What Changes Should Be Made in the Content of Undergraduate Chemistry Programs

1
What Changes Should Be Made in the Content of
Undergraduate Chemistry Programs?

• Morton Z. Hoffman
• Department of Chemistry
• Boston University
• Boston, Massachusetts 02215
• lthoffman_at_bu.edugt

2
What Will be the Needs of the World Over the Next
50 Years?

• health care and pharmaceuticals
• food and water supplies
• fuel and energy supplies
• maintenance of infrastructure
• new materials and advanced technologies
• enhanced communications and computation
• environmental management
• population control

3
What Must be the Role of Chemical Education over
the Next 50 Years?

• To provide a sufficient number of broadly
  educated, chemically sophisticated scientists who
  have an international perspective and
  well-developed communications skills.

4
Can That be Achieved?

• Can the present graduate and undergraduate
  programs in chemistry do that?
• If not, what changes will have to be made?
• If changes have to be instituted, who will take
  the lead?

5
An Assertion

• Only very slow (too slow?) and small (too small?)
  changes will occur as long as chemical education,
  especially on the undergraduate level, remains in
  the same box as it has been for the past 50 (80?
  100?) years.

6
Undergraduate Programs

• Highly constrained with regard to departmental
  structure, and curricular and temporal
  requirements.
• Rather resistant to interdisciplinary
  collaboration.
• Very responsive to forces of accreditation and
  certification.

7
Graduate Programs

• Highly idiosyncratic with respect to institution
  and mentor.
• Rather flexible with regard to time and
  requirements.
• Very resistant to outside regulation.
• Extremely open to interdisciplinary collaboration.

8
Questions That Ought toBe Asked

• Why is chemistry so hard?
• Why does chemistry destroy so many science
  aspirations?
• Why are general and organic chemistry instructors
  the dreaded gatekeepers?

9
Whom Do We Teach?

• Chemistry/biochemistry majors
• Pre-meds/biology majors
• Health science/nursing majors
• Engineering majors
• Science education majors
• Non-science majors

10
Concerns About the Undergraduate Chemistry
Curriculum

• Content
• What should the students learn?
• Curricula
• How should the content be packaged?
• Pedagogy
• How should the content be presented?

11
BIO2010

• BIO2010 Transforming Undergraduate Education for
  Future Research Biologists, National Academies
  Press, 2003 ltwww.nap.edugt.
• Panels on biology research, chemistry, physics
  and engineering, mathematics and computer
  science, undergraduate biology education.

12
BIO2010

• Biological research is changing rapidly, but
  education still reflects the past in content and
  pedagogy.
• Life science majors must acquire a stronger
  foundation in the physical sciences and
  mathematics.
• The development of quantitative skills is
  essential.

13
Exploring The Molecular Vision

• American Chemical Society
• Invitational Conference
• June 27-29, 2003
• Washington, DC
• ltwww.chemistry.org/education/molecularvision.htmlgt

14
Keynote Speakers

• Eli Pearce (Polytechnic University 2002 ACS
  President)
• Jay Labov (U.S. National Academy of Sciences)
• Judith Ramaley (National Science Foundation)
• Peter Atkins (Oxford University, UK)

15
Panelists

• William Glaze (Oregon Health and Science
  University)
• Thomas Meyer (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
• Elsa Reichmanis (Lucent Technologies 2003 ACS
  President)
• Brian Coppola (University of Michigan)
• Susan Hixson (National Science Foundation)
• Lynn Melton (University of Texas Dallas)
• Paul Anderson (Bristol Meyers Squibb, retired
  ACS Past-President)
• Ronald Breslow (Columbia University ACS
  Past-President)
• Arthur Ellis (University of Wisconsin-Madison,
  NSF)
• Terence Collins (Carnegie Mellon University)
• Harold Kroto (University of Sussex, UK)
• George Wilson (University of Kansas)
• Richard Zare (Stanford University)

16
Who are the practitioners of chemistry, and what
are their educational needs?

• Where do the practitioners of chemistry work, and
  where will they work in the future?
• To what extent do the practitioners of chemistry
  identify themselves as chemists?
• What specific skills will employers want chemists
  and other practitioners of chemistry to have for
  successful careers in the future?
• As we look to the future of chemistry, what is
  perceived to be missing from students current
  education?

17
How is the pedagogy of chemistry education being
changed at present?

• What types of reform efforts have been adapted
  and adopted, as well as sustained, in chemistry
  classrooms from community colleges to major
  research universities?
• What are the current opportunities for curricular
  reform?
• How effective have current reform efforts been in
  changing the content of chemistry education?
• What are the biggest challenges facing curricular
  reform in chemistry?

18
What are the new frontiers and interfaces of
chemistry that impact upon our discipline?

• What are the frontiers of chemistry as defined by
  current discovery research today?
• Which frontier areas will have the greatest
  impact on future discovery?
• Which frontier areas in other fields will have
  the greatest impact on future chemistry?
• How should these frontiers and interfaces inform
  our choices of content that is appropriate for
  students in chemistry?

