General Chemistry Curriculum Research Articles

Research and Practice on the Construction of General Chemistry Curriculum in Applied Universities under the Background of "New Agricultural Sciences"

This paper, guided by the OBE (Outcomes-Based Education) philosophy of "New Agricultural Sciences," oriented by talent cultivation goals, and based on the construction of general chemistry courses in applied universities, elaborates on the construction ideas of general chemistry courses in applied universities. It discusses the diversified construction of general chemistry courses from aspects such as teaching syllabus, teaching model, and assessment methods. Data on students' overall achievement and course goal achievement under different teaching models are analyzed. The results show that the construction of general chemistry courses under the background of "New Agricultural Sciences" has achieved good practical effects.

Implementing an Environmental Contaminants Deliberation Module in General Chemistry.

Placing chemistry in the context of complex societal issues is one way to help students see the application of fundamental ideas in the general chemistry curriculum. Here, we describe the impact of an in-class deliberation on environmental contaminants, which encourages students to consider different perspectives when addressing the issue of water and soil quality in communities. Student surveys were used to analyze the quality of the deliberation and several key factors regarding student attitudes before and after the activity. Students report a high-quality experience during the deliberation, wherein new ideas were introduced and they carefully considered different views on the issue at hand. Not only do students gain scientific knowledge about lead contamination, they also demonstrate statistically significant gains in their attitudes toward chemistry and their motivation to take action. As a complement to traditional teaching methods, this deliberation module can address key learning outcomes in systems thinking and the impact chemistry has on society.

Polymers and Green Chemistry

The purpose of this lab is to introduce students to some basics of the chemistry of polymers. Polymer chemistry is often an afterthought in the General Chemistry curriculum, but polymers are very much present in students’ lives. The lab introduces the relationship between molecular structure (e.g., branched vs. linear, bulky vs small side groups) and bulk properties (e.g., flexibility). This lab is also “pre-stoichiometry” in the sense that precursor ideas to stoichiometry are introduced without formal stoichiometric terminology. In one activity, the ratio of reacting alginate to calcium ions is varied to find the maximum yield of alginate gel. The lab introduces atom economy using addition and condensation polymers without formal stoichiometry. Students are likely to be at least a little familiar with recycling polymers before they even step into the lab. Building on this, using polymers as a lab topic provides an opportunity to bring Green Chemistry and Sustainability concepts into the lab course. Working with biologically-sourced, water-soluble starch or alginate polymers should be greener than working with polystyrene or nylon polymers which do not dissolve in pure water. The aforementioned atom economy example is also related to Green Chemistry principles. This document features contributions from Bozana Lojpur at Bradley University and Saskia van Bergen at the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Components Critical to Successful Adoption and Adaptation of CLUE, a Transformed General Chemistry Curriculum

Components Critical to Successful Adoption and Adaptation of CLUE, a Transformed General Chemistry Curriculum

Application of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry in General Chemistry Curriculum: Ring-opening Reactions of 1,2-Epoxides

Application of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry in General Chemistry Curriculum: Ring-opening Reactions of 1,2-Epoxides

Incorporating Guided-Inquiry Experimental Design into a Traditional Buffer Titration Experiment

Acid–base titration concepts and experiments are ubiquitous, yet challenging, aspects of the general chemistry curriculum. Most general chemistry courses include at least one acid–base titration laboratory experiment, though the focus is often on determining the concentration, pKa, or molar mass of an analyte rather than on the details of interpreting a titration curve more broadly. This article describes the transformation of a single-period, traditional confirmation laboratory experiment into a multiweek, guided-inquiry capstone experience investigating a phosphate buffer system. The revision was designed to improve student understanding of the composition of a buffer system, the chemical reactions occurring as the buffer is titrated with a strong acid, and the rationale behind a method for determining the concentration of the buffer components. An experimental design component was incorporated in which groups of students formulated their own procedure to determine the concentration of the buffer components in an unknown sample. Preliminary evidence regarding the success of the implementation of this guided-inquiry experience was obtained through student work submitted for the titration and experimental design activities, student comments from the course evaluation and a self-reflection exercise, and midterm and final exam assessment questions.

Not All Chemists are White Men: Incorporating Diversity in the General Chemistry Curriculum

We have developed and implemented a change to our General Chemistry curriculum that makes the point that not all chemists are white men. This builds on recent textbook analyses, which showed that General Chemistry textbooks overwhelmingly and unnecessarily focus on the biographies of scientists that are white men. We demonstrate a way to highlight contributions from female chemists and chemists of color to illustrate General Chemistry concepts. We describe how this work could be extended and used in tandem with other curriculum efforts to increase the odds that female students and students of color persist to success in chemistry.

