Spring 2008 CONFCHEM	Chemistry at the National Science Digital Library An on-line conference, April - June 2008
	Abstracts	Papers	Instructions	Discussion Archive

 

P2: Chemical Education Digital Library: Online Resources, Services, and Communities

Abstract

The Chemical Education Digital Library (ChemEd DL, www.chemeddl.org)  is a Pathway project of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL, nsdl.org) that provides stewardship to library materials in the area of chemistry and chemistry education. A partnership among the Journal of Chemical Education, the American Chemical Society, and The ChemCollective, ChemEd DL seeks to provide exemplary collections of resources, tools, and services to its patrons—chemistry teachers and students at all levels as well as life long learners of the chemical sciences. In this presentation we will provide a directed-learning tutorial that will demonstrate selected resources that are available in ChemEd DL Our aim is to provide participants a broad overview of ChemEd DL resources. Equipped with this knowledge we then will facilitate discussion on how to best use these resources in current and future chemistry curricula. We also aim to encourage participants to join in the ChemEd DL community to help develop additional resources to fill in the gaps in the current offerings.

Introduction

This presentation highlights online resources, services, and communities that are part of the Chemical Education Digital Library (ChemEd DL). The Chemical Education Digital Library is a Pathways project in the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), which is described in the first paper in this conference. Subsequent papers will describe the partner organizations in the ChemEd DL (the ACS Education Division and the ChemCollective project), other chemistry groups involved in the NSDL (IONiC, the Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists, and the Reciprocal Net Common Molecules project), and other projects within the NSDL whose collections are of interest to chemists (CSERD, the computational science Pathway, and ComPadre, the physics and astronomy Pathway). From the entire conference a picture should emerge of the important roles that digital libraries can play in science education.

ChemEd DL Resources: Collections

In order to give a flavor of the kinds of resources that are available in the ChemEd DL, we highlight here resources suitable for high school or first-year college chemistry courses that are available via open-access Web sites. This section is structured so that a description of the resource and suggestions for exploring it appear in the left column and images from the resource pages within the ChemEd DL and other sources appear in the right column. We recommend that you open another browser window or tab and alternate between this page and the live Web pages of the ChemEd DL. We have provided links in this text so that you can get back on track should you become lost in the live Web page.

What’s This? To begin this process, click here to open the ChemEd DL home page. At the top of the screen there is a ChemEd DL logo as well as links to the ChemEd DL Collections, Communities, and Online Services. (From any ChemEd DL page, the logo will take you to this home page.) In the next row across the screen are three graphics that link to important ChemEd DL resources. Under the heading Observe! is a graphic designed to interest you in a chemical reaction. If you click the What’s This? link you will find a screen where several videos from the JCE Web Software Chemistry Comes Alive! collection are ready to play.

Follow the directions on the screen to play any of the videos. Below each video as it plays, text and relevant chemical equations appear. These videos are all part of the Chemistry Comes Alive! collection in JCE Web video and are made available here as a means of showing the quality and variety of videos available. The videos are delivered in streaming format. It is our intent to rotate different videos to this page from time to time so that regulars can return and find something else that’s new.

Periodic Table Live! Now let’s explore something else. Click on the ChemEd DL logo to return to the home page. Then click on the middle graphic, below the heading Explore!, with the label Periodic Table Live! This brings you to a screen that highlights one of the elements and has a periodic table at the top. You can click on any element in the table to find out more about that element. Suppose you click on phosphorus—the screen would then look like the graphic below.

There are lots of things to try on this screen. You can use the periodic table in the upper left to find any element—just click on the chemical symbol in the table. There are three blue tabs under the name of the element and to the left of its picture. The first of these displays the arrangement of atoms in the crystal structure of the element. If you have Java enabled, you will be able to manipulate the structure with your mouse—it is in Jmol format. The next tab displays still images of the element and of its compounds, often in familiar, everyday items. The third tab reveals images that when clicked play videos of reactions (if any) of the element with air, water, acids, and base.

