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Preface College and university faculty find themselves tasked with teaching in the face of ever-changing trends in higher education and constant shifts in the student population. Educators must balance student engagement and retention with their learning and satisfaction in a never-ending cycle of changes in technology, the economy, and the political climate. Even when certain pedagogies or classroom techniques are shown to be beneficial in one discipline, individual faculty may find it challenging to apply them in their own classrooms. This is certainly true in chemistry. Many faculty in chemistry today struggle to embrace research-based educational practices, even those coming out of our own discipline. Graduate programs in chemical education, recent reports on discipline-based education research (1), and an increase in the scholarship of teaching and learning in chemistry indicate a desire among many faculty to change—to reach students in new and exciting ways or to change curricula to better meet students’ needs. Faculty are looking for things that work—techniques used by chemists, for chemists. This volume contributes to this on-going conversation. The scholarship presented within this volume is organized in three sections. The first explores innovations found to enhance the learning of typical students as well as those who may be under-prepared. Authors describe their experiences using the flipped classroom and institutional readiness models. The second section provides examples of how technology may be utilized in the chemistry classroom—from e-textbook usage to a computational chemistry program to concrete suggestions for teaching chemistry online. The final section addresses broader issues in chemistry. One chapter demonstrates how to incorporate High-Impact Educational Practices (2) into courses for chemistry majors and nonmajors. A final chapter describes how colleges can adopt the Green Chemistry Commitment. Additionally, contextual information for pedagogical change may be found in the Introduction as well as helpful tips for adopting new approaches. This volume is a compilation of work presented in a symposium on chemical education at the 66th Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society held on 17 October 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. It represents the endeavors of faculty from small, medium, and large programs at both public and private institutions. We have included information applicable to teaching general education chemistry, freshman chemistry, and advanced chemistry majors. Each chapter provides ample resources for further research and application of the techniques presented. We hope you find the materials engaging and that you discover practical suggestions for improving your own teaching.
ix Daus and Rigsby; The Promise of Chemical Education: Addressing our Students’ Needs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.
References 1.
2.
National Research Council. Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Education; National Academies Press: Washington, DC, 2012. Kuh, G. D., Schneider, C. G. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter; Association of American Colleges and Universities: Washington, DC, 2008.
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on January 2, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): August 27, 2015 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2015-1193.pr001
Kimberlee Daus
[email protected] (e-mail) Department of Chemistry Belmont University 1900 Belmont Blvd. Nashville, Tennessee 37212, United States
Rachel Rigsby
[email protected] (e-mail) Department of Chemistry Belmont University 1900 Belmont Blvd. Nashville, Tennessee 37212, United States
x Daus and Rigsby; The Promise of Chemical Education: Addressing our Students’ Needs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2015.
