Resumen de Instrumental Analysis Experience-Based Teaching before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities
Blanca A. Alanís Garza, David Paniagua Vega, Olga Rodríguez Martínez, Norma Cavazos Rocha, Ricardo Salazar Aranda, Noemí Waksman Minsky, Alma L. Saucedo
The COVID-19 outbreak represented a remarkable challenge in universities and colleges since it forced the transition from a face-to-face model in classrooms and laboratories to a remote, online model using computers, tablets, and cell phones. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, the return to educational activities was a slow-paced process. The lack of presential activities had a deep impact on education, particularly in under- and graduate Chemistry courses, where laboratory work allows students to develop skills and abilities by applying their knowledge to solve experimental problems. As a consequence, institutional and personal efforts were put together to overcome this situation. These efforts led to remarkable experiences and outcomes with high educational value. This work presents experiences and outcomes of the Instrumental Analysis course offered in the Chemistry Clinical Biologist bachelor program throughout three nonconsecutive semesters, each time on different contexts, to describe the challenges faced, and the emerging opportunities from the experience throughout the pandemic. Each experience is described in a case study. Case 1 exemplifies a regular, pre-COVID-19 semester, in 2019, in a fully face-to-face teaching modality. Case 2 describes a semester in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, in a 100% online teaching modality. Finally, Case 3 presents a semester with low prevalence of COVID-19 cases, using a hybrid modality, in 2021. Our observations suggest significant differences related to the knowledge integration process when laboratory work was interrupted, and provide evidence about how online activities impacted the learning process in experimental chemistry courses.
