Virtualization as a tool to encourage active learning in practical laboratory classes

Abstract

[eng] The Chemistry Degree and the Master’s Program in Chemical Science and Technology (MCTE) of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) provide their students with the necessary skills to have a global vision of chemistry and related areas, as well as their industrial processes, and to acquire the abilities to find answers to problems and challenges of society from the point of view of the chemistry and its technology. The acquired experience since its implementation shows that, given the variety of admission profiles of MCTE students, it is common that part of the students presents deficiencies in their initial training in practical laboratory work, which makes it difficult to obtain the competences and learning results foreseen by the degree. For this reason, the development of a methodology that reinforced the basic knowledge on the chemical laboratory of the students would be of great interest for both, the MCTE and the Chemistry Degree, which has also a very important experimental content, this being one of its distinctive and best valued aspects. On the other hand, in the last two years, the health emergency has forced us to rethink our teaching methodology, and digital resources have become key elements to facilitate and expand learning possibilities. On the above grounds, we have implemented in practical classes new active learning methodologies, based on ICT tools, both for the Master and for the Chemistry Degree, with the aim of facilitating the autonomous learning of the necessary concepts for the correct development of the experiments to be carried out in the laboratory and contributing to the achievement of expected learning outcomes in relation to the practice of chemistry. A series of didactic materials (texts, presentations, and videos) have been prepared and incorporated into a virtual space so that the students can consult them before coming to the laboratory. In addition, to reinforce the theoretical contents necessary to carry out the laboratory practices, self-evaluation questionnaires on these theoretical concepts, including questions to complete the experimental protocols of the practices, have also been prepared and included in the virtual space, thus getting the student involved in the design and preparation of the laboratory classes. As a pilot test, these activities have been implemented in two subjects with practical content: the subject Nanostructured Porous Solids of the MCTE and that of the Integrated Laboratory of the Chemistry Degree.