Chemistry Course For Non-science Majors Research Articles

Student Success in Five Concepts: A Six-Year Study in an Introductory Chemistry Course for Non-Science Majors

Introductory chemistry courses are normally designed for different students in colleges and universities. In many cases the Introductory Chemistry course is offered to students to satisfy a general science prerequisite and in other courses. At Stephen F. Austin State University, the Introductory Chemistry Course is taken by a majority of students who are declared nursing majors. This study examined the performance of student scores in five concepts in an Introductory Chemistry course. The data compares student performance for five randomly chosen concepts, namely; significant figures, reactivity of isotopes, half-lifes, electron configuration of ions, and equilibria. Standardized exams were used to assess and evaluate performance and trends of students (N = 841) in the five concepts for the academic years 2012 – 2018. Except for the “Equilibria” concept, many students showed performance that was greater than 55% or better. This study helps provide information that (i) can be used to improve areas where students may have poor understanding, (ii) is useful to instructors to decide on the time to spend in concepts in which students struggle. The reason(s) for the observed trends may stem from various factors, which include outside forces affecting students, or certain concepts may need more time for comprehension vis-a-vis others, and/or students not having strong previous foundations, especially in mathematical skills. The results of the study provide helpful information for instructors in science/education since these concepts may pose special challenges to different levels of difficulty. Overall, this study will help create a more successful classroom environment that is beneficial and enriches both the instructor and students.

The Science of Human Health—A Context-Based Chemistry Course for Non-Science Majors Incorporating Systems Thinking

The Science of Human Health is an undergraduate chemistry course for non-science majors. This course presents chemistry content following a systems thinking approach and was created with the goal o...

Design of Culinary Transformations: A Chemistry Course for Nonscience Majors

How do we engage students outside their major discipline? Recent curriculum changes have led to increases in nonlaboratory science course offerings for nonmajors to not only bolster science literac...

Plants in Medicine: An Integrated Lab–Lecture Project for Nonscience Majors

An integrated lab–lecture project, known as the mini research project, was developed for a medicinal chemistry course for nonscience majors. In the lecture component of this project, students choose a plant essential oil with documented biological activity and prepare a literature review describing the importance, history, and current use of the essential oil as well as identifying the chemical substance responsible for its biological activity. The laboratory component is a four-week experience in which students isolate the essential oil from their chosen plant, analyze its composition by thin-layer chromatography and infrared spectroscopy, and test its antibacterial activity. The objectives of this project are to help students develop the tools to explain structure–function relationships, improve skills in finding sources and evaluating their credibility, and increase student interest and engagement in the lecture and laboratory. Evidence from the final research paper and student surveys indicates that the mini research project was successful in helping students meet these objectives.

Promoting Nursing Students’ Chemistry Success in a Collegiate Active Learning Environment: “If I Have Hope, I Will Try Harder”

The challenge in chemistry courses for nonscience majors (such as nursing majors) is not that the students cannot learn chemistry but that they think they cannot learn chemistry. With this in mind, the authors’ goal was to create a learning environment in which students would feel motivated to learn and would gain confidence in their ability to learn chemistry. In the one-semester chemistry courses for nursing majors described here, health-related scenarios (such as IV therapy, diabetes, blood chemistry, and brachytherapy) provide context, and POGIL activities provide process and content in a cooperative learning environment. In addition, strategic organization and alignment of learning outcomes helps students to focus on the concepts, principles, and theories that they are expected to learn in a meaningful way. Also essential for the success of this course is a caring yet rigorous instructor who effectively communicates that learning chemistry is difficult but doable. This combination of health-related s...

An Inconvenient Truth—Is It Still Effective at Familiarizing Students with Global Warming?

Chemistry courses for nonscience majors emphasize chemical concepts and the relationship of chemical knowledge to everyday life while teaching the utility of quantitative analysis. As an introduction to the topic of global warming, the first half of An Inconvenient Truth, released in 2006, has been shown annually since 2008 in the chemistry course for nonscience majors at a large public university. The initial goal of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of this introduction. Even though the results indicate that the percentage of students who have watched this documentary has declined over the years, nearly all students enjoy learning from this relatively jargon-free, broad overview. The documentary causes students to formulate questions about the data presented and to want to learn what has been done about this issue since the documentary was released and whether the trends have continued. All of these are then addressed in subsequent lectures. By collecting the data about the documentar...

