Abstract:

The establishment of the international collaboration of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in the framework of the Bologna System, has allowed the forty-nine countries involved on it to build a new education framework using common structures and tools. Moreover, it has led to an important change of paradigm, positioning the students in the centre of the teaching, and learning process. The application of this new point of view in higher education entails higher implication of the student during the whole process, who now plays a main role on it. However, the application of the new perspective is very complex for both teachers and students, especially in overcrowded classrooms and considering the long syllabus of the different subjects.

In this sense, the final individual projects carried out at the end of bachelor’s degree have become in excellent tools to work the individual skills of each student, using personalised work and monitoring. This aspect is particularly important in experimental science degrees such as Chemistry, in which the overlap of theoretical and practical lessons during the different courses makes difficult to delve into experimental and research skills that are fundamental tools for their future careers.

Green approaches have gain great attention within the general society. Particularly, the principles of simplicity, economy and sustainability are included among the main trends in the different areas of Chemistry; however, although they are present in the discussion of lecturers in classes, the study of green principles should be reinforced. In this sense, the final project constitutes an ideal opportunity to encourage undergraduates to study such aspect form a practical point of view.

In recent years, the use of deep eutectic solvents (DES) has emerged as a remarkable strategy to avoid the use of conventional toxic organic solvents due to their easy preparation, high biocompatibility, and biodegradability, among other advantages. This research line has attracted great interest in analytical chemistry, although there are still a broad field of study focussed on their application as extraction solvents that need to be addressed.
In this work, an innovative educational strategy, based on a practical approach, has been proposed for the improvement of research skills of undergraduate students in chemistry during the development of the bachelor's degree final project. In this case, the student was encouraged to develop an analytical strategy based on the application of DESs as extraction solvents to carried out the evaluation of a group of pesticides in industrial hemp. The educative approach was developed following the following steps: i) study of related literature, ii) conclusions and selection of the most suitable analytical strategy, iii) familiarisation of the student with the laboratory process in short seminars; iv) development of the analytical procedure and v) evaluation and critical discussion of results.

Keywords:

Research skills, analytical chemistry, deep eutectic solvents, final project.