Creating "90 Second Documentaries" on the iPad

Steam distillation is a very common experiment done in organic chemistry labs everywhere.  I like this experiment.  We start with ground cloves and take out the essential oil eugenol.  The room begins to smell of this wonderful molecule and it reminds me of pumpkin pie and all of those delightful smells of thanksgiving!  Here is the structure of this molecule that can be found on the iPad app called "Nice Molecules":

I took a screenshot of the molecule and saved the image as a jpeg on my desktop iMac.  I just marvel at the way molecules are put together and the way their structure produces their function.  My students like that fact that we are not just performing steam distillation on any old molecule.  Eugenol is something that is used every day and it allows me to demonstrate the relevance of chemistry to our whole life.  The big challenge of using iPads in my organic chemistry class to produce digital lab reports has been time.  It takes a lot of time for the students to learn the technology of an app like Explain Everything.  It takes a lot of time to produce the video from their pictures and voice and all of the cool tools you have with this screen casting app.  I had the students produce videos for simple and fractional distillation and one of the screencasts was almost 18 minutes long!  I think they should be limited to about 7 minutes or so.  

For steam distillation I decided to go a different direction.  I just attended the CUE conference in Palm Springs and heard about the idea of using iMovie to make trailers.  In this app there are templates that make it very easy to create these short, information-packed movies.  I wanted to have my students be familiar with the technology of this app before they came to class so I assigned them to watch two YouTube videos on making trailers with the iPad app iMovie.  They had to send me their evaluations of these "How to" videos via a google form.  When they came to class the next day I told them that their quiz on the steam distillation lab was to create a short "documentary" or trailer using iMovie.  Their creation had to describe the purpose, process and product of steam distillation of eugenol.  The first movie is a trailer using the iMovie template.  Be careful the music makes it very dramatic!

 

The second movie is not a trailer. The students simply used iMovie to make a quick video describing steam distillation in 90 seconds.  Here it is:

This quiz was an experiment for me.  Could they capture the essence (pun intended) of steam distillation  in 90 seconds?  

As I reflect and assess my assignment I think that steam distillation is probably too hefty of a concept to capture in such a short amount of time.  The students were able to explain the second half of the experiment which includes extracting the eugenol from water with methylene chloride and drying the solution.  But explaining how the process of steam distillation lowers the boiling point of eugenol from 254 degrees to below 100 degrees in a few short sentences is a bit of a stretch.  In some of the trailers the students tried to add "titles" that are just too long and go off of the screen.  Also the Ken Burns affect does not work for every photo.  I think the 90 second documentary format would be better for one of the other lab experiments.  Nevertheless the students seemed to enjoy themselves and learn.  When asked if they would like to do this kind of assignment again for a quiz three fourths of the students said yes.  

When I specifically asked:  "How did this format help you learn chemistry?", many of the students answered that they had to explain the chemistry and that helped them learn it.   When asked what they liked most about this approach, many said they liked the ability to use their creativity.  So with that I can say one of my main goals was achieved.  When I asked the students if they would rather do the digital or written format, two said written, the rest said that it did not matter or they would prefer digital.  

The steam distillation of eugenol is a fantastic way to connect chemistry to everyday life.  First of all one can talk about how so many flavors and aromatic substances are extracted from natural sources. This includes nutmeg (isoeugenol) and vanilla (vanillin) and so many others.  Also one can learn about the process of how we smell molecules with the benzene or aromatic ring.  But there is something even more interesting to me and that is the connection between these spices and history.  In many ways the world is the way it is today because of the way European countries sought after spices, and specifically these aromatic molecules.  Just think about how the quest for spices fueled colonization, shipping, trading, world exploration, wars, slavery and the entire financial system.  America was "discovered" by Europeans looking for essential molecules, even though they would not have put it that way.  The source of eugenol, the clove plant, was grown on a tiny island called Run in what is now Indonesia.  It was owned by Britain.  But the Netherlands wanted it badly.  The two countries fought over this little piece of isolated land.  Finally they decided to trade.  The Netherlands gave New Amsterdam to Britain in return for Run and the all important eugenol.  What was the new name the British quickly gave to New Amsterdam?  New York!  Just try to tell me chemistry doesn't effect everything!   You can read more about how molecules affected history and much more in the wonderful book Napoleons Buttons.