One course to teach them all, One course to find them, One course to bring them all and in the science prime them<br/><br/>Modern scientific research is more convergent than ever before, yet science instruction remains cloistered into separate disciplines and sub-disciplines. Students taking organic chemistry have interests that are similarly broad, and new curricula that reflect those interests need to be devised to prepare students for interdisciplinary research and health-related careers. At Tufts University, we have implemented a new introductory chemistry sequence that provides a "branching path" for science, engineering and pre-health students to follow their interests while learning rigorous fundamentals of molecular science. This required some changes to general chemistry and biochemistry, and major changes to the organic curriculum. Specifically, topics were rearranged to include carbonyl chemistry in the first semester. For students taking a second semester of organic chemistry, this course of study focuses first on carbon-oxygen chemistry, then doubles back to cover more complex carbon chemistry. All students, however, are prepared for a mechanistic biochemistry course as early as spring of their sophomore year. For biology majors, this allows for higher-level understanding in upper-level biology courses, and a more direct path from fundamentals to sophisticated understanding of biological systems. Overall, these changes provide a rigorous, integrated study of molecular science that allows earlier applications to complex interdisciplinary problems.

One course to bring them all, and in the science prime them: New approaches for teaching students in a world of convergent science

250th National Meeting (2015)

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