11 Frustrated Lewis Pair Pedagogy: Expanding Core Undergraduate Curriculum …
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have no impact on their standing in the course and that they would remain anonymous.
The questionnaire was administered through Google Forms with the settings chosen
to keep records fully anonymous.
The questionnaire is reproduced in full as Appendix 1. It features six multiplechoice questions that assessed elements of the student’s understanding of fundamental chemical thermodynamics. The concepts tested included: the definition of an
equilibrium constant (Question 1); the relationship between equilibrium constants
and concentrations (Question 2); the use of an equilibrium constant to represent the
extent of a reaction (Question 3); the use of thermodynamic cycles to obtain H
or G for a reaction (Question 4); the notion that chemical systems in dynamic
equilibrium will respond to variations in concentration so as to re-establish equilibrium (Question 5); the constancy of the equilibrium constant during fluctuations in
concentrations (Question 6).
The questionnaire was readministered in the sixth week of the academic quarter
following coverage of FLP chemistry during the lecture and administration of assessments on this topic in a problem set and a midterm exam. In this second installment
of the questionnaire, the students were also given the following prompt: “Did you
find that use of the Frustrated Lewis Pair concept in our discussion of main-group
chemistry helped you to better understand certain concepts in fundamental chemical
thermodynamics? Any feedback you can give about how or why would be greatly
appreciated.” The narrative answers given by the students were categorized as “yes,”
“somewhat,” or “no.”
11.3 Results
11.3.1 Incorporation of FLP Material
The University of California, Santa Cruz offers two undergraduate inorganic chemistry courses: CHEM 151A: Chemistry of Metals and CHEM 151B: Chemistry of the
Main-Group Elements. In accordance with the results obtained by surveys administered by a subset of the 2014 Inorganic Chemistry ACS Exam Committee [28,
29], these two courses fall under the broad classifications of “Fundamentals and
Selected Topics” and “Advanced Inorganic: Selected Topics.” The material covered
in CHEM 151B (Table 11.1) would clearly be compatible with a discussion of FLP
chemistry and this topic could easily be included as an “advanced topic” or as an
example of an application of main-group chemistry in current research. Instead, a
decision was made to structure the course in a manner that reveals the natural place
of FLP chemistry within the broader field of Lewis acid–base chemistry (Fig. 11.1).
This organizational structure facilitates course design because the FLP concept is
not introduced as an ad hoc construct that is needed to understand experimental
results. The presently described alternative approach instead highlights to students
that the FLP concept is the inevitable consequence of the behavior of Lewis acids
393
have no impact on their standing in the course and that they would remain anonymous.
The questionnaire was administered through Google Forms with the settings chosen
to keep records fully anonymous.
The questionnaire is reproduced in full as Appendix 1. It features six multiplechoice questions that assessed elements of the student’s understanding of fundamental chemical thermodynamics. The concepts tested included: the definition of an
equilibrium constant (Question 1); the relationship between equilibrium constants
and concentrations (Question 2); the use of an equilibrium constant to represent the
extent of a reaction (Question 3); the use of thermodynamic cycles to obtain H
or G for a reaction (Question 4); the notion that chemical systems in dynamic
equilibrium will respond to variations in concentration so as to re-establish equilibrium (Question 5); the constancy of the equilibrium constant during fluctuations in
concentrations (Question 6).
The questionnaire was readministered in the sixth week of the academic quarter
following coverage of FLP chemistry during the lecture and administration of assessments on this topic in a problem set and a midterm exam. In this second installment
of the questionnaire, the students were also given the following prompt: “Did you
find that use of the Frustrated Lewis Pair concept in our discussion of main-group
chemistry helped you to better understand certain concepts in fundamental chemical
thermodynamics? Any feedback you can give about how or why would be greatly
appreciated.” The narrative answers given by the students were categorized as “yes,”
“somewhat,” or “no.”
11.3 Results
11.3.1 Incorporation of FLP Material
The University of California, Santa Cruz offers two undergraduate inorganic chemistry courses: CHEM 151A: Chemistry of Metals and CHEM 151B: Chemistry of the
Main-Group Elements. In accordance with the results obtained by surveys administered by a subset of the 2014 Inorganic Chemistry ACS Exam Committee [28,
29], these two courses fall under the broad classifications of “Fundamentals and
Selected Topics” and “Advanced Inorganic: Selected Topics.” The material covered
in CHEM 151B (Table 11.1) would clearly be compatible with a discussion of FLP
chemistry and this topic could easily be included as an “advanced topic” or as an
example of an application of main-group chemistry in current research. Instead, a
decision was made to structure the course in a manner that reveals the natural place
of FLP chemistry within the broader field of Lewis acid–base chemistry (Fig. 11.1).
This organizational structure facilitates course design because the FLP concept is
not introduced as an ad hoc construct that is needed to understand experimental
results. The presently described alternative approach instead highlights to students
that the FLP concept is the inevitable consequence of the behavior of Lewis acids