It is common for undergraduate students to take their introductory coursework in chemistry and molecular biology concurrently and the strong connection between the disciplines suggests that doing so could be productive for them. To better understand how students perceive connections between the disciplines and whether those connections are useful for their coursework, we conducted 36 semi-structured interviews with students who were currently finishing both cell and molecular biology and their general chemistry course sequence. During the interviews students were asked to identify and discuss big ideas and to consider two themes that span the courses (the role of energy and the relationship between structure, properties, and function). Student-identified connections and conflicts between the courses will be discussed, along with suggestions for how instructors might help students make more productive connections.

Connections and conflicts students perceive between chemistry and molecular biology

251st National Meeting (2016)

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