I used this assignment in my half-credit nanomaterials chemistry course in the fall of 2013.  The enrollment was seventeen students, including 14 chem majors, 2 biochem majors, and 1 physics major.  There were 4 seniors, 11 juniors, and 2 sophomores in the course.  Throughout the course, I assigned journal articles to read after we had done some introduction of the topic in lecture, but the assignments did not necessarily fall at the end of the topic.  Students brought their completed questions to lecture, handed them in, and then we discussed the article in detail as a class.  In this case, the students had already been introduced to solid state band structure using the “To Conduct or Not to Conduct” learning object in the previous week, when I had also introduced photovoltaics and the NREL solar efficiency graph.  In the lecture before this assignment was due, I explained that semiconductors can also be used to drive chemical reactions in photoelectrochemical cells.  I used TiO2 as an example of a photoanode and outlined the water splitting reaction.  We compared semiconductor band gap positions and water splitting redox potential positions.  I explained that even if these energies are aligned properly, a catalyst is often required. 

On the day the assignment was due, we reviewed the questions.  I created a chart on the board comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the different analysis techniques used in the article.  The students don’t have their assignments in front of them for this discussion, but they do hold onto their copy of the article, and their answers seem to be fresh in their minds.