The recent revision of undergraduate curricular guidelines from the American Chemical Society Committee on Professional Training (ACS-CPT) has generated interest in examining new ways of organizing course sequences both for chemistry majors and for nonmajors. A radical reconstruction of the foundation-level chemistry curriculum is presented in which content has been reorganized into three sequences: structure, reactivity, and quantitation. It is proposed that these three areas represent fundamental aspects of chemistry that cross traditional domains and allow students to more quickly appreciate the breadth of the field. An overview of these sequences in the chemistry curriculum at CSB/SJU is described.

A multiweek organic chemistry laboratory project is described that emphasizes sustainable practices in experimental design. An emphasis on student-driven development of the project is meant to mirror the independent nature of research. Students propose environmentally friendly modifications of several reactions. With instructor feedback, students search for a literature protocol for their most promising reaction. Students follow the procedure as described and also carry out a modified, greener reaction that they have designed on their own, incorporating a modest change in reaction conditions. The exercise concludes with a report focusing on comparative data analysis. This unique approach also focuses on teaching students the important research skills involved in locating, reproducing, and modifying a literature procedure.

A one-semester, introductory chemistry course is described that develops a primarily qualitative understanding of structure−property relationships. Starting from an atoms-first approach, the course examines the properties and three-dimensional structure of metallic and ionic solids before expanding into a thorough investigation of molecules. In addition to bonding, geometry, molecular orbitals, and intermolecular attractions, other structural topics are included, such as stereochemistry, conformation, and factors that influence the strength of Brønsted acids. Where appropriate, related considerations in biochemistry are highlighted. The course provides a common basis to majors and nonmajors for further study in chemistry and also serves as a platform to illustrate a variety of topics of current research interest.

Representational competence is one's ability to use disciplinary representations for learning, communicating, and problem-solving. These skills are at the heart of engagement in scientific practices and were recognized by the ACS Examinations Institute as one of ten anchoring concepts. Despite the important role that representational competence plays in student success in chemistry and the considerable number of investigations into students’ ability to reason with representations, very few studies have examined chemistry instructors’ approaches toward developing student representational competence. This study interviewed thirteen chemistry instructors from eleven different universities across the US about their intentions to develop, teach, and assess student representational competence skills. We found that most instructors do not aim to help students develop any representational competence skills. At the same time, participants’ descriptions of their instructional and assessment practices revealed that, without realizing it, most are likely to teach and assess several representational competence skills in their courses. A closer examination of these skills revealed a focus on lower-level representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to interpret and generate representations) and a lack of a focus on higher-level meta-representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to describe affordances and limitations of representations). Finally, some instructors reported self-awareness about their lack of knowledge about effective teaching about representations and the majority expressed a desire for professional development opportunities to learn about differences in how experts and novices conceptualize representations, about evidence-based practices for teaching about representations, and about how to assess student mastery of representational competence skills. This study holds clear implications for informing chemistry instructors’ professional development initiatives. Such training needs to help instructors take cognizance of relevant theories of learning (e.g., constructivism, dual-coding theory, information processing model, Johnstone's triangle), and the key factors affecting students’ ability to reason with representations, as well as foster awareness of representational competence skills and how to support students in learning with representations.