaded into the notebook  Elements windows can be arranged full width or shared

Incorporate Spreadsheets into the Notebook

 Excel spreadsheets can be uploaded into the notebook

Sharing Experiments and Notebooks

 Collaborators can be invited to share a single experiment or an entire notebook  Permissions for each collaborator can be set

Pilot Testing  Students have begun using Elements in place of their carbonless copy lab notebooks  Instructor shares a template, which students can use to create their experiment  All student experiments are created in a shared folder – allowing for grading

Teaching Advantages  Students cannot lose their lab notebook  Students cannot “forget” to turn in lab  Students cannot claim to have completed lab if not finished  Students can be asked to create and organize their own experiment  Integration of pictures (TLC, product crystals) and spectra into lab notebook

Ideas for Future Development  Spreadsheet, graphing incorporation  Multiple text Elements usable for a variety of uses – Questions to be answered – Adding a gradable rubric – Student analysis of spectral peaks

 Multiple ChemDraw Elements – – – –

Reaction scheme Mechanisms Product structure along with spectra Apparatus drawing templates

Acknowledgements • Tanya Tan, laboratory instructor, University of Illinois Springfield • Kara McElwrath, Assistant Director of Client Services, University of Illinois Springfield • Brian Gilman, PerkinElmer • Hans Keil, PerkinElmer

The New Speed of Science

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