Chem 141: Physical Chemistry Lab

Responsible AI Use, Transparency in Authorship, Enhancing Critical Thinking

Here I would like to show my application of "Empowering Students to Use AI Responsibly" learned from ACUE.

We start by explaining the potential applications, such as helping students draft lab conclusions or analyze data. For instance, if they need to summarize results involving densities, ChatGPT can assist with structuring the analysis. However, they will need to tailor their prompts to get the proper format needed for my course.

I also included a slide about plugins that can enhance their experience. For instance, plugins like Wolfram and Scholar AI can be really helpful when they're working on more technical aspects of their reports, and so on.

I included some examples that address the potential misuse of ChatGPT, warning against practices like allowing the tool to generate content without review or understanding. So, if students use ChatGPT to write an analysis, they must ensure they comprehend and can defend the conclusions drawn in their report. We want to make sure that students are using these tools to enhance their understanding, not replace their own critical thinking.

Toward the end of the presentation, there are two important slides. The first covers AI writing guidelines as an editorial from one of the American Chemical Society Journals. It emphasizes the importance of transparency, which is something that ACS always advocates. These guidelines encourage clear authorship and proper acknowledgment of all contributors, whether they're co-authors or tools like ChatGPT. For example, if students use ChatGPT to help write a section of their lab report, they should explicitly state this in the acknowledgments. This ensures that there’s no ambiguity about who or what contributed to the work, aligning with ACS's emphasis on ethical authorship practices.

Students did pretty good job in their writings and presentation and acknowledged the use of ChatGPT. This response indicates that the student took the message about transparency seriously and ensured that they properly acknowledged the use of ChatGPT, just as they would with human support. It’s a good example of responsible use and adherence to ethical practices, as encouraged by the ACS guidelines.

Evidence of Instructional Change


A Teaching slide showing how the use of AI was taught in class.	Student's work acknowledging use of generative AI.	Acue AI course 100% completed.

Practice and Reflect Teaching and Learning with AI:

There's also an emphasis on ethics—it's essential for students to disclose when they’ve used ChatGPT and to ensure they’re still responsible for the final output. We highlight the common pitfalls, like misusing the tool to bypass their own work, and we’ve included suggestions on how to avoid that.

Overall, I think this presentation will help set clear expectations for how students should be using these tools, so they're using them as a supplement rather than a shortcut.

Course Syllabus

Syllabus for CHEM141 Physical Chemistry Lab -Spring 2024.pdf

Faculty Bio

faculty bio
	I am adjunct faculty in chemistry department. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prior to teaching in the chemistry department, I worked for the semi-conductor industry and later co-founded a civil engineering testing laboratory and a chemical additive company. Since fall 2019, I have been teaching general chemistry laboratory and now am the primary instructor for physical chemistry laboratory.

Funding
	This work was supported by: US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project TECH4Equity US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.