Era of ferment in chemical education

Abstract

In recent years the teaching of undergraduate college chemistry has been the subject of intensive re-evaluation. The past five years may have been a time of greater soul-searching by chemistry faculty members than at any time in history. Many reasons are given for the extraordinary self-criticism going on today in college chemistry departments—criticism concerned with both what is being taught and how it is being taught. Many chemistry professors say that this penetrating re-examination is almost entirely the result of faculty initiative. The faculty members, they say, recognize that major revisions in the chemistry curriculum and in methods of instruction have been long overdue and that vigorous efforts should be made to improve the effectiveness of chemistry teaching. Some professors, however, give special credit to student criticism and unrest for at least some of the revisions now being made in undergraduate chemistry courses. In many schools, one reason for the intensive reappraisal of the chemistry ...