This document outlines a project to develop short videos for chemistry courses that demonstrate real-world applications of chemistry concepts and feature chemists from diverse backgrounds. It describes creating 6 videos per semester that cover topics like pH, VSEPR theory, and feature undergraduate and graduate student researchers. Surveys found the videos improved student motivation to learn chemistry and awareness of chemistry's value. Students said the videos made chemistry more realistic by showing current research and that the chemists featured seemed relatable. The goal is to address misconceptions about who can be a chemist and inspire students to pursue chemistry.

1. Bringing the Why and the Who
into the Chemistry Classroom

2. Who is involved?
class of 2009
Rudy Mitchell
Education Ph.D.
Assessment, TLL
George Zaidan
Chem B.S.
Film maker
Mary O’Reilly
Biol Chem Ph.D.
Artist
Beth Taylor
Org Chem Ph.D.
Cathy Drennan
Biol Chem Ph.D.
Anique Olivier-Mason
Biology Ph.D.
The Drennan MIT Education Laboratory

3. My Observations
As a high school
chemistry teacher:
students don’t always see the value of learning chemistry to real
world problems and don’t see themselves as future chemists
Boyle
Avogadro Dalton
pH = pKa

4. My Observations
As a high school
chemistry teacher:
students don’t always see the value of learning chemistry to real
world problems and don’t see themselves as future chemists
As an university
chemistry professor:
students don’t always see the value of learning chemistry to real
world problems and don’t see themselves as future chemists

5. Our Goals
Develop material to use in introductory chemistry (high school or college level)
that
(1) demonstrates the real world applications of chemistry
(2) shows who chemists really are
Evaluate whether this material inspires students to learn chemistry and
helps students appreciate that chemists are a diverse group of people

6. Vehicle: Quick (2 to 5 minute) video relating each chemistry topic to real world
application.
with accompanying clicker question
or homework problem or extra credit
and with assessment
Our Vehicle
7 point rating scale
1..........................4........................7
neutral
poor/
strongly
disagree
excellent/
strongly
agree

7. Student makeup of the MIT
freshman in course 5.111:
chemistry majors: 5-10%*
biology-related (both science
and engineering) majors: 59%*
pre-med students: 29%*
URM students: 33%*
*averages are from Fall 2007, 2008,
2009, and 2010 and Spring 2010 and
2011 semesters (N = 597)
Our test subjects: freshman in required chemistry class

8. Substitute one in-class example with a video
General chemistry
topic:
pH and pKa
Application:
imaging diseased
cells
MIT Researcher:
undergrad
Samuel Thompson

9. With accompanying in-class or homework question
Consider a probe, HA, that only glows in its deprotonated
(A-) state. The pKa of the probe is ~7.4, and the pH of blood
is ~7.4. How much of the probe will glow?
1. ~100%
2. ~50% (correct)
3. ~0%
4. More information is needed
General chemistry
topic:
pH and pKa

10. General chemistry
topic:
VSEPR theory
Designing sensors to
detect explosives in war
zones MIT Researcher:
Stefanie Sydlik
Substitute another in-class example with a video
Every year, landmines kill 15,000 to 20,000 people — most of them children,
women and the elderly — and severely maim countless more. Source UN

11. With accompanying extra credit assignment
If you were a chemistry professor with
promising students, which real world
problem would you encourage your
students to use chemistry to solve and why?
(2 to 3 sentences)
Treatment of cancer Fighting antibiotic resistance Finding explosives

12. Assessing the impact of using 6 videos per semester
 15-minute online retrospective surveys
 MIT standard subject evaluations
 interviews
Rudy Mitchell, Ed.D.
Associate Director
MIT Teaching & Learning Laboratory
Anique Olivier-Mason, Ph.D.
Outreach Coordinator (Drennan Group)
MIT Education Laboratory

