Designing, Teaching, and Evaluating a Unit on Symmetry and Crystallography in the High School Classroom

Abstract

An innovative teaching and research partnership was developed in collaboration with public high school chemistry teachers from the Talawanda (Ohio) School District and faculty, staff, and students from Miami University. With the involvement of high school teachers, chemistry faculty, postdoctoral associates, and several graduate and undergraduate students, curricular materials were developed for teaching symmetry and X-ray crystallography in high school chemistry classrooms. An overview of the curricular materials developed and evaluation of the effectiveness of these materials is presented.