Chemistry Department, FMIPA UI Holds Chemistry Material Enrichment Activities for High School Teachers in Jabodetabek and Surrounding Areas

The Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI) held a community service activity in the form of enrichment of chemistry material for high school teachers, on Wednesday (10/8) and Saturday (13/8) at the Sinar Mas Hall, Multidisciplinary Laboratory Building, FMIPA UI – PT Pertamina, UI Campus, Depok.

Vice Dean for Education, Research and Student Affairs, Dr.rer.nat. Budiawan officially opened the event. In front of the participants, he said, "The importance of the role of chemistry in all aspects of life, so this is a challenge for us all, as well as an opportunity for teachers to be able to convey the role of chemistry more broadly to students in schools."

Dr. Asep Saefumillah, M.Si. as the Head of the Chemistry Department in his speech said "This activity is a manifestation of the concern of the Chemistry Department of FMIPA UI in order to improve the understanding and mastery of chemistry of high school teachers, as well as part of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education."

Furthermore, Dr. Asep said that high school teachers have a very open opportunity to continue their education to the next level through the Postgraduate program at the Department of Chemistry, FMIPA UI.

Meanwhile, Dr. Iman Abdullah as the Head of the community service team said that the interest of the participants in participating in this activity was quite high. It was recorded that there were 70 participants who participated in the activity in person. hybrid the.

"The teachers come from high schools in various regions such as DKI Jakarta, Depok, Bogor, Karawang, Bekasi and Tangerang," he said to the FMIPA UI Public Relations team.

He continued, the first day of community service activities were filled by 3 lecturers according to their respective fields of science, including Dr. Iman. Dr. Iman provided the first enrichment on chemical equilibrium, which began with an online survey via mentimeter.

Participants were given the opportunity to convey the chemical material that was considered the easiest, and the chemical material was considered the most difficult. As a result, the majority of participants said that materials such as acids and bases were the easiest, while materials such as chemical equilibrium, K_sp and organic chemistry is the most difficult material.

Participants were also given a quiz at the beginning to determine their level of understanding of the chemical equilibrium material. On average, the percentage of participants who answered the questions correctly was only around 50%, indicating the importance of this material enrichment activity.

The second topic enrichment was delivered by Dr. Helmiyati about chemical kinetics. In the discussion session, the participants seemed enthusiastic in asking various questions, including those related to the correlation of the independent curriculum in high school with the topic of chemical kinetics in everyday life.

The third material enrichment was delivered by Dr.rer.nat. Agustino Zulys. In his presentation material themed chemistry misconceptions in high school, Dr. Agustino conveyed that public assumptions often arise that chemistry is difficult. Generally, to overcome this, chemistry teachers often make analogies related to chemical principles with everyday life phenomena to make it easier to convey the material to students.

However, according to him, this method often causes misconceptions related to the understanding of chemistry itself, both for students and for teachers who deliver it. Therefore, a comprehensive and correct understanding of chemical concepts is needed to avoid misconceptions.

The first day of community service activities was closed by giving a quiz through the quizizz platform to see the level of participants' understanding of the enrichment delivered.

The second day's activities were filled by Dr. Yuni K. Krisnandi, M.Sc. who provided enrichment on chemical bonds. In her presentation, Dr. Yuni said that chemical bonds are the 'soul' of chemistry. This, said Dr. Yuni, is because chemical bonds determine the stability of a compound, and affect the physical and chemical properties of a material.

In front of the participants, Dr. Yuni presented several crystal structure models to deepen the participants' understanding of chemical bonds and the structures of related compounds.

Some of the crystal structure models shown include the NaCl (cube), diamond, TiO models.₂, ZnS, and hexagonal structure models.

The second material enrichment was delivered by Dr. Bayu Ardiansah with the topic of organic chemistry. Dr. Bayu delivered an outline of organic chemical reactions through an understanding of the concepts of nucleophiles and electrophiles. The discussion took place interactively by providing several case studies. Several participants who successfully answered the questions received book packages from Dr. Bayu.

Next, the third material enrichment was delivered by Prof. Dr. Yoki Yulizar, M.Sc. with the topic of nanomaterial chemistry. Prof. Yoki conveyed the important role of nanomaterials in various aspects such as health, energy, environment and their synthesis strategies.

On that occasion, Prof. Yoki gave an example of the application of nanotechnology in everyday life, as well as an example of a simple project related to nanotechnology that can be applied in high school. One of them is related to the degradation of dye waste using nano ZnO which can be synthesized simply in a school lab using zinc nitrate precursor, base source, and NaBH2 reductant.₄.

Like the first day, the second day's community service activities were also closed by giving a quiz to the participants. The second day's community service activities were attended by more participants. offline compared to the first day. It was recorded that there were 26 participants who attended offline and 35 in total online via zoom.

This activity is part of a series of community service activities which will be carried out for four days including August 16 and 20, 2022.

News source : https://sci.ui.ac.id/