13. Findings on a lecture impact scale, measuring the degree to which
lectures
 motivated students to learn chemistry
 inspired them to tackle challenging scientific problems and
 made them aware of the value of interdisciplinary knowledge
All students reported a greater impact from lectures with treatment
(videos).
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
Control Treatment
Impact-scale
(1
to
7)
Male
Female
3.8*
4.6*
5.3*
5.2*
(*Gains measured on a 1-7 impact scale.)
- videos + videos
Assessing the impact of using 6 videos per semester
Drennan unpublished

14. Changing attitudes about the discipline of chemistry
[The videos] ”gave me a perspective on what I could possibly be doing with
the knowledge that I learned in the course, and how a lot of times when
you’re taking a class you think, ‘when am I ever going to use this in the
future?’ I don’t see why it is necessary or no one ever does this anymore.”
[ With the videos] “you could see the people were actually using it in the lab
today and they weren’t just recreating old people’s experiments that had
already been proven..”
Assessing the impact of using 6 videos per semester

15. Changing attitudes about chemists
[The researcher in videos were] “reasonably relatable. It wasn’t like this is
some godly researcher that we will never be close to. It was like, ‘Okay.
This is a person. I could probably talk to this person if I met them in real
life.’ That was kind of neat.”
Assessing the impact of using 6 videos per semester
“I was surprised about how much they were doing and how young they were,
but they were doing things.”

16. Making it real
“Some professors say, ‘sometimes this Nobel Prize winner found this…’
But (with these videos) these are undergrads like you, or grad students, so
it’s a lot more realistic. That was very helpful in making it actually real. We
care about Nobel Prize winners, but they’re far away.”
Assessing the impact of using 6 videos per semester

17. My favorite
[The videos] “kept me engaged -- me, a man who once swore he would
never be engaged."
Assessing the impact of using 6 videos per semester

18. We have a website and a DVD!! http://chemvideos.mit.edu
More about the videos

19. 12 science videos total
Real world applications include: New routes to
treating diseases; anti-terrorism; fighting cancer; CO2
sequestration; imaging living cells; biofuels; design of new
pharmaceuticals, imaging viruses; and understanding genetic
diseases
Chemical principles include: Acids and bases;
atomic theory; bonding and structure of molecules; chemical
equilibrium; kinetics; oxidation-reduction; periodic table; and
solubility
More about the videos
http://chemvideos.mit.edu

20. 12 science videos total
Real world applications include: New routes to
treating diseases; anti-terrorism; fighting cancer; CO2
sequestration; imaging living cells; biofuels; design of new
pharmaceuticals, imaging viruses; and understanding genetic
diseases
Chemical principles include: Acids and bases;
atomic theory; bonding and structure of molecules; chemical
equilibrium; kinetics; oxidation-reduction; periodic table; and
solubility
More about the videos
12 personal videos
Our chemists include: Lourdes; Nozomi; Sarah;
Cathy; John; Hector; Jingnan; Kateryna; Ben; Stefanie;
Samuel; and Darcy
http://chemvideos.mit.edu

21. The Who of chemistry
Boyle
Avogadro Dalton
Substitute
these images with
these images
Jingnan Hector Darcy Samuel Stefanie Lourdes
Ben Kateryna John Sarah Cathy Nozomi

22. The Who of chemistry
Replace pre-conceived notions of how and why people became chemists
with real stories, and use these stories as myth-busters.
Myth 1: I can’t be a scientist because science is done by old bearded white guys.
Myth 3: Girls don’t want to be chemists.
Myth 4: You can’t end up at a place like MIT unless you are a superstar from day
one.
Myth 2: I can’t be a scientist because I am a social person and science isn’t
social.

23. With accompanying extra credit assignment
Did anything surprised you?
Name something in one of the videos to which you could relate.

24. The Who of Chemistry
For Ben's video, I could really relate to how his
first college math course went, being surprised by
not doing so well. I definitely enjoyed his advice
on going into a scientific field, and the video gives
me that much more confidence.
The end [of Professor Drennan’s video] also
really touched me "make your own statistic"
because virtually nobody at my high school
(including my guidance counselor) would ever
think I would get accepted to MIT simply because
no one else has in the past 17 years. I am still in
disbelief…