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VISIT MY NEW PAGE AT:PLEASE
VISIT MY NEW PAGE AT:
http://chemistry.clemson.edu/people/
cooper.htm
Melanie M. Cooper
Current Courses:
Chemistry 223 First semester organic
Chemistry 471/671 Teaching Chemistry
Dr. Cooper's research projects involve several areas of chemical education. She is interested in the development of new laboratory curricula, investigating the effects of the changes on how students learn chemistry, and developing multimedia materials for use in teaching laboratories and lectures. Techniques, such as cooperative learning and writing exercises, for use in teaching large lecture sections of chemistry are also being developed and studied.
She has developed curricula and course materials (lab manual, instructor's guide and multimedia software), for a general chemistry laboratory course and an organic lab course. The goals of these courses are to overcome the deficiencies in the usual beginining undergradate laboratory experience, to supply the structure and support so necessary to students in their early stages of intellectual development, and to incorporate both written and oral communication skills.
Current projects include:
The new ACS general chemistry textbook. of which she is a member of the editorial/writing team.
The EnviroChemLibrary Project
Our students forgo a semester of twelve, individually performed, traditional one period exercises, to work in cooperative learning groups on several research oriented projects per semester. Instead of learning a technique as an end in itself, techniques are learned within the context of the experiments with the aid of computer software. Over the course of a semester, students apply their problem solving skills to projects approximating the research process as closely as possible. In addition they use both their written and oral communication skills to plan, critique, and evaluate their experiments. Students are required to present their results as a formal written paper, informal weekly summaries, and an oral report to their peers.
Evaluations of the students' attitudes indicate they feel more positive about the lab experience and learn more in these labs than in the traditional laboratories. Evaluation of retention rates indicated that females in cooperative laboratories were less likely to drop the course and also more likely to score higher on lecture exams. Mentors can be important as well.
Here are some links to web sites developed by undergraduate research students in my lab
Laveta Stewart Micelles
Terry McAlister Soap
Paige Egan Analysis of Contaminated Soil
Paul Sheehan Kidney Stones
"Cooperative Chemistry Laboratory Manual" McGraw Hill, 1996
Cooper. M. M.; Lovell, J. M.; Joule, J. A.. "Indole-ß- Nucleophilic Substitution. Part 9 Nitrogen Nucleophiles. Synthesis of Hydorxycryptolepine, Crytolepine and Quindoline". Tet Letts .1996, 37, 4283.
"Environmental Chemistry", Cooper M. M. Elzerman, A. W., Lee, C. M. J. Chem. Educ 2001, 78, 1169
"An Evaluaton of Learning in the Organic Laboratory," submitted for publication
"Evaluation of Cooperative Chemistry Laboratories" submitted for publication
"Working in Groups in the Laboratory: How and Why" submitted for publication
"Organic Laboratory Techniques" to accompany "Experimental Organic Chemistry" Mohrig, Hammond, Morrill and Neckers, Wiley 1998
Recent innovations in laboratory teaching and assessment, August 1, 2000, University of Michigan.
WISE (women in science and engineering) Workshop, for 8th Grade Girls, Clemson University, June 14-18, 1999, 2000, 2001
"Cooperative Chemistry Laboratories" an NSF undergraduate faculty enhancement workshop. May 13-15, 1999, Clemson University
"Laboratory Teaching and Assessment" August 5, 1998, University of Waterloo
"Laboratory Teaching and Assessment" an NSF undergraduate faculty enhancement workshop. August 2-4, 1996, Clemson University
Cooperative Chemistry Laboratories: an NSF undergraduate faculty
enhancement workshop. July 10 -14, 1995, Clemson University