Abstract:

The Degree of Chemical Engineering, has in its curriculum program a subject on Advanced Chemistry as Basic Training; taught at the first semester of the second year. The subject aims to enlarge the basic background acquired in previous years, especially in the field of Analytical and Physical Chemistry. However, the students can get access without having studied Chemistry subjects in the pre-University education period (High School or Vocational Training) or having failed the subject “Chemistry for Engineering” taught at the first academic year, and then with a weak background knowledge on this topic. The subject “Advanced Chemistry” consists in seven Units: Introduction to Titration Analysis, Acid-basic Titration, Precipitation Titration, Complexes Titration, Redox Titration, Gravimetric Analysis, Instrumental Analysis, Introduction to Kinetics, Reaction Kinetics, Catalysis, Surface Tension, Adsorption and Heterogenic Catalysis. A comparative study among the students about their experience on studying “Advanced Chemistry” was carried out, considering the following points about the subject and its didactic content: previous background on chemistry, perception, interest, personal opinion, difficulty, the acquired learning outcomes, the developed competencies, and the success rate. From the obtained data, extracted from 36 questionnaires and the corresponding final qualifications, which are calculated from the grades reached in the different evaluation parts (written exams, numerical problem solving and laboratory), obtained by the students, we can highlight the following findings: first, 78% of the students of Chemical Engineering have pursued Chemistry subjects before enrolling to the University and 70% passed the subject “Chemistry for Engineering” taught at the first academic year; second, 81% of the students passed the subject; third, this percentage was higher, considering those with a solid previous background; fourth, the students prefer Instrumental Analysis and Catalysis, the two areas with higher practical applications; five, they thought the content of the subject will be useful in their future career; and sixth they have to work hard to pass the subject. From our experience, the University ought to offer reinforcement courses and modify the course syllabus to focus on practical applications, to improve quality of the teaching-learning process.

Acknowledgement:
This work was supported by the University Jaume I [research project number: UJI-B2018-20].

Keywords:

Background, Chemistry, Engineering, Learning, Opinion, University.