Despite advances in active learning pedagogy and other methods designed to increase student engagement in the chemistry classroom, retention and engagement issues still persist, particularly with respect to women and minorities underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. Relevancy also remains elusive in the chemistry classroom, where real-world issues of social justice, health, and the environment are largely missing from chemistry curricula. As a result, students struggle to understand their role as change agents and global citizens with leadership responsibility toward developing solutions to these justice issues, particularly as they relate to chemistry and manufacturing industries. Green chemistry curriculum developed by groups such as the Molecular Design Research Network, Beyond Benign, Greener Education Materials for Chemists, and others is available for faculty to seamlessly integrate topics of social, health, and environmental justice problem-solving into their classes, with a focus on educating future chemists who recognize their role in solving (or preventing) global justice issues. The purpose of this paper is to share new instructional strategies needed to add relevancy to the life of chemistry students.
T. Anastas (2018) The safer chemical design game. Gamification of green chemistry and safer chemical design concepts for high school and undergraduate students,
Systems thinking has been employed by many disciplines and agencies to address a diversity of needs from technical manufacturing objectives to global health interventions. Chemistry plays a significant role in most of these systems, but there are few resources available to chemistry faculty to help introduce systems thinking processes and models into their programs or classrooms. High-impact practices, such as service learning, are validated pedagogies and programs that have been shown to have the greatest influence on student learning outcomes, skill building, and retention and graduation rates. By incorporating service learning projects into the chemistry classroom, faculty can link systems thinking objectives to service learning projects to help students achieve higher-order visioning around their role as chemists in systems and communities. This commentary suggests using interdisciplinary teams of students around campus- or community-based service learning projects to help chemistry students recognize the impacts of their discipline on larger, complex systems while also helping them realize their potential to make positive change as individuals within these systems.
Although the chemical enterprise has provided numerous contributions to humanity, unintended consequences contribute to a disproportionate exposure of hazardous chemicals to certain populations based on race and socioeconomic status. Integrating concepts of social and environmental justice within chemistry curriculum provides an educational framework to help mitigate these impacts by training the next generation of chemists with justice-centered and green chemistry principles to guide their future work. Green and sustainable chemistry technologies can contribute to social equity and environmental justice. However, equity and social justice have only recently become a significant part of the green chemistry conversation. This article summarizes how the authors have explored issues of equity and environmental justice with the green and sustainable chemistry community. It offers a toolbox for college and university instructors containing foundational language, research, and idea-generation that can be used to strengthen the transition of a traditional chemistry curriculum toward a justicecentered one.
In Fall of 2014, more than 5.8 million students enrolled in academic institutions of higher education in the United States were taking all or some of their courses online (Allen & Seaman, 2015). According to Online Report Card: Tracking Online Education in the United States, one out of every four students at U.S. institutions of higher education was enrolled in an online course (Allen & Seaman, 2015). These findings demonstrate that online learning is no longer an experiment: it is a part of a spectrum of learning models and one that has proven to be an effective modality when designed and facilitated well (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Recent findings from the Allen and Seaman (2015) report on eLearning also demonstrate a shift in student demographics for those enrolled in higher education. The once "nontraditional" (e.g., older, returning) student of the past is quickly becoming the "traditional learner" of today. Consequently, universities and colleges are facing the challenge of providing access to quality academic programs that meet the needs of working and caregiving adults. The rising cost of education, worsened by declining state resources for public higher education, has also led institutions to adopt online learning as a means to address these issues. Of course, learning in a virtual environment is not without its drawbacks, some of which are the following: learners feeling that they are learning in isolation, mundane assignments lacking in the experiential, and students feeling a lack of instructor presence and community online. Research shows that these experiences negatively affect student engagement and retention (Fryer & Bovee, 2016; Jaggars, 2014; Murphy & Stewart, 2017). With demand increasing for online and blended course and program offerings, faculty are pressed to find a balance between creating quality, 730843P HPXXX10.
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