To the right of the area with the structure/images/videos is text that describes the element and contains links to additional information. Click some of the links to see what you find. As you can see the first few paragraphs describe the position of the element in the periodic table, its discovery, how it was named, existence of allotropic forms, where and in what form it occurs in nature, and properties. There is a variety of additional information about the element, its reactions, and some of its compounds. Although there is already a lot of information, we welcome contributions of more details from anyone. You can use one of our services, the ChemEd Collaborative wiki, to extend the information about the properties of each element and the information about the discoverer of each element. To contribute, go to the wiki, use the table of contents to find ChemEd DL Collections, and then click on Periodic Table Live!

Next, click each of the blue tabs above the descriptive text about the element. Description gives the text you hav just been reading. Physical lists physical, macroscopic properties of the element. Atomic provides atomic-scale properties such as ionization energy, atomic radius, or electronegativity. Any of these numeric properties, both macroscopic and atomic-scale, can be graphed agains any other using the Chart/Sort button at the upper right of the screen. Click on it now to find out how.

To make a graph, mouse over the word “Graph” and click on X or Y. Drop-down menus will show you data that can be plotted on the x and y axes. The x axis plots atomic number if you don’t specify anything else.

In the menu for the y axis, choose “multiple fields” to plot two or more properties, such as first and second ionization energy, at the same time (shown at the right). Explore the menus under “graph type” and “options”. To clear the graph, click the trash can icon. Notice that the numeric data plotted on the graph appear in the table at the lower left of the screen. Clearing the graph also clears this data table.

The data table is also very handy. To sort the data in any column, either alphabetically or numerically, click the label at the top of the column. Also explore the menus under “table fields” and “options”.

Click the search icon (next to the trash can) just above the data table. Search for all elements with electronegativity greater than 2.5. Note that the elements found in the search are listed in the data table, posted in the graph, and highlighted by solid color in the periodic table. To enlarge the data table to full screen, click the larger box at its upper right. The same thing works with the graph. This makes it convenient to display graphs or data to students in a classroom.

The chart/sort page usually opens in a separate window. You can close that window when you finish exploring the chart/sort page. Use the back arrow in your browser on the Periodic Table Live! page to return to the ChemEd DL home page or click here.

Molecules 360. Now click on the third graphic on the ChemEd DL home page—the one under the heading Explain! with the title “Molecules 360”. This will take you to a screen like the one at the right.

The molecular structure shown at the left of the screen is in Jmol format and can be manipulated with the mouse. Its properties can also be altered by using the check boxes at the upper right of the screen. You can spin the molecule, enlarge the atoms so that they occupy space out to their van der Waals radii, label the atoms with their chemical symbols, show bond lengths and angles, show computed electric charges on the atoms, show the molecular dipole as a vector, and display positive and negative regions of the molecule.

You can show each symmetry element in the molecule. Click on a symmetry element in the list and that symmetry element will appear in the molecule and move when you manipulate the molecule with the mouse. A mirror plane in SF₄ is shown here. Don’t forget to hide symmetry elements when you are done.

You can also animate the structure to show molecular vibrations. Click on a normal mode in the list and then click the box labeled Activate vibration. Once vibrations have been activated, you can change normal modes to see what each one looks like.

Finally, you can choose a different molecule from the images at the lower right of the screen. Most of the molecules available are small inorganic molecules that are likely to be encountered in introductory chemistry courses. When you finish exploring the properties of these molecules, click on the ChemEd DL logo at the upper left of the screen to return to the home page.

Other Collections. On the home page, find “Collections” at the top of the page and click on it to go to the ChemEd DL collections page. This lists Periodic Table Live! as well as many other collections of the digital library. You will need to scroll down to see everything. Many of the collections are open access, but some are not. Here are some of the open access ones that we recommend for you to explore. Of course there are others and you are welcome to explore as many as you like.

To explore larger molecules that can be manipulated using Jmol, click “Featured Molecules”. This takes you to the JCE Online site and the JCE Digital Library collection of molecular structures that are linked to articles in the JCE. Since mid-2002 featured molecules have been chosen every month from one or more of the published articles. Scroll down the page until you find a molecule or molecules you are interested in. Then click on the name of the molecules. If you scroll down past the descriptive text about the molecule, you will find molecular structures that you can manipulate with your mouse. The grand total of such structures is well over 400. There is a link just above the frame occupied by the molecule that you can use to enlarge the entire image to make it visible in a classroom.

