ABSTRACT By Tricia Miller The ability of our planet to sustain life and heal itself is not as predictable as it used to be. Our need for educated future scientists who know what our planet needs, and can passionately apply that knowledge to find solutions should be at the heart of science education today. This study of learning organic chemistry through the lens of the environmental problem "What should be done with our food scraps?" explores student interest, and mastery of certain concepts in organic chemistry.This Green Chemistry/ Bio-remediation context-based teaching approach utilizes the Nature Mill®, which is an indoor food waste composting machine, to learn about organic chemistry, and how this relates to landfill reduction possibilities, and resource production. During this unit students collected food waste from their cafeteria, and used the Nature Mill® to convert food waste into compost. The use of these hands on activities, and group discussions in a context-based environment enhanced their interest in organic chemistry, and paper chromatography. According to a one-tailed paired T-test, the result show that this context-based approach is a significant way to increase both student interest and mastery of the content.
Read
