» Water Resources Pre-College Analytical Chemistry Program

The Water Resources Pre-College Analytical Chemistry Program objectives are to increase the awareness of water related issues and methods of addressing them among high school students, especially among underrepresented groups and to increase interest in chemistry and related fields, to improve students introductory chemistry skills and provide real life applications of major topics in chemistry and microbiology, and to enhance reading, writing, and math skills of the students for solving chemical and other scientific problems.

Through informal lectures, laboratory exercises and field trip, activities are focused in three areas: english, mathematics, and chemistry. All three subjects are taught daily. Chemistry is taught by lectures and rigorous problem solving sessions, and through interactive learning and laboratory exercises. Topics covered approximate those in the first semester of college chemistry, and include matter and measurement, atoms, molecules and ions, mass relationships and stoichiometry, reactions in aqueous solutions, gases, liquids and solids, electronic structure, covalent bonding, acid and bases. The reference text is Chemistry: Principles and Reactions, 5th ed. by Masterton and Hurley. Later in the program, students participate in a discovery-based interactive chemistry module entitled Water Treatment: How Can We Make Our Water Safe to Drink by S. Kegley, D. Landfear, D. Jenkins, B. Gross, and K. Shomglin from the ChemConnections Modules developed under the NSF Innovations in Chemical Education. In the area of microbiology, through lectures and laboratory exercises, students are introduced to plating and counting techniques, microbial species identification, applications of molecular biology, biological water treatment, and water disinfection. Students are taken on a field trip to conduct water analysis on a stream in Conyers, GA. In addition to chemistry assessment exams taken by students, they also evaluate their math and english skills by y taking past SATs (verbal and math).

Program Goals