Go back to the Collections page and click on “Living Textbooks”. Like featured molecules, this link goes to the JCE Online site. At present there are two living textbooks available. One, Quantum States of Atoms and Molecules, is being maintained by the physical chemistry community (see a later section of this paper). The other, Concept Development Studies in Chemistry, is a general chemistry text created at Rice University by John Hutchinson. Take a look through this extensive collection of lessons for introductory general chemistry. It has a different flavor from standard textbooks and might be just what your students need. And it’s free!

Go back to the Collections page and click on “QBank”. This is another collection from the JCE Digital Library. We recommend that you explore at least two parts of this collection. The first is WebCT Questions for General Chemistry, which contains hundreds of question types that can be delivered via a course management system like WebCT or Moodle. The questions currently are categorized by subject and a single example of each type of question is available. For most questions there are 10-20 similar but not identical questions also available to teachers only. You can find out how to obtain the complete set of questions by clicking on Answers to Questions at the upper right of the screen.

A second collection in QBank is under the heading ConcepTests for Chemistry (you may have to scroll down to see it). These questions are designed to stimulate student interaction and discussion in classes. These are great for use with “clickers”. To see how ConcepTests are used, play the QuickTime video available via the link View a Sample of the Video. To see the actual questions, use the navigation bar on the left to choose General Chemistry and then choose any topic you are interested in. When you finish use the back button to return to the Collections page.

Finally, visit our brand new collection called Today’s Science for Tomorrow’s Scientists (TSTS). This consists of lessons for middle school or high school students that relate the chemistry being learned in typical courses to research being done by chemistry research groups in universities. In addition to helping students learn some chemistry, TSTS aims to teach how research is done and why research is important in average people’s lives. Explore one or two of these modules to see how they work.

ChemEd DL Services

A library not only provides its patrons with collections of resources, but also with associated services that facilitate the use of those collections. Services such as cataloging, search, discovery, and resource retrieval cross the boundaries between physical and digital libraries. Libraries also provide the neighboring community with a place to meet and share experiences. A digital library knows no geographic boundaries and can extend such community-building services far beyond its neighborhood. Such collaborative, community-building services in the digital realm are oftentimes referred to as Web 2.0. Some of the software and services that currently define Web 2.0 are wikis, weblogs, and podcasts. To provide a modern digital library experience that embraces the openness and community of Web 2.0, ChemEd DL provides several collaborative services to its patrons and developers.

The ChemEd DL strategy in providing such services is to choose best-of-breed technologies from the open source arena. This is a strategy also being deployed by the Core Integration group of NSDL. Such a strategy has many benefits. In addition to providing technologies that ChemEd DL and NSDL would be hard pressed to develop, such widely used technologies give library patrons a familiar look and interface, thus giving them more confidence in learning and using the technologies. Many of the chosen technologies allow for extensions or plug-ins to be developed to provide for specific needs and to create linkages among the services.

ChemEd DL is using best-of-breed open source technologies to provide its patrons with the following services. In addition, ChemEd DL is also developing one of its own services.

Textbook Tables of Contents

Textbook Tables of Contents (TToC) is a ChemEd DL service that provides resource discovery by linking popular textbooks with library resources. This service also serves to augment textbooks with other resources to facilitate alternative learning styles and a better understanding of the subject. The idea is that a user can click a link to their chemistry textbook to view its table of contents. Each chapter subheading is a link that displays a listing of resources from the library that are associated with that topic in the textbook. A piloted version of TToC is available at the JCE Digital Library DigiDemos and QBank collections via the Browse by Topic links in their respective menus. These pilots use generic textbook tables of contents and the metadata repository of the JCE Digital Library, but it is easy to see how the concept can be extended to real textbooks and ChemEd DL.

The trick used by TToC is that the links between the tables of contents and the resources are computed by matching the associated metadata. By cataloging the subchapters of the popular textbooks with a standard vocabulary—the same vocabulary used to describe ChemEd DL resources and patrons—we can match topics in textbooks with items in the library. In this way new resources are associated with TToC entries without needing to catalog the linkages directly, which becomes an untenable task as the number of resources and textbooks increases. By cataloging the tables of contents and the resources using identical or similar vocabularies, the linkages between TToC entries and resources can be computed. The only fine tuning involves the correct assignment of metadata values to the TToC items and resources in the library.