Design of a Food Chemistry-Themed Course for Nonscience Majors

The physical science curriculum design at Georgia Gwinnett College requires a theme-based course (lecture and group work, and laboratory) for nonscience majors. Increased student engagement is anticipated when science topics are taught in the context of a topic of which students can select during course registration. This paper presents the course curriculum design, highlights laboratory experiments (designed and adapted) and field trips for a one-semester food chemistry course for nonscience majors. Student feedback on select assignments and laboratory activities is also presented.

Effect of Different Types of Small-Group Activities on Students’ Conversations

Teaching reform efforts in chemistry education often involve engaging students in small-group activities of different types. This study focused on the analysis of how activity type affected the nature of group conversations. In particular, we analyzed the small-group conversations of students enrolled in a chemistry course for nonscience majors. Group work in this course was designed and facilitated by preservice teachers enrolled in a science teaching methods class. Our results suggest that the types of activities in which students were engaged influenced the extent to which group talk focused on content-related issues. In particular, activities that asked students to compare and contrast different systems, different ideas, or predicted and actual behaviors were often associated with higher student engagement in constructing, transforming, and applying knowledge to make sense of concepts and ideas discussed in class.

Using Chemistry as a Medium for Energy Education: Suggestions for Content and Pedagogy in a Nonmajors Course

This article describes a university chemistry course for nonscience majors that provides a comprehensive understanding of energy by coupling traditional chemical concepts and scientific technologies with appropriate economic, political, and legal mechanisms for monitoring and regulating energy both domestically and internationally. The scientific content of the course is taught in a lecture-style format and students are required to demonstrate proficiency on quizzes and exams. Two additional assessments are used to measure students’ ability to apply relevant chemical concepts to a specific energy-related topic: class presentations and newspaper-style articles written for and reviewed by laypersons. Sample course materials, supplementary tables of assessment criteria, and student data from a recent class are provided in the online supporting information.

Imploding Soda Cans: From Demonstration to Guided-Inquiry Laboratory Activity

A guided-inquiry exercise conducted in both the lecture and laboratory components of a college introductory chemistry course for non-science majors is described. The exercise gave students the opportunity to independently determine the relationship between the temperature of water in an aluminum soda can and the intensity of implosion upon placing the can in ice water. Collaborative group work was used to create hypotheses, design the corresponding experiments, and complete the laboratory data collection; representative results from all three areas are summarized. This exercise effectively integrated activities in the lecture and laboratory, fostered student interest in chemistry, and immersed the students in the process of scientific inquiry.

Visualization and interactivity in the teaching of chemistry to science and non-science students

A series of interactive, instructional units have been developed that integrate computational molecular modelling and visualization to teach fundamental chemistry concepts and the relationship between the molecular and macro-scales. The units span the scale from atoms, small molecules to macromolecular systems, and introduce many of the concepts discussed in a first year undergraduate class, such as atomic structure, chemical bonding, the molecular nature of physical properties and structure-function relations in macromolecular systems. The units were used in an introductory level chemistry course for non-science majors and students interested in non-traditional science careers. Assessment of these units indicated that the students are successfully learning fundamental concepts, value the computer-based learning aids, and begin to develop mental models of the molecular scale.

Implementing POGIL in the lecture and the Science Writing Heuristic in the laboratory—student perceptions and performance in undergraduate organic chemistry

This study investigated the possible connection between effective laboratory activities and student performance on lecture exams. In a traditional undergraduate organic chemistry course for non- science majors, students could predict the products of organic reactions, but struggled to provide reaction mechanisms for those same reactions, despite obtaining perfect scores on their laboratory reports where reaction mechanisms were required. In addition, student attitudes toward chemistry in general were sharply negative after taking organic chemistry. To address these two issues, we implemented POGIL activities in the course and the Science Writing Heuristic in the laboratory to replace the standard lecture format and verification laboratory experiments. This paper will focus on student performance on nucleophilic substitution reaction mechanisms on a class exam. Performance on these questions improved compared with students in past traditional classes. In addition, students were given a pre-class and post-class survey regarding their perceptions of the course. At the conclusion of the term, many students thought the class was easier than what they initially expected. This illustrates the view that non-science majors have the ability to learn organic chemistry from a mechanistic point of view, and integrate concepts learned in the laboratory with concepts presented in the lecture.

