This project is developing a novel series of courses on structure and reactivity in organic, biological and inorganic chemistry. Aspects of these three sub-disciplines of chemistry are being merged in order to develop three new lecture and three new laboratory courses. The first lecture course is an examination of Lewis acid-base principles in key reaction types in biochemistry, including carbonyl additions, carbonyl substitutions and alkene additions. The second course extends this approach to build a mechanistic view of associative and dissociative substitutions in metal complexes and organic compounds. The third course addresses metal- and organic-based redox and radical reactions in chemistry and biology, and offers an overview of biochemical pathways. Three separate laboratory courses allow students to develop an array of technical skills needed to tackle advanced problems. These three laboratory courses build skills in basic purification techniques, chromatographic separations, and synthetic methods, respectively. These six new courses are taken following a recently introduced entry-level course, Structure and Properties in Chemistry. Intellectual Merit This integrated approach to organic, biological and inorganic chemistry is founded in theories of "connected knowledge," in which information is efficiently organized around core concepts linked together via multiple paths. As a result, thinking of one concept makes it possible to retrieve other related concepts, facilitating new applications of the material. In contrast, the traditional curriculum relies on division of material into clearly separate topics. Furthermore, the courses build connections to the students' experiences by highlighting applications of chemistry in biology, materials science, pharmaceutics and other areas. By offering relevant context for the material, the expectation is that students will continue to make chemistry-related connections with their own disciplines in later years. Broader Impact The expectation is that this revised curriculum may make these introductory chemistry courses more appealing and effective with a broader range of students. In addition, the project is expected to change the traditional process by which faculty introduce new curricula. Course development is being accomplished primarily through interdisciplinary teaching cohorts, historically used in the field of education for training new teachers. Instructors work in teams of three, with members representing inorganic, organic and biological chemistry. The cohorts become support groups that guide and develop each other's work in complementary areas. Summer workshops provide orientation for faculty working on each course and laboratory. In addition, a faculty guide, student workbooks, laboratory manuals, and online homework are being developed to support the new curriculum. Production of these supporting materials facilitates incorporation of the new curriculum at this institution and assists in exporting the curriculum to other institutions. Materials are being disseminated through the NSF National Science Digital Library, through presentations at regional and national professional meetings attended by chemists, and through journal articles.
This award supported the development of a new curricular approach designed to build bridges between organic, inorganic and biochemistry. Modern research and development often occurs in overlapping areas between these three fields, but they have been taught as completely separate courses for over 50 years. Undergraduates seldom get to see the relationship between these fields, nor do they see how similar ideas develop in parallel in these fields. To show how this gap could be addresed, three new lecture courses and three new laboratory courses were designed. Concepts from organic, inorganic and biochemistry were developed in the lecture courses, starting in the first course with ideas that would be useful to the widest audience (biology, natural science and pre-medical majors) and eventually progressing in the third course to ideas that are crucial for chemistry and biochemistry majors but less central to other students. The lab courses built up practical skills that students would be able to use in industry and research. Starting from simple methods that have been used for generations in the first course, the lab material progressed to highly sophisticated manipulations in the third course. A strong emphasis on the analysis of data throughout all three lab courses helped to build students' problem-solving skills. These developments were shared with the wider education community within the fields of chemistry and biochemistry through presentations and publications. Considerable interest was generated in this project, both as a model for how other schools might make their own changes and for specific developments that could be adapted for use in courses elsewhere.