The JCE DLib pilot uses only chapter headings. ChemEd DL plans to expand TToC to the level of chapter subheadings. We have also recognized the need to extend our vocabularies in specific sub-disciplines of chemistry (organic chemistry, laboratory), in order to give a greater granularity to the results produced as the number of resources in the library increases. We can also use TToC to discover topics of chemistry where resources in the library are lacking.

Textbooks are still the cornerstone of most courses. Textbooks define the topics that each course attempts to cover. Textbooks at the chapter subheading level provide the atoms for learning each topic in a discipline. The textbook is familiar to course teachers and provides a much friendlier interface to resource discovery than a search service, where an effective searching strategy is oftentimes unknown or underdeveloped. For students just learning the subject, this is even more important. A naive student has little chance of knowing the jargon of the discipline, which is usually necessary to form effective searching strategies. Yet, the students' textbook for the course can provide a familiar framework that can lead to effective resource discovery. By merely clicking a link bearing the same title as the chapter subheading in their textbook, students will discover resources of interest, possibly tailored to their learning style.

The TToC concept can readily be extended to other disciplines and the digital libraries associated with them. As the technology behind this service becomes mature, look for it to be applied to other disciplines in the future.

Online Curriculum Development and Course Management

Since ChemEd DL, as its name implies, is an educational organization, it makes sense to offer a service for curriculum development and a course management system to serve its community of teachers and learners. ChemEd DL provides such a service named ChemEd Courses. In line with our strategy of providing best-of-breed open source technologies to our patrons, we have chosen Moodle to provide such a service at ChemEd DL.

To date we have successfully developed and executed a workshop using Moodle to introduce participants to ChemEd DL and NSDL. Other courses are currently being developed by members of the ChemEd DL community. Topics include additional ways in which to use ChemEd DL and how to write JCE papers aimed at secondary school authors. ChemEd DL resources such as JCE QBank will find a home within Moodle providing course creators with a large question bank from which quizzes and other assessment tools can be developed.

ChemEd Courses is available to course and curriculum developers. We invite you to make use of this service by simply creating an account (point your browser to moodle.chemeddl.org, click the Login link in the upper right-hand corner, click the 'Create new account' button, and provide the information in the resulting form) and then emailing us about your intentions. If you are already a Moodler with chemistry course content, we invite you to consider sharing your work through the ChemEd Courses service at ChemEd DL.

ChemEd Collaborative

ChemEd Collaborative is a wiki service where ChemEd DL patrons can collaborate on the development of ChemEd DL and some of its resources. The ChemEd Collaborative wiki uses MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. We have outfitted ChemEd Collaborative to provide math equations using MathML and/or TeX, molecular models using Jmol, and QuickTime videos from the Chemistry Comes Alive! collection. As we develop ChemEd DL, we will openly document our ideas, plans, and implementations at ChemEd Collaborative. We also are developing resources using this wiki service.

Periodic Table Live! is a collection of information, data, and imagery pertaining to the chemical elements of the periodic table as described above. Much of the information on the elements in Periodic Table Live! (PTL) can also be found at the ChemEd Collaborative (see Periodic Table Live! link under the ChemEd DL Collections section of the Main Page. The next version of Periodic Table Live! will be derived from the information contributed through ChemEd Collaborative. Thus, PTL will be developed in an open, collaborative, community-driven manner. Information and images contributed to ChemEd Collaborative will appear in the Periodic Table Live! collection at ChemEd DL once the community has deemed such contributions as worthy of inclusion. Extensions of the current PTL data set can also be contributed using the wiki.

Living Textbooks of Chemistry. The Journal of Chemical Education, a ChemEd DL partner, has been called the "living textbook of chemistry". We are using ChemEd Collaborative in an effort to provide dynamic, collaboratively-written living textbooks on topics of chemistry to the community. Each ChemEd DL community is being encouraged to develop such textbooks, led by the physical chemistry community and its Quantum States of Atoms and Molecules (QSAM) text (see below). A general chemistry textbook is currently being developed at ChemEd Collaborative. We invite those interested in developing such texts to join us in this effort.

