A Green Chemistry Project

Professor Halo planned a 4-week project where students work in teams and propose to create a plastic from a sustainable source. The groups had to select an application first, then search for plastics typically used for the application, write a protocol for making the plastic and, finally, make it sustainable. He grouped the students randomly in teams of 3. Nick, Beri and Krys were grouped together.

“I have so many ideas!” Beri spoke up first. “Have you seen those cool sponges that everyone is talking about? Can we make one of those? How about some plastic ….”

Krys cut Beri off noting “Last semester I took a sustainability course and I learned a lot about using food waste to replace plastics in their applications. I know what we need to do!”

“Ok, but I really want an A in this course, so maybe we should ask professor Halo if this direction is ok” said Nick.

The three of them agreed to communicate by email and collaborate on the documents via GoogleDocs. Beri volunteered to set up everything by the next day, but Krys interjected: “Give ME your email addresses! I already have all of this; I’ll just send it to you after class!” The days passed, with no emails from Krys. Unable to communicate with his partners and concerned about his grade, Nick reached out to Professor Halo. The professor replied that they needed to up their communication and figure it out since this was the teamwork part of the project.

Next class, Krys insisted that the lack of communication was not his fault. He said that a recent update changed the computer settings and after days of trying to make it work, it still wouldn’t. Nick insisted on exchanging contact information within the group. Determined to be productive, Nick suggested agreeing on a topic for the paper. Beri jumped in, “I read about a healing plastic, and another one that could be stretched really long, and…” Krys got grumpy: “I thought we agreed to focus on food waste as plastic! I skimmed through my old notes already!” After an argumentative exchange, Nick sent another desperate email to Professor Halo, asking which topic would be better for a project that could earn an A. The professor replied that each project had potential, but the grade would depend on how well the protocol they developed met the expectations from the syllabus.

Class 3 and the students had to meet with Professor Halo and share a draft of their idea. No consensus had been reached: Beri brought a list of potential topics, Krys brought a PowerPoint on using coconut husks to make sponges and Nick had a collection of articles. Professor Halo said that only one project would be evaluated per group. Krys insisted the best presentation was a power point, so they showed the option with coconut husks. The professor wasn’t pleased. “That product isn’t an actual synthesized plastic, which is the essence of this project. You have one more week to fix this!” the professor exclaimed and concluded the meeting.

Feeling pressured, the students agreed to meet the next day in the library and work on the project again. They looked at Beri’s list and Nick’s collection of articles, but couldn’t find an overlap, so after an hour of back and forth, Krys grew frustrated and said: “It doesn’t matter what we choose, we just need to write a report! I’ll pick a topic from my sustainability class that needs to be synthesized and write the paper. I’ll upload it to Google Docs for you two to review and correct. It will be done in a couple of days.”

Nick and Beri were worried but didn’t argue. Each independently decided to write their own paper on a topic that interested them. Krys wrote the paper and uploaded it to Google Docs. There were no references, and the protocol was vague. Neither Beri nor Nick commented or changed the Google Doc, so Krys concluded the paper was perfect. Three papers were submitted to Professor Halo, one by Nick, one by Beri and one by Krys, Beri and Nick.

All papers received the same failing grade. Who was most at fault for the poor grade? Explain.