Many students have misconceptions about how chemical knowledge is generated. These misconceptions can be addressed through teaching the history of chemistry, highlighting how chemistry knowledge has been generated over time. To effectively integrate the history of chemistry into chemistry content courses, science educators must be well-versed in the history of chemistry. This talk describes a continuing education course for secondary level science educators that centers on the history of chemistry and generation of knowledge. Course objectives are outlined, along with suggestions on instructional strategies to meet them. Content units are presented within a suggested sequence. Recommended texts and supporting materials are described, as well. Because assessments will need to reflect the course and delivery context, some generalized assessment strategies are included with the intention that the instructor will modify these as needed. This course will leave teachers better able to meet the needs of their students by being able to explain how chemists made discoveries, overcame obstacles, collaborated with colleagues to answer complex questions, and built upon one another's ideas to learn more about how the world works.

How did we get here? Teaching chemistry with a historical perspective

248th National Meeting (2014)

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