Contrary to most undergraduate chemistry courses such as general, organic, and physical chemistry, the inorganic chemistry course lacks a uniform structure across chemistry departments nationwide.  A recent study of inorganic topics showed that the content taught in inorganic chemistry can vary heavily depending on the institution and that inorganic courses can be mostly classified into 4 main groups.  Although descriptive, this recent work triggers the need to understand why the inorganic chemistry curriculum is highly variable.  The work presented here builds on prior research in inorganic chemistry education by using faculty interviews and course artifacts to reveal faculty learning goals, how they design their curricula, and what factors influence their curricular decisions.  Early findings show that faculty members’ curricular decisions are influenced by many of the same factors but lead to a variety of outcomes in course curriculum and structure.  This presentation explicates inorganic curricula in terms of the factors that influence inorganic chemistry faculty’s curricular decisions and the methods that they employ for curricular design. A report of the curricular influences and design approaches of inorganic faculty can not only expose inorganic faculty to alternatives but also inform and seed curricular innovation.

Curricular influences and design approaches in undergraduate inorganic chemistry

251st National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.