Beyond research

Scientists dialogue with education and extension, producing new approaches to university teaching and orienting high school students for chemistry Olympics.

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – Researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP) don’t limit their activities to scientific investigation. They are also capable of dialogue with those that work in education and extension, producing, for example, new approaches to teaching in university chemistry labs or working directly with high school students.

The group coordinated by Omar El Seoud, professor in the Fundamental Chemistry Department at IQ-USP, recently published an article describing an innovative proposal for scientific experimentation especially developed for use in laboratory classes in baccalaureate chemistry courses. The article was published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Chemical Education, the most respected periodical in chemistry education.

The experiment involves a current topic: the quantitative analysis of the presence of biofuels (ethanol our biodiesel) in samples of diesel oil derived from petroleum. According to El Seoud, the dye used for the analysis was entirely developed by post-graduate students in his lab, and was the topic of a doctoral thesis written by Priscilla Leandro Silva, concluded at the end of 2010, with funding from FAPESP.

El Seoud affirms that the initiative to connect research on a socially relevant topic (biofuels) with development of a proposal for a graduate course is coherent with the research university concept—institutions of higher education able to produce graduates, perform research and transfer knowledge to society.

 “At a research university like USP, the priorities are university and post-graduate courses, research, and interaction with the community. It is a priority to introduce the results of scientific research to all levels of the educational system. This experiment did just this, as we used a dye that came from our research on solvents to determine the composition of the biofuels,” El Seoud told Agência FAPESP.

The dyes are not commercially available. “Thanks to the expertise we have on the subject, we were able to use dyes that give an array of strong colors to the biofuel samples as their compositions vary. The experiment took place in a university course and the students loved it because the stunning visual output provides an intuitive perception of the results,” he affirmed.

The project was developed within the Thematic Project Green solvents: chemistry and applications of ionic liquids in catalysis, colloid chemistry and derivatization of biopolymers, coordinated by Seoud and financed by FAPESP.

Aside from Seoud, the article also had  contributions from doctoral student Carina Loffredo, post graduate students Paula Galgano and Bruno Sato (FAPESP Masters Fellows and Christian Reichardt, professor at Philipps-Universität in Magburg, Germany. World-renowned specialist on the topic of solvents and solvation, Reichardt contributed as a consultant.

According to El Seoud, it is a constructivist approach to teaching. The objective is for the student to think about the problem and elaborate his/her own answers. “This way, instead of giving them a prepared protocol for the experiment, we use another procedure. Before anything, we ask them to read about biofuels. Next, by means of a list of questions, they work out an experimental protocol to determine the compositions of the mixtures of diesel oil and bioethanol, or diesel oil and biodiesel,” he explained.

Next, the answers are corrected and discussed so that laboratory procedure can be decided upon. “Then the students perform at least two experiments: the one they suggest—and that is discussed if it is not successful—and the one that we present,” he said. 

Olympiad Chemistry School

Aside from the new approaches to university teaching, as part of the research university the IQ-USO researchers also offer support to high school students in the form of preparation for the São Paulo, Brazilian and International Chemistry Olympiads.

In 2010, Jéssica Okuma and André Silva Franco, two students from São Paulo that went through the IQ-USP training, won bronze medals at the 42nd International Chemistry Olympiad in Japan, from among 266 students from 66 nations.

Okuma and Franco – today students at the USP Medical School – organized a refresher course from July 11-16, 2011 for local students preparing for the August Brazilian Chemistry Olympiad with IQ-USP support and the support of some of its docents.

The São Paulo team was selected in June during the São Paulo Chemistry Olympiad, coordinated by Ivano Gutz, professor at IQ-USP. The winners of the Brazilian tournament will be selected to participate in the 44th International Chemistry Olympiad, to be held in Maryland (U.S.) in 2012.

“The students who will participate in the national Olympiad were able to visit my lab for demonstrations of chemistry experiments, including the experiment to detect the adulteration of bioethanol. It’s an important interaction between the university and the community, especially since we are engaged with activities for the International Year of Chemistry,” said El Seoud.

The 43rd International Chemistry Olympiad was held from July 9 to 18 in Ankara (Turkey). Tábata Cláudia Amaral de Pontes, winner of the last São Paulo Chemistry Olympiad, won a bronze medal after her June training by the IQ-USP team.

Two students from Ceará also did extremely well in Ankara according to El Seoud: Raul Bruno Machado da Silva won a bronze medal and Davi Rodrigues Chaves won a silver medal.