School of Chemistry

Ciorsdaidh has innovated in Glasgow’s chemistry labs to improve the learning experience through pre-lab quizzes, safety quizzes, and introducing interactive simulations and assignments with LearnSci.  Read more about our partnership with LearnSci.

For a number of years, Linnea and Smita have worked on a series of projects, based on their extensive experiences as lab heads (Synthesis-1 & Quantitative-1). Their interests are wide-ranging, spanning transition into University labs (investigating cognitive load, sensory load and anxiety) and creative approaches to teaching with interactive lab e-resources. 

Frances and Beth have led studies exploring chemistry students’ confidence in maths and developed maths support resources through student co-creation projects. In addition, Beth has published work on blended and online learning for maths support. 

In 2019, Frances participated in Maths Week Scotland by creating and sending activity packs about hydrogels to approximately 180 schools in the Highlands, targeting around 10,000 pupils aged 9-11. This uniquely linked the School's research expertise with supporting the SQA's curriculum and raising young people's aspirations in STEM.

Frances and Beth are currently pioneering the use of Numbas in the School.

The way that young people engage and interact with media has changed very significantly in the last decade; the way that we teach much less so. Daniel is studying how students interact with digital media, aiming to quantify and qualify what external media resources students use to support their academic chemistry studies, and to learn about science more generally. He is exploring how these different, external resources are perceived, and finding out if high levels of engagement are correlated with a sense of belonging to their discipline. 

Linnea, Beth and Smita are investigating how to support undergraduate students by catalysing the formation of inclusive communities. Their ongoing Chemistry in the Cinema project looks at science on the big screen and through interactive sessions encourages students to create peer networks across cohorts. Several institutions are interested in following their model for student support.

Smita has been investigating the provision of training and support given to GTAs in the School of Chemistry, using a student partnership approach to involve postgraduates and undergraduates in decision-making. She has presented this work at several conferences and has contributed to international discussions on the changing role of the GTA in the pivot to online teaching.  

The School of Chemistry has an impressive commitment to outreach and public engagement through its Chemistry Outreach Group (COG). COG was founded in 2015 by Beth Paschke, Justin Hargreaves, Smita Odedra and Daniel Price. The COG group has grown to include many members of staff and students. As well as running and develop new initiatives, we have carried out scholarly investigations based on our work. Some of our recent projects have included: 

• Beth led a "Chemistry on Tour" initiative in 2015, taking Chemistry activities to the Isle of Arran and founding COG's strong partnership with rural communities.
• Daniel Price has created a variety of outreach activities to spark curiousity in chemistry, including his "Element Boxes" and a multi-school Crystal Growing partnership across Scotland. He has also explored representations of the periodic table, creating thoughtful and artistic outputs which he has shared at events and online.
• In 2018, Smita Odedra created her "Twelve Scents of Christmas" outreach activity, which has proved highly popular with audiences of all ages. The activity pack has been used many times since by members of COG and the RSC and reached thousands of people. It has inspired new scent-based active-learning public engagement activities. In 2019, Smita was invited by the Science & Industry Museum (Manchester) to create a bespoke new scent-based activity for their Lates event; she done this in partnership with a summer student Eileen de Sousa.
• In a unique partnership with RAiSE and Highland Council, Frances led an ambitious Chemistry outreach programme to raise STEM aspirations in rural communities. Her 2019 programme enabled Glasgow chemistry researchers to deliver activities to 32 rural schools (engaging with around 1000 children) and she held six community events for all ages. This had an overwhelmingly positive impact, and her analysis found 93% of the pupils involved felt more interested in science as a result. Frances has shared her expertise in outreach to national panel discussions on STEM education.  
• Margaret’s online STEM Academy has reached over 5000 participants, connecting school pupils and teachers with university researchers and industry. By assessing the difference in attitudes and confidence in pupils, student teachers and activity providers, Margaret is assessing the impact of this partnership model to identify future opportunities that may influence and enhance STEM education in schools and Universities. 

Linnea and Smita have been collaborating with students from the School of Computing Science to develop innovative database solutions for the University to streamline and simplify workflows for those involved in teaching and assessment. They have supervised four groups of Computing Science students, creating bespoke databases with each group.

Smita and Linnea have met with the World-Changing Glasgow Transformation team in Assessment and Feedback to share their experience and expertise.