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A New Perspective on the Structure of Chemistry as a Basis for the Undergraduate Curriculum
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Abstract
Until the 1960s undergraduate chemistry curricula at colleges and universities were generally divided into courses of the five classical sub-disciplines: organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and later, biochemistry. This division into five sub-disciplines reflected the view of chemistry as a science during that period. During the 1970s, new fields (e.g., organometallic chemistry, solid-state chemistry, environmental chemistry, polymer chemistry, bioorganic chemistry) were developed and this led to doubts about the adequacy of the classical curriculum. Since the 1970s, other developments have influenced the undergraduate curriculum, yet these hardly affected its core.As a result of our research into student learning in laboratory courses we concluded that students experienced problems in relating the procedures they used in the lab to the chemistry context of the experiments performed. Based on this research, we make a distinction between three context areas of chemistry and their related rationales: (i) Analysis, in which students acquire information about the composition and structure of substances and mixtures; (ii) Synthesis, in which students make products with specified properties; and (iii) Theory development, in which students develop and validate scientific explanations of the properties of substances and reactions. We argue that a division of chemistry into these three context areas can be used to design a new curriculum.
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First-Year Undergraduate / GeneralKeywords (Domain):
CurriculumKeywords (Subject):
SynthesisCiting Articles
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This article has been cited by 2 ACS Journal articles (2 most recent appear below).
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A. M. R. P. BopegederaJournal of Chemical Education2011 88 (4), 443-448This article describes an effective approach to teaching chemistry by bringing the laboratory to the center of teaching, to bring the excitement of discovery to the learning process. The lectures and laboratories are closely integrated to provide a ...
A New "Bottom-Up" Framework for Teaching Chemical Bonding
Leeor Kronik , Tami Levy Nahum , Rachel Mamlok-Naaman and Avi HofsteinJournal of Chemical Education2008 85 (12), 1680A New "Bottom-Up" Framework for Teaching Chemical Bonding
Leeor Kronik , Tami Levy Nahum , Rachel Mamlok-Naaman and Avi HofsteinJournal of Chemical Education2008 85 (12), 1680Traditional curriculum for teaching bonding often fosters the use of over-simplifications and over-generalizations. Therefore, there is a need for a presentation that is consistent with current scientific knowledge and that provides the student with the ...
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- Received: August 03, 2009
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