Catalog Description: Service Learning in Chemistry: Supervised activities in chemistry or chemical education providing service to campus or community constituents. At least 30 hours required for credit. May be repeated for credit. May not be counted for credit for the chemistry major. Graded credit/no credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor and pertinent course work. (1 unit)
Student effort: A minimum 30 hours (equiv. to a one unit laboratory course) is expected for one unit credit. The hours may be earned over multiple quarters, with a grade of "incomplete" given until the thirty-hour requirement is met, or until three-quarters have passed. Students must report to one primary faculty supervisor who will agree to the intended activities recorded in the student log book, communicate with external partners as necessary, and evaluate the effort and assign a grade at the end of the course. A student may perform service activities under the direction of additional faculty members toward the thirty total hours.
What constitutes service hours: Service hours include direct chemical interaction with others on an off campus (through unpaid demonstrations, supervision of experiments, tutoring in chemistry or science, technical lectures, etc.) as well as preparation time necessary to make these activities successful. These activities are subject to approval by the faculty advisor.
Safety: All chemical demonstrations and hands-on activities must be conducted with the most conservative approach to safety possible. At a minimum, students must adhere to the "Minimum Safety Guidelines for Chemical Demonstrations" from the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education. For any activities not directly supervised by a faculty member, it is both the student's and faculty advisor's responsibility to make sure all safety issues have been discussed and addressed.