1.
Calamity & Creativity in
Chemistry
Alternative Assessment to Promote
Information Literacy
Dr Katherine J. Haxton
k.j.haxton@keele.ac.uk @kjhaxton

2.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinkinner/ CC-BY-2.0

3.
Students as…
Digital Citizens
Science Communicators
Creators (of content)
Change Agents
[First sunk in at #VicePhec14, August 2014, Dr Barry Ryan
http://www.slideshare.net/BarryRyan1/vice-phec-2014-
assessments-for-learning ]

4.
Levels of Thinking
macroscopic
microscopic symbolic
Johnstone, A.H. , various publications, as summarised at:
http://www.rsc.org/images/ahj%20overview%20final_tcm18-52107.pdf

5.
Levels of Thinking
macroscopic
human
microscopic symbolic
“Moving Chemistry Education into 3D: A Tetrahedral Metaphor for
Understanding Chemistry”, Mahaffy, J. Chem. Ed. 83, 2006, 49

6.
Students identifying an area of a
(broad) topic that they are interested
in, carrying out research then
producing an assessable output with a
degree of flexibility…
…this could end badly!

7.
Act 1: Information Retrieval
Specific to this assignment, the outcomes are:
1. Evaluate chemical information on the internet and identify
potentially inaccurate information.
2. Use recommended textbooks to verify the accuracy of
information obtained on the internet.
3. Create screenshots and paste them into a Word document.
4. Reference webpages and textbooks using the Vancouver reference
style, noting the importance of ‘date accessed’ when referencing
webpages.
5. Clearly identify and reference one instance of inaccurate
chemical information and propose corrections to the
information, or validate corrections already made.

8.
Someone was wrong on the internet
“It is a strong acid but it’s the chemistry
of HF that makes it dissolve glass (and
body parts) and not its super
“strength”.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-
23710654 http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/news-features/
TMG9598248/The-green-guide-to-chemical-free-beauty.
html

9.
Act 2: Screencast Presentation
Produce a 5 minute presentation suitable for
upload to a blog.
- screencast or video or powerpoint w/audio
Topics include: inorganic chemistry, sustainability
and environmental chemistry, space chemistry
Use self- and peer- assessment to evaluate the
presentations.
Require reflection by the students on their
work.
Demand more than ‘submit and forget’.

10.
Act 3: Infographic
Produce an infographic on a topic related to
sustainable chemistry [1st/2nd year module].
Produce an infographic to revise a concept in
3rd year inorganic reaction mechanisms.
1 side of A4 for the infographic.
Submit a reference list (recommend asking for
an annotated bibliography).
Give examples of infographics, emphasise
difference to poster.

11.
Next Steps
Offering final year projects for 3rd year students
to improve 1st year experiments.
CC-BY-NC-2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/draconianrain/

12.
Conclusions
Students researching and creating content
Enormous opportunities afforded by technology
- screencasts, podcasts, presentations
- posters, infographics
- blogs, wikis, websites
Opportunities for Peer Learning through Peer
Assessment

13.
Rule of thumb
• It will take a lot of hours to get it working.
• With luck it will work for two years
• Then the rug will be pulled away.
• And you will have to do something else.
[Martin Pitt, RSC Teaching Fellows Meeting]

14.
Sources of Inspiration &
Enlightenment
Prof. Simon Lancaster (UEA)
Dr Stephen Ashworth (UEA)
Dr Michael Seery (DIT)
Prof. Tina Overton (Hull)
Dr Peter Knight (Keele)
Dr Jane Essex (Brunel)
Dr Barry Ryan (DIT)
Dr Suzanne Fergus (Hertfordshire)
Felix Janeway (Leeds)