A method illustrates radiocarbon dating concepts in students, highlighting important assumptions and skills.
Radiocarbon dating is a Nobel Prize winning, practical application of chemistry that is used in the Earth sciences and anthropology. Most general chemistry textbooks do a lack-luster job of explaining dating methods and their assumptions but jump right into mathematical equations and a variety of plug-and-chug problems. We illustrate a dynamic, conceptual approach using pre-built animated spreadsheets to investigate the process of radiocarbon dating. A number of the assumptions and uncertainties of radiocarbon dating are explored and discovered by students. Students need to know the basics of mathematical modeling, another valuable skill, to predict-test-analyze and then explain and deal with error analysis. Students address many higher-order “what if” questions and use a variety of science process skills to develop a deeper conceptual understanding.
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Sinex et al. (2012) studied this question.
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