Food preservation
Inspired by the context of food preservation in ancient times, we developed an experiment using a traditional (and delicious) Brazilian dessert, the rice pudding (arroz doce, in portuguese). We prepared the dessert with and without some spices, let them rot and followed the efficacy of spices as antimicrobial additives. Students usually find it gross and fun. Published in Journal of Chemical Education (link here)
Solar Distillation Championship
This is a PBL (Problem Based Learning) activity that follows the General Chemistry course. Students must develop solar distillers using safe and clean recycled materials.
Security, ease of replication as social technology, efficiency, and innovative approach are considered in the assessment of the activity.
Undergraduate courses
General Chemistry (Moodle here)
Organic Chemistry (Moodle here)
Polymer Technology (Moodle here)
Graduate courses
Scientific Writing (Moodle here)
Best Practices in Science (Moodle here)
Besides the courses taught by Prof. Waldman, the research group develops experimental proposals for science teaching, usually submitted to Science Education journals or conferences. We also use a Problem Based Learning approach in the courses, as you can see below in some presented highlights.
Espresso coffe machine
We developed a protocol to extract chemical actives from spices using a domestic espresso coffee machine. It is an interesting approach because the experiments usually performed in extraction classes uses polarity of solvents, time of extraction or even temperature as variables of the process. This proposal is the first we know which approaches pressure as a variable for extraction experiments. Published in Química Nova na Escola, in portuguese (link here)
