Scott D. Cummings
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
see Chemistry Resource page for assignments and other materials developed for this course
This proposal describes a project to introduce information literacy into the chemistry department curriculum through a new course: Chemistry Research Seminar. The project will be a collaboration between a chemistry faculty member (Scott Cummings) and a Librarian and Technology Consultant (Jasmine Vaughan) to develop chemistry information literacy materials for the students in the course. A primary objective of the project will be to design, adapt and implement exercises in literature searching within the context of the course goals. We will also develop and implement an evaluation of students' information literacy before and after the fall semester course.
A principal mission of the Chemistry Department is to graduate students who are able to apply their knowledge of chemistry fundamentals to understand modern primary research literature. This expectation is exemplified by our Senior Exercise in Chemistry and Biochemistry, which requires students to offer for the department an oral presentation and paper on current literature articles. In recent years, an increasing number of our majors have not had the opportunity for formal training in some of the basic information literacy skills necessary to succeed in this exercise. The goal of the Chemistry Research Seminar is to offer a "capstone" course in which each student will explore the literature surrounding an individual research topic related to their own independent research or selected from recent journals. While doing so, they will (1) learn about the nature of chemistry publications, (2) search the primary and secondary literature, (3) analyze and critique primary literature articles, (4) develop presentation skills (written and oral) and (5) discuss the nature of modern chemistry research areas, funding, careers and ethics. As a more structured and regular part of the department curriculum, the seminar should assist students as they develop information literacy skills that are essential to modern chemistry research. The seminar is also intended to support and enhance existing endeavors of Kenyon chemistry students, namely their independent research projects and the Senior Exercise.
The proposed project will involve developing and assembling information literacy materials for the seminar. Some materials may be adapted from sources such as Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), the Journal of Chemical Education and courses taught at similar institutions. However, I anticipate that most of the materials will be designed within the context of the Kenyon Chemistry Department: our faculty research interests, curriculum, alumni and the general interests and experience of our students.
Active learning strategies will be central to the approach. Rather than preparing and offering descriptions of the chemistry literature, we will develop guided learning exercises from which the students will reach conclusions about chemical information. For example, exercises will highlight common problems and pitfalls in literature searches, require students to explore and search the library collection (both "brick" and "click"), and involve student feedback on sample or actual search strategies, papers and presentations.
The materials will cover the following topics:
These learning objectives may be accomplished by a series of four instruction sessions, led by the Librarian and Technology Consultant (LTC). Each session will last for one quarter to one half of the weekly class time. Topics for the first session include distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, identifying web site evaluation criteria and methods for analyzing content from primary literature. Topics for the second session include searching the EJC and ACS online journal sites and searching the Science Citation Index. In the third session, students will learn to search Chemical Abstracts in the STN database. In the final session, LTC will provide information about communicating research results, including citation formats and tips for creating and giving a PowerPoint presentation.
During each Information Literacy session, students will have the opportunity to perform searches on their own research topics, using the tools described. During the week following instruction, students will write one paragraph about the research tool, describing its limitations and strengths. Students will also write one paragraph about the progress of their research, including reflections about the research process itself. These paragraphs will be used as qualitative evaluation materials, by the course instructor and LTC, to assess the impact and effectiveness of instruction in Information Literacy. Additional assessment will be conducted by administering a short-answer test at the beginning of the course. At the end of the course, student's bibliographies will be assessed for correct citation format and use of appropriate primary and secondary sources.
In the course of the summer, a set of search exercises will be developed. These exercises may be developed in an online format, to promote ease of use in subsequent years, by other faculty and librarian teams.
A final aspect of the project will be to formulate a set of clear goals for the students and instructors of the course which are consistent with the expectations of Chemistry Department and the information literacy guidelines of The Association of College and Research Libraries. The purpose of this endeavor is to help focus the somewhat broad scope of the course and to provide continuity from year to year.
Three weeks of work during the summer months (before and after my involvement with the summer science research program) will be devoted to assembling resources and developing materials for the class. A LTC will work with me to assemble some of the resources (online literature searching guides and exercises, reference books, etc.) and to help test some of the search strategies.