[Background] [Electronic Curriculum] [Title page]
Rationale
Chemistry plays a central role in undergraduate science instruction as well as providing a basis for the literate citizen to comprehend and to make informed decisions in an increasingly complex technological society. Global problems such as ozone depletion and toxic landfills can be understood with a good background in chemistry.
There is a growing awareness among chemistry faculty that something should be changed in the way we teach introductory chemistry. One major issue is that current curricula for introductory chemistry are not particularly meaningful to undergraduates. Less than 5% of students in introductory chemistry intend to become chemistry majors, yet we tend teach the course as if the majority of students were chemistry majors. Furthermore, the composition of classes is becoming increasingly diverse so that the traditional curriculum may not reach a large portion of the student body.
These issues have been addressed before, but the discussion often becomes polarized (e.g., molecular orbitals should (or should not) be included in introductory chemistry). Furthermore, discussion often centers around incremental changes, or proposes that new approaches be used as supplements to the traditional curriculum. What is needed is more systemic change [1] to produce a curriculum that can address the diverse needs of the instructor and the student while presenting chemical principles in a clear and meaningful way.
We envision a new chemistry curriculum that would develop along two parallel and inter-connected paths. The first path involves a presentation of chemical principles that represent the conceptual core of chemistry. The second path is a presentation of chemical concepts in context. When connected, these two paths form a chemistry web in which the student can learn chemistry using examples based on personal interest or curiosity. For example, we could teach key core topics such as in the context of medicine, environmental science or materials engineering. By implementing such a curriculum, we would be broadening the scope of undergraduate chemistry to encompass the vast majority of students who do not intend to become chemistry majors.