Fun Facts of Scientific Discoveries

课程简介

/ Indicative Syllabus Basic principles and fundamentals of interesting and important chemistry and biology experiments will be introduced. The mechanism and possible application of science and technology will be discussed in this course. Details of Indicative Syllabus: (a) Impactful stories in science Examples: - cause of global warming and the importance of carbon neutrality - discovery of porous materials including (activated carbon, zeolite, and metal-organic frameworks) and their properties - discovery of a new MOF (from lab to pilot plant scale) -- 1 of 4 -- 2 - development on organic thermoelectric materials: from design to synthesis - making sense of organometallic complexes, as well as semiconducting materials - discovery of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) - story of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) phenomena (b) Science of interesting and eye-catching experiments (I) Fundamental principles of selected experiments will be discussed and demonstrated. Factors that affect the experiments will be discussed. (II) Laboratory learning for interesting experiments - The emission behaviours of various aggregations containing perylene and 1,1,2,3,4,5-hexaphenylsilole (HPS) as representative luminophores will be investigated to discern the distinct phenomena of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) - The experimental design involved preparing a series of solutions containing different aggregation states of perylene and 1,1,2,3,4,5- hexaphenylsilole (HPS), measuring the luminescent properties of the solutions, observing ACQ and AIE phenomena, and exploring their luminescence mechanisms from the perspective of molecular crystal structure

目标

This subject aims to captivate students’ curiosity and engagement in learning science using examples of impactful stories and interesting experiments. By exploring impactful science stories and engaging in exciting experiments, students will learn the fundamental principles and experimental observations, as well as developing their critical thinking for life-long learning during the learning process.

先修要求

/ Co-requisite/ Exclusion NIL

Teaching Pattern

Methodology Lectures: Impactful science stories will be discussed. Scientific principles and fundamentals of selected interesting and eye-catching experiments will be introduced and discussed. The chemical and biological principles of the selected experiments will be further investigated and discussed. History and technological advancement in science will be introduced. Examples will be used to demonstrate the scientific principles. Tutorials: Students are required to search for information and discussion is encouraged for selected topics and their project work. In-class tutorial questions will be used to draw students’ interest, understanding and discussion. Group poster/oral presentation or project preparation may be arranged. Finally, logical thinking will be developed using the tutorial questions. Laboratories: Simple interesting experiments will be conducted. Students can acquire basic scientific and technological skills for the development of analytical thinking as well as critical and creative ideas to carry out experiments and scientific report writing. Students will also develop their team cooperation through group practical classes. Group activities: (1) students are required to work in groups for learning activities in-class or out-of-class; (2) students will be required to prepare a mini project and deliver a oral/poster presentation on selected topics. -- 2 of 4 -- 3 Through presentation, their higher order thinking, such as problem analysis and solving skills, critical and creative thinking, can be evaluated. Their group effort such as preparation of group presentation and discussion, their critical and creative thinking mind can be solicited and consolidated. During the project preparation, students will have opportunity to apply their lifelong learning skills, analytical skills as well as critical thinking for problem identification, data collection, analysis and interpretation as well as drawing conclusion and recommendation for further action. In this subject, students are required to do extensive reading (on literatures, reference books and government reports/websites and internet) and analyze information for possible action formulation via self-study and group discussion. Students will also be required to write an individual report on their findings for learning consolidation, idea elaboration as well as developing scientific thinking for their future study.