A growing body of research indicates that undergraduates learn subject matter more deeply and retain it longer when they can see the relevance of what is being taught and the connections of that material with related and distant subject matter. Despite this evidence, changing the ways that STEM subjects are taught has been slow in coming and often met with resistance. Part of this resistance is because STEM faculty do not have the tools to restructure their teaching. For chemists, an important tool developed and nurtured by Pimentel Awardee Dr. Cathy Middlecamp offers such a toolkit. Published by the ACS and now in its 9th edition, Chemistry in Context enables faculty to provide students in introductory courses with the fundamental principles of chemistry while helping them to see their relevance and connectedness to global issues such as climate change, acidification of the oceans, and air quality. This approach to teaching and learning has led to rethinking of STEM education in other disciplines and supports recent efforts to make undergraduate education more multi- and interdisciplinary. This presentation will consider the central role of Chemistry in Context in the evolution of thinking about undergraduate STEM education, provide an overview of related national efforts that build on this foundation from chemistry, and discuss future scenarios for undergraduate education in both chemistry and other STEM disciplines.

Leading us over the education horizon: Cathy Middlecamp as a harbinger of change in higher education

2019 Spring National Meeting

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