9450690 Crouch Curricular changes are proposed that will introduce chemical principles in the context of relevant issues (the environment, health care, utilization of energy, etc.). Instead of teaching chemical concepts in the conventional fashion (of microscopic-to- macroscopic), our approach will begin by identifying the concepts associated with some chemical system; thereafter, the system will be studied from the top down, presenting and explaining chemical details on a "need-to-know" basis. These approaches will require using techniques that significantly enhance the amount of active learning that will take place in classrooms and laboratories, with a concomitant emphasis on learning by doing rather than by listening. There will be extensive computer utilization for allowing interactive independent study and self-testing, and for nomenclature, chemical bonding, etc. Appropriate uses of information technologies will reduce dramatically the amount of time needed for conventional classroom lecturing, and provide, instead, time for identifying and understanding the unity, coherence, and relevance of various chemical concepts. Laboratory settings will stress group-learning and team-oriented experiments so that students may cooperate in solving laboratory problems without merely following a cookbook, and in some cases, without the costs of providing each student with a full set of laboratory tools. To plan a broad revision of the curriculum, two types of workshops will be held. Faculty from small colleges, where innovative educational modes have already been introduced, will be invited to the first workshop to present ideas and discuss ways to implement such changes in the environment of a large university. A second workshop will invite participants form various Michigan State University departments that require chemistry courses as part of their curriculum. This workshop will focus on planning actual course outlines to better serve the needs of the clients, while maintaining the elements of the proposed curricular revisions. ***y