Contribute to ChemEd Collaborative by pointing your browser at wiki.chemeddl.org, clicking the 'log in/create account' link in the upper right-hand corner, and submitting a name, password, and email address. After your email address is verified, you will be able to contribute by logging in. For some information on using ChemEd Collaborative, please see the 'Help' link under the 'navigation' menu or the 'User Guide' link near the bottom of the Main Page.

Other ChemEd DL Services

Blogging, podcasting, content management, and single sign on are other services being developed at ChemEd DL. Access to these services is currently limited, but we plan to open these services to our developers, contributors, and patrons.

ChemEd Casts is our current blogging and podcasting service. Future plans are to divide these two services and use the current software for podcasting only. The blogging service will move to the best-of-breed WordPress software. ChemEd DL currently uses NSDL Expert Voices to blog the monthly Journal of Chemical Education editorials, the Especially for High School Teachers column, and other items for discussion among the chemical education community.

ChemEd Content is the content management system ChemEd DL uses to manage what we envision to be a vast array of interconnected content. Based upon the award-winning, open source Alfresco Enterprise Content Management System, it is within ChemEd Content where many of the connections among the various software platforms and pieces of content contributed to ChemEd DL will be maintained. A resource submission system utilizing review and assessment work flows that enable highly automated procedures to handle and transform content are being developed around ChemEd Content. Effective search and discovery of resources within and external to ChemEd DL are also handled within ChemEd Content.

Single sign on is a service that provides patrons with access to the different collections and services of ChemEd DL using a single source of the patron's identity and their authorization to use and access various ChemEd DL resources. Investigation into OpenID (openid.net) and Shibboleth (shibboleth.internet2.edu) is currently underway to determine how best to provide a single sign on service to ChemEd DL.

ChemEd DL Communities of Learners and Developers

One of the major goals of the ChemEd Digital Library is to develop communities that can serve as curators of various collections, as developers of new materials for a collection, and as users and evaluators of materials in a collection. The best-developed community currently is the physical chemistry community, so we describe here how that community came to be built and maintained. We are always on the lookout for anyone who wants to join or lead a community, so let us know if you are interested.

A digital community is much like a regular community, namely a group having common interests. The physical chemistry community, consisting of contributors to a variety of focused areas of interest, has been developing over the past 10-15 years. Chemical educator communities became digital in 1993 with the ChemConf on Applications of Technology in Teaching Chemistry. The kernel leading to the current Digital Library project was put in place at the New Traditions Physical Chemistry planning meeting in 1995. At that meeting several physical chemists discussed ways that technology could be useful in teaching physical chemistry and concluded that Mathcad would be a good vehicle for developing new instructional materials based on up-to-date theories of learning.

The goals of the digital library community are to collect, assess, and develop primarily digital teaching resources. Members of the community collaborate in creating new resources, assessing these resources using established guidelines, and contributing to the governance and oversight of the collection through collaborative monitoring, usage and peer review.

The following diagram shows the time line for the development some of the current digital library collections. Each component needs only brief description and can be examined in greater detail through the links given in Table 1 below.

The 1993 online conference, Applications of Technology in Teaching Chemistry (http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConference/), proved the value of community when discussing critical issues in chemical education. The community concept received confirmation through the New Traditions planning project in 1995, http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~tzielins/UW_Pchem.htm. A major outcome of the New Traditions was the symbolic mathematics collection which first appeared with ten documents going online in 1996. The current collection of about 100 documents contains both fundamental and advanced works suitable for education of undergraduate through graduate students. Teaching physical chemists may also find these as useful refreshers of a topic or as introductions to topics not studied previously. This collection is a primary example of a thriving community of developers and assessors through peer review. The collection grows at the rate of 8-10 new documents per year. Original contributions and translation of existing documents into different symbolic mathematics formats can be sent to the collection curator. Contribution and peer review is the essence of the SymMath community of developers and users.

