Possible Activities for CHE 550 – Fall 2020
You must do all of the numbered activities either once or twice. Each of the other activities can only be done once
1. Combine course material with previous knowledge to create new information, analyze the new information.
2. Create a Concept Map (also called Mind Map) that probes the relationship between topics, make conclusions about these relationships.
3. Use a metacognition method to evaluate your understanding, or lack of understanding, of a topic. See the 53 ways to check for understanding for some ideas.
4. Write a short literature review (2-3 scientific papers from 2018-2019) of an advance in a relevant topic
5. Write a 10 question, non-multiple choice quiz on your chosen topic. The questions must test for understanding, not for memorization. Answers should require about 4 sentences in length. Provide the answer key.
• Create a work of art that is useful or helpful to visualize or understand something
• Critically analyze a recent lay news article. Make scientific conclusions
• Write a poem or a song
• Create an ‘intrigue journal’ article regarding a topic
• Create a video describing a topic, putting on a lecture, or doing a demonstration
• Devise a novel hypothesis and analyze its usefulness
• Create a learning opportunity for elementary or middle school children
• Interview a colleague about their understanding of a topic
• Create and utilize a unique computer program
• Use a genomics program to answer a novel question
• Devise a plausible synthetic scheme for replacing an enzyme-catalyzed reaction
• Create a table of information from different sources and make conclusions about the new information created
• Evaluate in detail previous misconceptions that you had on a topic
• Devise and conduct a collaborative project with a classmate (need prior permission)
• Analyze a textbook reaction mechanism in organic chemistry terms
• Analyze and compare how a topic was taught in two different courses.
• Write a biography of a scientist, pulling from multiple original sources. List all sources
• Do a complicated, but purposeful, mathematics problem
• Analyze how a topic is particularly meaningful for your research, if applicable
• Create a poster on the molecular basis of a disease not mentioned in the book
• Create a game that will help someone else learn the course material
• Devise a novel experimental strategy using methods discussed in class
• Evaluate your understanding of a ‘muddy moment’
• Illustrate a cartoon or a comic
• Create an extended, meaningful, and unique analogy
• Create a scientific or lay podcast
• Create a web site, or a wiki
• Use a program to view the structure of a protein or RNA. Make scientific conclusions
• Write a letter to a layperson explaining the importance of a scientific topic. Do not use scientific lingo.
• Feel free to come up with unique, creative, and/or non-traditional activities.
