IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ACTIVITY FOR THE INTEGRATION OF ROOM, LABORATORY AND COMPUTER PRACTICE FOR CHEMISTRY STUDENTS IN THE PHARMACY GRADE: EVALUATION AND ACTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

A variety of activities can be carried out for the development of a subject, and in the case of “General and Inorganic Chemistry” in the grade of Pharmacy (University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU) there are up to four different methodologies: traditional lecture, room, computer, and laboratory practice. In this sense, the teaching team of the above mentioned subject has detected that students usually have difficulties to establish connections between the different activities. On the other hand, the team has also identified that during the last years students have been obtaining lower marks than average on aspects related to acids and alkalis. Therefore, these aspects needed special attention, and a plan was designed to this purpose where the objective was integration of room, computer and laboratory practice. The selected activity was the determination of the concentration of acetic acid in vinegar via volumetric analysis, making use of the reaction of acetic acid with a strong base, sodium hydroxide. Reactions, reactants, materials, procedure, and calculations were explained during a roompractice session. Then, the activity itself was carried out in the laboratory, where students performed a volumetric analysis by using a device consisting of an automatic burette attached to a pH meter. The as-acquired data were later analysed in comparison to the theoretical curves. Thus, this work is focused on the description of the implementation of the three activities, and its further evaluation. The work also includes the identification of improvement actions for next course.