Chemistry Unbound, a curriculum designed and implemented by the Emory University Chemistry Department in 2017, has been annually evaluated by both qualitative and quantitative standards through focus group interviews, surveys, and tests. With the second cohort of students to have undergone the full Chemistry Unbound curriculum graduating, peer-moderated focus group interviews were conducted over several weeks by three peer students to further elicit an understanding of student views and personal experiences with the curriculum. Interviews of two to five chemistry-majors each were conducted by three peers over the course of several weeks over Zoom, and were transcribed and recorded for further analysis. Interviews were roughly one hour long and consisted of questions about how student learning was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and online learning, specifically with whether or not students felt like there were real-world applications of the material learned. Student preparedness for future careers in chemistry and the broader sciences was also evaluated. The researchers identified certain shared perspectives amongst students including low-levels of confidence in the chemistry material taught online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a weaker understanding of physical chemistry concepts compared to general and organic chemistry concepts. Researchers also noticed a general sense of increased collaboration levels in classes taught during the online-phase of the pandemic which continued even after classes returned to in-person.

Chemistry unbound at Emory: Perspectives learned from peer senior interviews

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

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