Abstract:

Increasing interest has been put in the development of new teaching and learning approaches of the chemistry discipline in order to include sustainability parameters and transform the subject into green chemistry education. In this work, we present a practical proposal designed for the chemistry subject imparted in the first year of an engineering bachelor degree (Renewable Energies Engineering Bachelor Degree, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Spain). The teaching strategy focused into several aspects of the chemical reaction, highlighting the different parameters that influences its behavior, in terms of sustainability. The activity was designed to cover the whole semester, including the theoretical sessions and the practical experiments carried out in the laboratory. The teaching used methodology was Project Based Learning (PBL), starting with an open question about the definition of the mail goal of a chemical reaction before and after considering sustainability concerns followed by the definition of the task for the students, which was to define the process for the obtaining of a specific compound through green chemistry and perform it in the lab under sustainable criteria. The mentioned task required working in concepts such as yield, purity, renewability, co-products utilization, waste generation, toxicity, chemical hazard, recyclability, Sheldon’s environmental acceptability, reaction conditions, energy efficiency, energy integration, effluents minimization, innovation, etc. These concepts were introduced in the learning strategy of all the units of the subject (chemical reaction basic concepts; chemical equilibrium; electrochemistry; organic chemistry). The students were organized in work-groups and each team worked in a different chemical reaction with the aim of transforming it into a green process. The procedure was presented as a poster in which they graphically described the most relevant aspects of the study of the mentioned reaction under a sustainable perspective. The posters were presented in a poster contest organized in the University. The weight of the task in the final mark of the subject was a 15%. The results showed that the integration of sustainability concerns in the chemistry tuition promoted the students interest and participation in the matter, helped to link the subject with other ones of the engineering curricula, improved the transdisciplinary learning and fostered the sustainable consciousness.

Keywords:

Sustainability, motivation, reflective learning, Project Based Learning.