Examining changes in students' perception of science relevancy and their career aspirations: Integrating sustainability-oriented socio-scientific issues into general chemistry curriculum

Making science relevant to students' lives, future careers, or societies by introducing controversial socio-scientific issues in classrooms motivates students to take more active roles in learning science. This study explored the influence of integrating two sustainability-oriented socio-scientific issues (SOS2Is) - alternative energies and nanotechnology-into the General Chemistry curriculum on 743 students' career aspirations and perceptions of science relevancy. For the presentation of topics, two learning environments on Prezi were prepared. The participants were guided to explore these learning environments that focused on pros and cons of each topic, including environmental and health hazards of technological developments. In addition, students were encouraged to link these discussions to sustainability issues in the context of the UN SDGs. The analysis of Changes in Attitude Towards the Relevancy of Science and Career Aspirations surveys indicated that the interventions improved students' perception of science relevancy and altered their career aspirations in many areas, regardless of their socioeconomic status and ethnic background. This study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of discussions around socio-scientific issues in changing students’ perceptions of science and career aspirations and recommends practical methods to encourage students to become global and scientifically literate citizens.

Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR): An Approach to Propagate a Transformed General Chemistry Curriculum across Multiple Institutions

While there have been an increasing number of evidence-based instructional strategies propagated, less literature exists on how to propagate a curriculum. This paper is meant to present how the the...

Investigating the impact of three-dimensional learning interventions on student understanding of structure–property relationships

The ability to predict macroscopic properties using a compound's chemical structure is an essential idea for chemistry as well as other disciplines such as biology. In this study we investigate how different levels of interventions impact the components of students’ explanations (claims, evidence, and reasoning) of structure–property relationships, particularly related to boiling point trends. These interventions, aligned with Three-Dimensional Learning (3DL), were investigated with four different cohorts of students: Cohort 1 – a control group of students enrolled in an active learning general chemistry course; Cohort 2 – students enrolled in the same active learning general chemistry course but given Intervention 1 (a 3DL worksheet administered during class time); Cohort 3 – students enrolled in the same active learning general chemistry course but given Intervention 1 and Intervention 2 (a 3DL course exam question administered after instruction); and Cohort 4 – a reference group of students enrolled in a transformed active learning general chemistry curriculum in which 3DL is an essential feature and includes Intervention 1 and Intervention 2 as part of the curriculum. We found that Cohort 2 students (with the 3DL worksheet intervention) were more likely than the control group (Cohort 1) to correctly predict the compound with a higher boiling point as well as incorporate ideas of strength of intermolecular forces into their explanations of boiling point differences. When a 3DL exam question was given as a follow up to the 3DL worksheet, students in Cohort 3 were more likely than Cohorts 1 and 2 to correctly identify the claim. Further comparison showed that Cohort 4 (transformed general chemistry curriculum) were more likely than Cohorts 1–3 to also include the ideas of energy needed to overcome stronger forces for a more sophisticated explanation (50% of Cohort 4 students compared to 17–33% for Cohorts 1–3). In addition, 80% of Cohort 4 students were able to construct a correct representation of hydrogen bonding as a non-covalent interaction compared to 13–57% for the other three cohorts.

Addressing the Hypervalent Model: A Straightforward Explanation of Traditionally Hypervalent Molecules

The concept of an atom with an expanded octet, known as hypervalency, has persisted in the general chemistry curriculum, despite abundant theoretical work disputing its veracity. Here, the electron...

Implementation of an Emergency Multisection Online General Chemistry Curriculum in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

During the final week of winter quarter, the University of California, Irvine announced all exams would be online and the following quarter would be delivered remotely. This necessitated a course-wide common final with over 2000 students scheduled to be moved online. For the following quarter, the move to remote instruction included three different general chemistry courses, seven sections, 1968 students, and six different instructors. A professor of teaching, who had previously designed and instructed online courses, was dedicated to assist with course design, technical issues, and course policy consistency. Instructors chose a degree of support and autonomy that fit their interests, goals, and time constraints. Using previously designed course materials and a dedicated support system allowed for the implementation of best practices even under intense time pressure. Technical solutions to proctored exams and course content accountability were used. Though student perceptions varied, given the constraints due to the global pandemic as well as social unrest, the implementation was largely considered a success.

Organic Chemistry I Cassino: A Card Game for Learning Functional Group Transformations for First-Semester Students

Several challenges face new students of organic chemistry in the more traditional, quantitatively oriented general chemistry curriculum. Students must learn to visualize chemical structures, unders...

Relating ΔHvap of Organic Liquids to Intermolecular Forces: Simple Modifications of a Classic General Chemistry Experiment

The concept of equilibrium vapor pressure plays a key role in the general chemistry curriculum; it is among the first and most easily demonstrated examples of equilibrium and frequently caps off the first semester of general chemistry where it illustrates the properties of liquids and intermolecular forces. We report here simple modifications of Levinson’s classic experiment that allow measurement of vapor pressures for organic samples at a variety of temperatures. Data analysis gives heats of vaporization which may be interpreted in terms of intermolecular attractive forces. Equipment needs are simple and readily available: a 10 mL graduated cylinder, a tall 1 L beaker, disposable graduated syringes, and a 10 in. needle or cannula bent into a “J” shape. The method uses 1 mL or less of organic sample per trial and works well for organic liquids that are immiscible with and are less dense than water. Student results are presented for the experiment conducted over three semesters as well as the impact on student learning as assessed by common exam results and end-of-semester student surveys.

