Increasing Student Understanding and Technical Skills in Instrumental Analysis: Piloting a Student-Led Instrument Deconstruction with a Decommissioned ICP-MS

Skills related to instrumental operation and analysis are critical to the success of undergraduate chemistry students following graduation. However, the scope of pedagogies surrounding the theory and fundamentals of instrumental analysis vary widely and are dependent on resources available at the institutional level. Regardless of which instruments and teaching methods are utilized, it has been shown that physical interaction with instrumentation gives students the best opportunity to learn effectively. As such, it is imperative to build upon and assess pedagogical approaches that enhance chemistry students’ use and understanding of a variety of instrumentation. At Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), a primarily undergraduate institution, student-led deconstruction of a decommissioned inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) was incorporated into the existing laboratory sequence for Instrumental Analysis. After working with the decommissioned instrument, students participated in a peer learning exercise in which they orally presented on different instrumental components to the class. Oral presentations were assessed for accuracy in describing and applying the theory and operational principles of ICP-MS, including its electrical components. During a laboratory session following the deconstruction and oral presentation activities, students focused on method development skills and completed sample digestions with subsequent analysis of calcium and heavy metals in fish otoliths on a newly acquired PerkinElmer NexION 2200 ICP-MS. Students’ self-reported gains in knowledge following these three activities were assessed. Large gains were reported in confidence in working with an ICP-MS, technical knowledge of the components of this instrument, and students’ ability to discuss instrumentation with peers. Conclusions drawn from student attitudinal data were reinforced with high numerical scores on assignments related to this set of experiments (mean scores of 96% and 88% on oral presentations and ICP-MS related lab reports, respectively) as well as positive student responses to an open-ended survey question.