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Environmental and Industrial Chemistry.
Note: This article was scanned using OCR from the Fall 1997 CCCE Newsletter. Please contact us if you identify any OCR errors.
Once again the Committee on Computers in Chemical Education is planning an undergraduate on-line chemistry course for the Spring semester of 1998. This course will once again focus on "Environmental and Industrial Chemistry." The committee felt that there was sufficient interest to repeat this course. However, courses on other subjects are being planned as well. The on-line activities will be scheduled for February 2nd to April 24th, 1998.
In this course as before, the Internet will be used for discussions among students (student Listserv), faculty (faculty Listserv), and experts: on campus, across the nation, and around the world. However, this course will make much more extensive use of the World Wide Web than the last offering.
Process Related Goals of the Environmental and Industrial Chemistry Course.
1. to provide an electronic forum which permits students easy, significant interaction with professionals (scientists, governmental officials, and potential employers),
2. to provide a context in which students will interact locally and at a distance to do brain-storming, datagathering and problem-solving in order to deal with the modern use of chemical materials.
3. to provide an opportunity for students to research, develop, and synthesize complex ideas, and to build interrelationships between concepts and issues though intelligent technical discourse.
4. to provide the incentive for investigation of the physical and chemical properties of a specific commercial chemical product.
5. to provide guidance for students in accessing and interpreting electronic and printed documents describing chemistry of industry and the environment
written by corporate, governmental, and/or academic authors.
Responsibilities of Participants
Students will participate in collaborative learning assignments where they can practice division of labor, teamwork, and individual responsibility. The electronic medium will be used by the students to seek insight into concepts they have difficulty with as well as to respond to difficult concepts posed by colleagues (their peers).
The instructors will interact with the students at their own sites, guiding library work, prompting questions, etc., while the students will write to each other as colleagues. Students will be encouraged to interact with each other and perform library investigation before they question the authors of the works. Student collaborative groups will be facilitated to pose higher order questions to the experts.
While some schools may wish to have their own independent assignment schedule, faculty participants will be encouraged to collaborate. We anticipate that an essential core of faculty will respond to the documents and each other in order to formulate critical thinking questions, classroom activities, and writing assignments to be made available for adoption by any or all of the other participants. Faculty/expert facilitators will select and review Industry Sectors, and nominate them for study, from the USEPA Industry Sector Notebook Reports (described below).
It is the responsibility of each participating institution to register students and to provide college credit for the course. The role of the OLCC organizing committee and the CCCE is limited to assistance in organizing and administering electronic aspects of the course. No credit will be given and no fees will be assessed by the American Chemical Society. It is suggested that 3 semester hours of student credit would be appropriate in most cases for full participation in this project.
It will be the responsibility of each local faculty member to assign grades to the individual, local students. In addition to the student Listserv there will be a faculty Listserv to allow free communication among the various faculty members involved, as well as between faculty and authors of papers. It is intended that web conferencing software will also be used to supplement the Listserves.
Content specific Goals of the Environmental and Industrial Chemistry Course.
1. to develop greater insight into the application of chemical science to environmental concerns.
2. to explore a subset of 50 industrial chemicals in production in 18 industrial sectors and perform life cycle analysis of their benefits to society and their impact on the environment.
For example, How is the chemical obtained? What is it used for? How much energy is used to make it? Is it easily disposed of? Why do we need so much of it? How do we get more of it? And, what opportunities for pollution and pollution prevention exist in the production, use, and disposal of these chemicals?
A theme of "chemistry behind pollution prevention" has been selected. The core documents have been compiled by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research and Development Headquarters, for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance.
A separate notebook has been developed by the EPA Office of Compliance covering 18 selected major industrial groups focusing on key indicators that holistically present air, water, and land pollutant release data. These notebooks have been thoroughly reviewed by experts both inside and outside the EPA. The notebooks range from 84 to 164 pages and include bibliographic references and a description of research methodology.
Each sector-specific notebook brings you comprehensive, well-researched details gathered for the first time in a single source and includes:
A comprehensive environmental profile Industrial process information Pollution prevention techniques Pollutant release data Regulatory requirements Compliance/enforcement history Innovative programs Contact names
Industrial sector notebooks are available for the following sectors:
Dry Cleaning Industry
Electronics and Computer Industry
Wood Furniture and Fixtures Industry
Inorganic Chemical Industry
Iron and Steel Industry
Lumber and Wood Products Industry
Fabricated Metal Products Industry
Federal Facilities (PDF)
Metal Mining Industry
Motor Vehicle Assembly Industry
Nonferrous Metals Industry
Non-Fuel, Non-Metal Mining Industry
Organic Chemical Industry
Petroleum Refining Industry
Printing Industry
Pulp and Paper Industry
Rubber and Plastic Industry
Stone, Clay, Glass and Concrete Industry
Transportation Equipment Cleaning Industry
For further information about an on-line course like this, see the WebPages for OLCC-1 at:
and additional information and evaluations of OLCC-1 at:
For more information contact one of the organizing committee members.
The Organizing Committee for OLCC-11
Committee Chair:
Dr. Leonard Archer
Department of Chemistry
Missouri Western State College
St. Joseph, MO 64507
818-271-4468
Publicity/Registration:
Dr. James Beard
Department of Chemistry
Catawba College
Salisbury, NC 28144
704-637-4113
Content Coordinator:
Dr. Sylvia Esjornson
Department of Chemistry
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Weatherford, OK
Technical Advisor:
Dr. George R. Long
Department of Chemistry
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA 15705
412-357-2575
grlong@ grove.iup.edu
Facully Coordinator:
Dr. Lindy Harrison
Department of Chemistry
York College of Pennsylvania
York, PA 17405-7199
717-846-7788 X1210
Listserv Manager:
Dr. Donald Rosenthal
Box 5810
Department of Chemistry
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
313-265-9242 or 268-2352
Those interested in participating during the spring '98 semester should complete and submit the preregistration/interest form at: http://www.py.iup.edu/college/chemistry/chemcourse/olcc2.htm
by December 5, 1997. All registered schools will be contacted and asked to reconfirm their participation between December 5, 1997 and January 16, 1998. Late registrations will be accepted, but registration by December 5, 1997 is preferred. A list of participating students will be due by January 31, 1998.
Date:
10/30/97 to 11/02/97
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