2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This research contributes to our team's overarching goal of providing students with an interactive and affordable hands-on learning experience. Physical models have proven to have intuitive advantages over written texts by providing a three dimensional and tactile representation of the phenomena being studied along with the opportunity for students to collaborate, leveraging the social aspects of learning involving mirroring, observation, and debate. Our low-cost Desktop Learning Modules, or LCDLMs have been found to improve motivation and attention, particularly for students who do not engage during traditional lectures, while providing direct and vicarious learning opportunities, encouraging information retention. The goal of this paper is to report progress on one of the latest LCDLMs in development, the Classroom Glucose Spectroscopic Analyzer, the first LCDLM to feature a chemical reaction, including classroom implementation results. The learning module features a colorimetric reagent to convert test solutions from a transparent state to a red-violet color, the main physical body of the module which allows sample and reagent loading, mixing and colorimetric analysis, and a cardboard box to house a cellphone camera to measure the concentration of colored dye produced by reactions between the sample and reagent.

In the main module, reagent and sample stored in separate reservoirs at the top are gravity fed through a transparent microfluidics mixing chamber, which leads to a colorimetric reaction where the colored product intensity is proportional to the glucose concentration. The mixture then collects in a mixed sample analysis reservoir at the bottom. Green light passes through the red sample and into the lens of a smartphone camera to measure the intensity of transmitted light. A 3D model for the main module was designed in SolidWorks and then a set of prototype modules was cut from acrylic with a laser cutter. Assembly of the main module is straightforward. It consists of three acrylic panels. The bottom panel serves as a solid base. The process takes place in the middle panel which features a y-shape carve with the features mentioned above. Finally, the top panel is drilled to allow loading into the initial reservoirs and removal of air from the final analysis reservoir. The dimensions of the module have been finalized, manufacturing is currently underway to prepare for classroom implementation, and a procedure is being developed for students to determine the kinetic parameters of the colorimetric probe reaction used by the reagent solution to determine glucose concentration.

Across two days of class, students need to perform a series of tests where they will insert reagent alongside a solution of a specific chemical at varied concentrations to observe the mixing and reaction kinetics, measure product concentration via Beer's law, and estimate the Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters for the probe reaction by measuring reaction rates over time. Expected learning outcomes include an understanding of fluid mechanics within a static mixer, stoichiometry and limiting reagent, mass action kinetics, enzyme turn-over rate, r, and Beer's Law for time-resolved spectrophotometric monitoring of the reaction.