Guided inquiry learning activities have been developed and implemented in a one semester non-science majors' course in which fundamental chemistry concepts are taught in the context of issues of sustainability. The majority of the students enrolled in the course are majoring in less science-oriented majors within our Sustainability Studies Program, which simplifies the potential problem of identifying a context that engages the whole class. The guided inquiry learning activities were completed by teams of 3-5 students during class time. The content of the activities spans both chemistry concepts their applications to issues of sustainability, such as: defining sustainability, surface air pollution, stratospheric ozone depletion, the enhanced greenhouse effect, sources of greenhouse gases, the ratio of CO2 released to energy released for the combustion of different fuels, emerging fuel sources, hydrogen �fuel�, water quality standards, acid rain, ocean acidification, feedstocks for and fates of polymers. Students had the opportunity to research a topic related to sustainability and chemistry (broadly defined) in a semester-long literature assignment, which was conducted partially individually and partially in teams. A primary goal of this assignment is to make students more knowledgeable about and critical of potential sources of scientific information. The results of formative assessments of the learning activities will be presented. The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the NSF TUES program (DUE1140692) for support of this project.

Guided inquiry learning materials for teaching chemistry in the context of sustainability to non-science majors

248th National Meeting (2014)

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