19
What are the irreducible minima of chemistry that
students need to learn in order to receive a
degree in chemistry?

• What aspects of the molecular sciences should we
  affirm as essential for all students?
• What crucial information is underemphasized as a
  result of the structure of existing curricula in
  chemistry?
• Beyond this crucial information, what experiences
  and skills in the molecular sciences are
  essential for students?
• What other foundations, principles, and knowledge
  are essential for students?

20
Where Will the Practitioners of Chemistry Work?

• In a wide range of institutions, industries,
  laboratories, agencies, etc.
• With or as biologists, physicists, engineers,
  material scientists, etc.
• Decreasingly surrounded by other chemists.
• Some might even be in politics and bring
  scientific literacy into government!

21
Will They Identify Themselves as Chemists?

• Those not identified by a traditional area of
  chemistry or not trained as chemists in the
  conventional sense may not be considered to be
  chemists.
• Perhaps the definitions of chemist and
  chemistry are too narrow?
• Will chemistry continue to have a negative image
  and be thought to lack excitement?

22
What Specific Skills Will Employers Want Chemists
to Have?

• Broad understanding with deep knowledge.
• Ability to recognize and solve problems.
• High degree of innovation and creativity.
• Ability to communicate.
• Confidence to adapt to new situations.
• Experience with business plans and proposal
  writing.
• Management of groups and teams.
• Training in safety and ethics.

23
What Subjects are Perceived to be Missing?

• History and philosophy of science
• Ethics and civil responsibility
• Intellectual property rights
• Research-like laboratory experiences
• Links between qualitative and quantitative
  observation
• Toxicity and other environmental issues
• Integration of chemistry with other disciplines

24
What Skills are Perceived to be Missing?

• Business, information management, and
  communication skills
• Ability to discern good and bad information
• Utilization of electronic databases and journals
• Non-algorithmic and team-oriented problem-solving
  skills

25
What Pedagogical Approaches are Perceived to be
Missing?

• Incorporation of relevant, real-world contexts
• Recognition of the importance of different
  teaching and learning styles
• Promotion of learning with a passion
• Development of creativity
• Using technology to teach and test

26
Exploring The Molecular VisionThe Current
Curriculum

• It produces graduates with excellent training who
  are able to secure employment.
• It includes most of the necessary conceptual and
  factual knowledge.
• However, content is not always representative of
  current chemistry practice, especially in
  industry.

27
Exploring The Molecular VisionThe Current
Curriculum

• It is weak on the history and philosophy of
  sciences, ethics, intellectual property rights,
  and environmental issues.
• It does not provide skills in business,
  communication, the discerning of good and bad
  information, team work, and non-algorithmic
  problem solving.

28
Exploring The Molecular VisionThe Current
Curriculum

• Is it sufficiently inter- and multi-disciplinary
  to prepare the students for the future?
• Does it provide realistic insights about careers
  in industry, education, and even medicine?
• Does it help students to become better citizens?

29
Exploring The Molecular VisionThe Current
Curriculum

• Can the general chemistry laboratory be made
  interesting, challenging, and less Mickey
  Mouse?
• What is the role of the quantitative analysis
  laboratory?
• Are the experiments in the physical chemistry
  laboratory still relevant?
• Should everything else just be synthesis,
  synthesis, and more synthesis?

30
Packaging The Content

• What must be added?
• What should be removed?
• Is repackaging an option?
• How can everything be made to fit into four (or
  five) years?
• Does it really matter?

31
Conclusions Curriculum Change and the Future of
the Chemistry Profession

• Current curriculum
• Produces graduates with excellent training who
  are able to secure employment.
• Includes most of the necessary conceptual and
  factual knowledge.
• Content is not always representative of current
  chemistry practice.

32
Conclusions Curriculum Change and the Future of
the Chemistry Profession

• Educational reform efforts
• Content cannot be divorced from pedagogy.
• Knowledge from educational research and past
  reform initiatives should guide future reform.
• The number of faculty that promotes educational
  reform is very small, especially at the research
  universities.

33
Conclusions Curriculum Change and the Future of
the Chemistry Profession

• Development of the profession
• Work to attract more diverse populations into the
  chemical sciences.
• Develop a deep knowledge of chemistry through the
  solving of problems.
• Provide opportunities for students to master
  communication skills.
• Emphasize the responsibility toward societal
  needs and concerns.

34
Peter Atkinss Diet of Irreducible Minima

• Core Concepts
• Matter consists of atoms.
• Atoms have structure.
• Atoms link by sharing electron pairs.
• Molecular shape is of paramount importance.
• There are forces between molecules.
• Energy is conserved.
• Energy and matter tend to spread.
• There are barriers to reaction.
• Types of Reactions
• Proton transfer
• Electron transfer
• Atom transfer