General Chemistry is a course required by a wide variety of majors, from pre-med to various engineering majors, as well as other natural sciences (Biology, Environmental Science, etc). Frequently, these students do not understand why they are being asked to complete this course work. Activities have been built for the General Chemistry I and General Chemistry II classroom that try to help answer that frequently asked question: “Why is chemistry important to my future career outside of chemistry?” These activities incorporated a variety of student work from traditional worksheets to electronic assignments, student presentations, “escape rooms”, 3D printed models, and pop-science concepts, while also addressing real world medical, engineering, and environmental problems. Some applicable topics presented will include dimensional analysis, molar mass, gas laws, thermochemistry, solubility, enthalpy of bonds breaking/forming. Many of the custom-built activities and assessments will be shared as open educational resources.

Bringing real-world context to classroom activities

ACS Spring 2022

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