Abstract:

A variety of activities can be carried out for the development of a subject, and in the case of “General and Inorganic Chemistry” in the grade of Pharmacy (University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU) there are up to four different methodologies: traditional lecture, room, computer, and laboratory practice. In this sense, the teaching team of the above mentioned subject has detected that students usually have difficulties to establish connections between the different activities. On the other hand, the team has also identified that during the last years students have been obtaining lower marks than average on aspects related to acids and alkalis. Therefore, these aspects needed special attention, and a plan was designed to this purpose where the objective was integration of room, computer and laboratory practice. The selected activity was the determination of the concentration of acetic acid in vinegar via volumetric analysis, making use of the reaction of acetic acid with a strong base (sodium hydroxide). Reactions, reactants, materials, procedure, and calculations were explained during a room-practice session. Then, the activity itself was carried out in the laboratory, where students performed a volumetric analysis by using a device consisting of an automatic burette attached to a pH meter. The as-acquired data were later analysed in comparison to the theoretical curves. Thus, this work is focused on the description of the implementation of the three activities, and its further evaluation. The work also includes the identification of improvement actions for next course.

References:
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[6] Valenzuela, C. "Química General e Inorgánica para estudiantes de Farmacia", Ed. Universidad de Granada, Granada (2002).
[7] Gotzone Barandika, Javier Beitia, Idoia Ruiz-de-Larramendi, María-Luz Fidalgo, EFQM-BASED PDCA CYCLE APPLIED ON SELF-LEARNING MATERIAL FOR CHEMISTRY STUDENTS, Proceedings of EDULEARN13 Conference, 1st-3rd July 2013, Barcelona, Spain (p5033-p5038) ISBN: 978-84-616-3822-2.

AKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the financial support of SAE/HALEZ (UPV/EHU) for a PIE2013-2015(6695) grant.

Keywords:

Self-learning, cooperative learning, chemistry, pharmacy.