Less reading and more hands-on learning will be the focus of a new chemistry textbook being developed by an ISU professor.

Tom Greenbowe, professor of chemistry, is working with chemistry professors at Oklahoma State and the University of Oklahoma.

They hope to have 10 universities throughout the country collaborating thoughts and ideas in the end, Greenbowe said.

The textbook research is supported by a $480,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

There is a need for new and improved textbooks because the current textbooks present information in a way that is inconsistent with how students learn. Students are not using the textbooks in the way the editors had intended, he said.

“We want to force the students to think for themselves instead of jumping through hoops and reaching an answer that is right. … The students do not comprehend what the answer truly means,” Greenbowe said.

The textbook, still in the beginning stages, has a projected completion date of 2007, he said.

The new textbooks will incorporate computer simulation animation, tutorials and writing-to-learn science methods, he said.

Tutorials will be much like present-day labs except they will be activities designed for small groups.

“The current lab activities are `cookbook labs’ where the students are not required to pose their own questions,” Greenbowe said.

Under the new lab format, the students will do a simulation, and after achieving the correct answer they must write a paragraph explaining what the answer means.

Hopefully, he said, the students will formulate a question before the lab begins and obtain the answer by completing the activity.

The new lab formats have been tested through pilot studies in Fall 2001 Chemistry 177 laboratories.

Jason Poock, graduate student in chemistry and a teaching assistant for the lab, said the results of the pilot study were mixed.

“The more dedicated students like the science-writing heuristic because they feel that they are learning more, but the students that just want to come, do the lab, and leave seem frustrated.”

But Poock is optimistic.

“This study has a promising future for a more effective way of reaching the students and increasing their understanding,” he said.