Novel Model-Based Inquiry of Ionic Bonding in Alginate Hydrogels Used in Tissue Engineering for High School Students

Because of cost and time, it is difficult to relate to students how fundamental chemical principles are involved in cutting edge biomedical breakthroughs being reported in the national media. The laboratory exercise presented here is aimed at high school chemistry students and uses alginate hydrogels, a common material used in tissue engineering, to help students explore the relationship between chemical bonding and material properties while relating it to the field of tissue engineering. In addition, this lab is designed as a model based inquiry exercise to provide a better understanding of how contemporary science is practiced. The lab is intended to be used as part of a four day curriculum on tissue engineering but can be done together with the supporting curriculum or separately. The exercise is inexpensive, approximately $6.00 per student group and can be performed in low-resource laboratories, as it requires no elaborate equipment. The students who completed these exercises showed enhanced understanding of ionic bonding and were able to describe how such bonding related to the properties of materials.