Scenes and Labs Supporting Online Chemistry

This project is creating and disseminating online activities for introductory level chemistry that are designed to support and integrate into traditional college chemistry courses. Such courses typically consist of a large lecture, regular homework (graded or ungraded), and weekly or biweekly hands-on laboratories. Our activities complement the current paper-andpencil homework by allowing students to engage in authentic [Chinn & Malhotra. 2002] chemistry activities, with the educational goals of increasing the cognitive flexibility with which new information is held, and supporting transfer of new information into a variety of distinct situations. These goals are met through simulations such as our virtual laboratory (http://ir.chem.cmu.edu/) that allow for varied practice to increase flexibility, and through scenario-based activities that make the applicability of the knowledge explicit and provide incontext learning [Yaron et al, 2001a]. Chemistry is a central science. It plays a crucial role in most aspects of modern science and technology, from biotechnology to the creation of new materials and medicines. Because much of the excitement of modern chemistry is how it brings deeper insight and power to bear on issues in the environment, medicine, forensics, and space sciences, it is reasonable to expect additional motivational benefits from scenarios that highlight this broad applicability.