UV Catalysis, Cyanotype Photography, and Sunscreens

This laboratory experiment is intended for a chemistry course for non-science majors. The experiment utilizes one of the earliest photographic processes, the cyanotype process, to demonstrate UV catalysis of chemical reactions. In addition to making photographic prints from negatives, the process can be used to test the effectiveness of sunscreens and the relative efficacy of the SPF (sun protection factor) rating of sunscreens. This is an inexpensive process, requiring solutions of ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide, with options to use hydrogen peroxide and ammonium hydroxide solutions. Students can prepare their own UV-sensitized paper with the indicated chemicals and watch the photographic image appear as it is exposed to sunlight or fluorescent UV lamps in a light box designed for use in this experiment. The laboratory experiment should stimulate discussion of UV catalysis, photographic processes and photochemistry, sunscreens, and UV damage to biological organisms. The chemicals used are relatively nontoxic, and the procedure is simple enough to be used by groups of diverse ages and abilities.

Chemistry for Pre-Service Middle School Teachers

Chemistry 121, a first-year undergraduate introductory chemistry course for non-science majors has been redesigned under the sponsorship of the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation to improve the pre-service preparation of science and mathematics teachers for grades 5-8. A constructivist approach guided the redevelopment efforts. The most significant ways in which the new Chemistry 121 differs from the previous version are summarized.

Models of Matter: Principles and Perspectives of Chemistry (Wiegand, Gayl H.)

This is a text for a one-semester chemistry course for non-science majors and assumes little or no prior familiarity with chemistry.

Context in Chemistry: Integrating Environmental Chemistry with the Chemistry Curriculum

Environmental issues are topical not only in the news but in many chemistry courses, where they are used to connect the concerns of chemistry to concerns familiar to students. As such, environmental issues provide a context for understanding and learning chemical principles. However, in an environmental chemistry course for nonscience majors, we found that the mere presence of environmental topics in the curriculum was not enough to establish and reveal the connections between the students' environmental interests and chemical principles. For the environmental issues to function effectively as context, they had to be integrated into the curriculum in those places where students look for contextual information. This integration demanded restructuring the entire course to sustain the environmental focus, using principles derived from scientific rhetoric and communication. Although this course was designed explicitly for non-science majors, our experience in blending concern for communication with concern fo...

Online Searching Assignments in a Chemistry Course for Nonscience Majors

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTOnline Searching Assignments in a Chemistry Course for Nonscience MajorsSara J. Penhale and Wilmer J. Stratton Cite this: J. Chem. Educ. 1994, 71, 3, 227Publication Date (Print):March 1, 1994Publication History Received3 August 2009Published online1 March 1994Published inissue 1 March 1994https://doi.org/10.1021/ed071p227RIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views84Altmetric-Citations6LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (3 MB) Get e-Alerts Get e-Alerts

Food chemistry for non-science majors

Topics for lectures, laboratories, and projects in a chemistry course for non-science majors.

An investigation of chemistry courses for nonscience majors

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTAn investigation of chemistry courses for nonscience majorsRita G. Blatt Cite this: J. Chem. Educ. 1977, 54, 2, 89Publication Date (Print):February 1, 1977Publication History Received3 August 2009Published online1 February 1977Published inissue 1 February 1977https://doi.org/10.1021/ed054p89RIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views32Altmetric-Citations1LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (462 KB) Get e-Alerts Get e-Alerts

Computer-assisted instruction in chemistry at syracuse university: An overview

A series of highly interactive computer teaching programs for drilling, tutoring, and supplementing laboratory work have been developed for use in undergraduate chemistry courses at Syracuse University. The programs are adaptable to individual student requirements both in content and pacing, either automatically through decisions the computer makes based on student performance, or under user control through student decisions to review, repeat, or skip a subject area. Some of the programs are capable of considerable detailed analyses of student input aside from dealing with the basic subject matter. The programs include: Symbols of the Elements Drill which automatically biases itself to drill the user most frequently on the material with which he is least familiar; a Tutorial Program in pH and Logarithms; a package of programs in Electronics, Spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography designed to supplement an upper level course in Chemical Instrumentation; a Computer-Enhanced Laboratory Determination of Absolute Zero for freshmen students in a chemistry course for nonscience majors which involves the students in actual data taking and handling of apparatus in the laboratory prior to use of the computer to simulate the experiment in detail in varying the experimental parameters beyond the physical and time limits possible in the laboratory; and a Computer-Administered Examination which is given and graded on-line. Our experience with computer-assisted instruction (CAI) have convinced us not only that the computer is a valuable learning tool, but that its potential as such generally has not been given adequate recognition in view of our expectation that computers will become involved significantly in the teaching process in undergraduate curricula in the future.