The 1993 Technology in Teaching Chemistry online conference was also the catalyst for developing online collaborative learning communities. The first of these communities studied flame temperatures in fall 1995 with a description appearing in the fall 1996 CHED News. (A copy can be found at http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~tzielins/dpapers/flm_3nws.htm.) In the same year the Physical Chemistry Online (PCOL) community coalesced and grew as faculty at smaller schools looked for a way to increase student involvement in physical chemistry. The materials developed by the group with NSF funding resulted in 12 multi-week projects based on group work. The projects include sequenced activities with goals and objectives in a format that promotes student communication within a single course or across multiple sections on different campuses. Each of the projects fosters faculty and student community development and collegiality. Each project also serves as a model for future development of group adapted in-depth study of a physical chemistry topic, studies that go beyond the typical treatment in standard physical chemistry courses.

Close on the heels of PCOL in the time line was the Quantum States of Atoms and Molecules (QSAM), which was also supported by NSF. QSAM, an online living textbook of quantum chemistry, is easily accessible to those teaching a one semester course in quantum chemistry; QSAM is freely available to students and instructors alike and thus forms the core of a collection of teaching materials that would make dependence on expensive published textbooks obsolete. QSAM is the foundation of a larger physical chemistry living textbook project. Future additions to the physical chemistry living textbook will consist of contributed chapters spanning the entire discipline. Those wishing to contribute components to the Physical Chemistry Living Textbook, including data driven exercises or symbolic mathematics documents that can be used to enrich the Living Textbook, should send their contributions to the current Board Chair, Theresa Julia Zielinski, or the appropriate JCE Digital Library section archivist. These contributions will be peer reviewed and separately published in JCE with citation credit for the author.

Coupled to the QSAM text is a developing data base of questions that instructors can use to assess student learning. The collection is now being edited and should appear online in the QBank collection some time in fall 2008 or early spring 2009. Sample questions can be found at (http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~tzielins/physchem/quantumstatesquestions/index.html) All questions are keyed to the QSAM text but it is expected that the community of physical chemists will contribute other questions. The importance of this collection is that instructors can use the collection, organized by chapter in QSAM, to create online assessment quizzes within their own favorite course management system. Questions will be available in Word and Respondus format. Given that the JCE digital library is developing along the lines of textbook chapters, users of other texts are encouraged to contribute their questions to the collection. Colleagues who have collections of questions focused on different parts of the physical chemistry discipline can send their collections to the QSAM archivist, Theresa Julia Zielinski, to activate peer review and inclusion in the data base.

The newest component of the physical chemistry community, Data Driven Exercises, was created by W. Tandy Grubbs from Stetson University in Florida. The purpose of this collection is to provide students with the ability to analyze data within the context of a mathematical model as would a scientist. Student learning is enhanced when students work with real data in a guided inquiry approach. In data driven exercises students are introduced to new numerical methods, must consider experimental errors, and draw conclusions about the validity of the model being used. This is an excellent approach and follows the tradition in published texts where real-world problems find a place in end of chapter exercises. The power of the guided inquiry approach in the data driven exercises is the support given to students while they develop their scientific thinking skills as undergraduates. Contributions to this collection by members of the physical chemistry community will help make physical chemistry more relevant to students while expanding the resources available to teachers. 

The challenge for teachers is to contribute to the digital collections by developing new resources that can be shared among the members of the teaching and learning community. The links in Table 1 provide the access points to the various physical chemistry collections and the mechanism for submitting new documents to the collections. Colleagues can also contribute to the community by serving as peer reviewers through the established JCE mechanism or by contacting the archivist/manager of the respective collection. Many different groups are initiating communities in many areas. Two examples are the IONIC/VIPEr project of inorganic chemists that will be described later in this conference and the ACS Education Division’s development of a community of leaders of high school chemistry clubs. We encourage all such groups to contact the ChemEd DL and to make use of our services to support development of their communities.

Acknowledgment

The work described in this paper was supported by the National Science Foundation grants for the JCE Digital Library (NSF DUE #0632303) and the ChemEd DL (NSF DUE #0226244). Some video material was created under grants to Project SERAPHIM (NSF DUE 9154099) and the New Traditions curriculum project (NSF DUE #9455928). PCOL was supported by NSF (DUE 9950809) and QSAM was supported by NSF (DUE 0127291). Support for development of TSTS has been provided by the University of Wisconsin Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSF DMR 0425880). Additional support has come from the Journal of Chemical Education, which maintains the JCE DLib collections.