Introducing Undergraduate Students to Electrochemistry: A Two-Week Discovery Chemistry Experiment

Abstract

Within the framework of a laboratory-focused, guided-inquiry pedagogy, students discover the Nernst equation, the spontaneity of galvanic cells, concentration cells, and the use of electrochemical data to calculate equilibrium constants. The laboratory experiment we describe here is a continuation of curriculum reform and pedagogical innovation at College of the Holy Cross that we call Discovery Chemistry. During this two-week Discovery Chemistry experiment students also compare multiple reduction half-reactions versus a common oxidation, which facilitates student data pooling and the incorporation of the pooled data into lecture discussions, hallmarks of Discovery Chemistry.