Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

A First-Day Exercise on Relevance of Chemistry to Nonscience Majors Kindles Sustained Positive Student Response

Citing Articles

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Bal Ram Singh

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, 285 Old Westport Road , Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300

J. Chem. Educ., 1999, 76 (9), p 1219

DOI: 10.1021/ed076p1219

Publication Date (Web): September 1, 1999

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

A teaching tool based on a classroom experience is described. Its purpose is to stimulate the interest of non-science majors early in a chemistry course. On the first day of class, a test is presented in the form of a take-home assignment. Students are asked to identify topics and courses in their majors that will require a knowledge of chemical principles. They are then asked to select one of these topics and justify its selection. The exercise provides a forum for students to consider the question of relevance, which recurs throughout the semester as complex chemistry topics are presented in the class. My experience suggests that in responding to such an assignment, students become aware of their lack of understanding about the relevance of chemistry in their majors, and they then have a better attitude toward learning in the classroom.

Keywords (Audience):

High School / Introductory Chemistry

Keywords (Subject):

Nonmajor Courses

View: Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links

Citing Articles

Citation data is made available by participants in CrossRef's Cited-by Linking service. For a more comprehensive list of citations to this article, users are encouraged to perform a search in SciFinder.

This article has been cited by 2 ACS Journal articles (2 most recent appear below).

Color Science, a Course for Nonscience Majors
Maria C. Gelabert
Journal of Chemical Education2006 83 (8), 1155
- Color Science, a Course for Nonscience Majors
  Maria C. Gelabert
  Journal of Chemical Education2006 83 (8), 1155
  Color Science, a nonmajor chemistry course, was designed to incorporate a rich theoretical base in chemistry and physics with many applicable technologies. The author describes how course development proceeded, combining overarching goals in science ...
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links
Chemistry in the Real World
Martin B. Jones , Christina R. Miller
Journal of Chemical Education2001 78 (4), 484
- Chemistry in the Real World
  Martin B. Jones , Christina R. Miller
  Journal of Chemical Education2001 78 (4), 484
  This article describes a technique to maintain student interest in introductory chemistry classes, which has been used since 1997. Weekly "Chemistry in the Real World" discussions that focus on a topic related to the course material permit students to see ...
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links