Integration of a sustainability-oriented socio-scientific issue into the general chemistry curriculum: Examining the effects on student motivation and self-efficacy

This study evaluates the effects of integrating the socio-scientific issue of phosphate sustainability into a large enrollment general chemistry course. The integration was based on the use of a digital learning environment designed by the software Prezi. The learning environment introduced the structure and the properties of phosphate, its economic importance and uses, and the associated challenges, including supply risk. The study examined the effects of the intervention on students’ motivation and self-efficacy. A total of 760 students participated in the study and completed pre- and post-intervention surveys, as well as participated in group discussions with specific roles. The analysis of open-ended questions and the results of the statistical tests indicate that the topic and the associated digital materials were received positively by the students. The findings did not reveal any significant differences between male and female students, but the data showed that ethnic groups perceived the intervention differently.

Integrating Scale-Themed Instruction across the General Chemistry Curriculum

One theme that both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Research Council (NRC) agree pervades any science course (and specifically chemistry) is scale. Despite the fact that scale concepts and skills are at the core of a student’s scientific literacy, scale or the skills related to understanding quantity within chemistry concepts is often neglected in instruction. Beginning with a supplemental instruction module and moving into both laboratory and lecture, we have systematically developed and integrated increasingly more effective methods of delivery of scale-themed content across the general chemistry curriculum at one institution. Using regression models to examine for learning gains on chemistry content final exams, we found that the greatest learning gains for General Chemistry I resulted from combining all components of scale-themed instruction; for General Chemistry II the greatest impact was found with incorporating scale-themed laboratory experiments.

Some Insights into Assessing Chemical Systems Thinking

This paper seeks to provide some insights into the assessment of student understanding within a systems thinking perspective. Results are based on work carried out using a general chemistry curriculum that, although not developed with such a framework, shares some of its underlying intentions. After describing how chemical systems thinking is conceptualized in the paper, a specific example of an assessment tool is described and discussed to illustrate major points in our analysis. Results of a qualitative pilot study using this instrument are presented and used to highlight potentialities and challenges in teaching and assessing student understanding using a systems thinking framework. A majority of study participants expressed sophisticated ways of reasoning based on the properties and interactions of relevant components and processes in the system under consideration. Nevertheless, they could not easily connect and apply their understanding of theoretical chemical models and practices to the realities of the system.

Adapting a Core-Idea Centered Undergraduate General Chemistry Curriculum for Use in High School

Connecting the behavior of invisible (to the naked eye) particles governed by the principles of quantum mechanics to the world we can see and touch requires a host of inferences, almost none of which can be extrapolated from experience. Molecular-level sensemaking thus relies upon intellectual resources that must be developed in large part by formal learning environments. Over a decade of research at the college-level indicates that centering instruction around scaffolded progressions of core ideas can help students cultivate, organize, and use their disciplinary knowledge to explain and model a range of phenomena. Informed by this literature, we have adapted a core-idea centered, evidence-based undergraduate general chemistry curriculum for use in high school. Our adaptation process, which was a collaborative effort between researchers and classroom teachers, is described in detail with emphasis on alignment between the Next Generation Science Standards and our materials. Efforts reported here represent a first-in-class model for high school curriculum development wherein conceptual progressions developed and validated at the college level form the basis for high school coursework.

The Evaluation of a Hybrid, General Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum: Impact on Students’ Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor Learning

The laboratory has occupied an important place in the general chemistry curriculum for well over a century, despite the fact that many have voiced concern about its value and utility. In an effort to potentially increase capacity in our general chemistry courses, we developed and implemented a hybrid laboratory curriculum that consisted of alternating face-to-face and virtual laboratory experiments. This study sought to better understand the impact that this hybrid approach had on students’ cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning. The results suggest that students taught using the hybrid approach developed similar cognitive and psychomotor skills in comparison to students taught using a traditional laboratory curriculum; however, their affective outlook toward chemistry was significantly lower.

Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Conceptualization of Models in General Chemistry

Understanding the nature and purpose of models, including mathematical models, is critical to enabling undergraduate chemistry students to use models to predict and explain phenomena. However, students often do not have systematic conceptions about different kinds of models. To gain a sense of how students understand different models in the general chemistry curriculum, we developed a survey to examine students’ reasoning about models generally and in some specific contexts within the general chemistry curriculum. The findings suggest that students have some productive ideas about what kinds of representations are scientific models and the characteristics of those models; however, students may not recognize these characteristics in models which are mathematical or graphical in nature.