An
elective course, Toward the Greening of Our Minds: Green and Sustainable
Chemistry, has been offered at Washington College since 2005. This
new course without laboratory is designed for chemistry and biology
majors and minors who have previously taken two semesters of general
chemistry and organic chemistry. Due to the popularity of the course,
the enrollment nearly doubled since 2005. Specific changes needed
to be implemented to respond to students’ feedback and needs
but also to account for the expansion of the field of green chemistry.
The original goals associated with this course are still incorporated
yet are now addressed differently to provide students with up-to-date,
quantitative, and skillful knowledge of green chemistry applications
and metrics. The ultimate goal is for students to use their critical
thinking skills to produce an innovation proposal and to become responsible
citizens of the 21st century.
Success in chemistry in the 21st
century requires not only a mastery
of important chemical concepts, but also the skills to apply this
knowledge to important societal issues and the ability to effectively
convey scientific information using a range of media. In response
to this challenge we have developed an innovative four-credit seminar
that comprehensively integrates the skills needed for chemistry majors
to become successful professionals and experts in the chemistry field.
It is expected that after taking this course chemistry majors will
(i) develop scientific literature proficiency; (ii) gain valuable
career preparation/marketing skills; (iii) enhance their scientific
communication skills (oral, written, and visual); (iv) increase their
awareness for research ethics codes and policies; and (v) gain an
appreciation for the role of chemistry in contemporary moral/societal
issues, particularly sustainable science literacy. Details pertaining
to the design of the course such as learning objectives, assessment
outcomes, impacts of the new course, along with student views on how
this new course influenced their level of preparation for the work
force, and future directions are presented.
Nowadays environmentally friendly scientists are conscious about the need to make chemistry "greener". The success of green chemistry depends on the training of the students of today. Facing the need to open students' minds on the greener side of chemistry, a new special-topics course has been developed that covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of green chemistry. The main goal of this course is to motivate the students to use their critical-thinking and problem-solving ability in learning about green chemistry. The originality of this course arises from the unique combination of using diverse pedagogical tools to teach a new chemistry topic as well as the active-learning approach engaging the students in the course material. The course goals, instructional materials, format of the course, grading, evaluation, conclusions of the course are detailed in this article and corresponding Supplemental Material. This outline is designed to provide a model to instructors wishing to integrate a green chemistry course in their curriculum.
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