Chemistry (12) Three Symposia entitled "NSF Catalyzed Innovations in the Undergraduate Curriculum," are being organized and convened at the Fall National Meetings of the American Chemical Society to be held in the years 2005, 2006, and 2007 in Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA, and Boston, MA, respectively. This project continues a tradition begun in 1987 in which Symposia featuring projects supported by the Division of Undergraduate Education at the NSF have been a part of the Division of Chemical Education Program at the Fall National Meetings of the American Chemical Society. Intellectual Merit The new Symposia highlight projects supported by the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement-Adaptation and Implementation (CCLI-A&I) Program, and, as such, include presentations that feature instrumentation that is relatively new to the undergraduate laboratory, development of innovative laboratory exercises and practices, development of innovative curricular materials, incorporation of new technologies into the curriculum and/or the laboratory, projects that have been responsible for major curricular changes in the chemistry program, and projects that have been responsible for major curricular changes in an entire science program. Broader Impact These Symposia provide a means of dissemination for successful CCLI-A&I projects to a broad audience. Faculty attending National Meetings often attend sessions dealing with their research areas at the expense of those dealing with science education issues. The Symposia provide a forum in which valuable information can be presented in a relatively compact timeframe and at one location. Personal contacts made at the Symposia can be pursued at a later time. A new website being established as a part of this project allows the collection at one site of appropriate projects, NSF programs, and department and individual results concerning a wide variety of innovations in the undergraduate curriculum. New assessment efforts are being undertaken in order to ascertain the effectiveness of the Symposia in promoting curricular change.
