Design a Fireworks Show!Using Context and Problem Based Learning (CPBL)

Dr Gan Shermer

Emily M. MacCready

Introduction

• Why do we want to create a new resource?

• Why have we chosen the Context and Problem Based Learning (CPBL) style?

• How have we adapted past CPBL resources to Chemistry?

• What is our progress so far?

Why focus on transferable skills?

• Recent reports1,2 from the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) show that new graduates and their employers did not feel that university degrees developed student’s transferable skills enough for the workplace.

• Top skills that students felt were lacking in their degrees:– Team-working– Written and verbal communication skills– Industrial knowledge

• Department of Chemistry student surveys also show that students would like more practice with transferable skills.

1. “Skills Required by New Chemistry Graduates and their Develeopment in Degreen Programmes”, Higher Education Academy, UK Physical Sciences Centre, November 2010: see http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/ps/documents/graduate_skills/chemistry.pdf (accessed Jan 2012)2. “The Chemical Skills Pipeline”, Warwick Institute for Employment Research, June 2009: http://www.rsc.org/Education/CFOF/CCT.asp (accessed Jan 2012)

Why CPBL?

• The RSC study also suggests using CPBL as an educational tool to incorporate transferable skills into the University curriculum.

• CPBL has been shown to be useful in teaching transferable skills while learning core science at the same time3.– Team-work focused

– Open ended questions to encourage research skills

– Assessments are focused on “real-life” assessments, like presentations and reports

– CPBL questions try to mimic real-life as much as is reasonable

3. “PossiBiLities: A Practice Guide to Problem Based Learning in Physics and Astronomy”, Higher Education Academy, Physical Sciences Center, March 2005, see: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/ps/documents/practice_guides/ps0080_possibilities_problem_based_learning_in_physics_and_astronomy_mar_2005.pdf (accessed Jan 2012)

Ashfield Music Festival

•A-level Students work in groups with different roles, eg. Sound Engineer, Project Manager

•Students are asked to set up a stage for a fantasy festival, including a theme and budgeting for ticket costs

•Visiting volunteers are “Experts” and help judge

•Reports and deadlines

•Applies physics to a common aspect of life

How do we Adapt Ashfield to Chemistry?

• Undergraduates will be kept in groups, as in Ashfield, and allocated a role in the company

• PhD student demonstrators will facilitate the activity and act as the “experts”

• The students will be asked to set up an imaginary fireworks display and to research information on the manufacture of pyrotechnics

• This project will apply basic chemistry and some physics to a fun (not so) everyday aspect of life

• The project will incorporate reports and deadlines that would be found in the real industry.

Learning Objectives of Our Resource

Scientific SkillsEmission spectra

Combustion

Ideal Gas law

Mechanics

Risk Assessments/ Health and Safety

Costing chemicals

Commercial/Industrial Awareness

Transferable SkillsWritten and Verbal Communication

Teamwork

Decision Making

Analytical and critical thinking

Independent learning

Time management

Budgeting

Problem Solving

What have we done?

• CPBL workshop– Developed links within the CPBL community

• Research on Fireworks Manufacturing and Chemistry– Dr. Roy Lowry, Plymouth University

• Engaged with industry to further research– Alchemy Fireworks, visit to warehouse

• Found Simulation Program– Finale Fireworks

Where are we now?

• Resources are almost finished– Expert briefs– Question sheets– Inventories– Risk Assessments– And plenty more!

• Project is timetabled and will be tested in March 2012– Year 2 chemistry students

• Recruitment of PhD student “experts” is in progress

How will we do it?

• Week 1: Introduce students to the project

• Week 2: Students start designing their show

• Week 3: Catch-up

• Week 4: Presentations and reports

Conclusions

• Employers and students feel that transferable skills are lacking in degree courses

• CPBL style has been shown to incorporate transferable skills while teaching the core science at the same time

• The Institute of Physics created a CPBL resource for A-level which we have been adapting for use in undergraduate chemistry key skills courses

• We have engaged with the pyrotechnics industry to garner information and interest in our project

• The resource will be trialled with our own students in March of this year