Two-Year College Programs

Curriculum

General Considerations
Section 6.1

An effective chemistry curriculum is driven by the needs of the students, the mission of the institution and the program, the standards of the discipline, and the needs of the partners.  The curriculum recognizes the difference in the needs of students where chemistry will be a substantial portion of their academic path, and students who require education in the scientific method but do not require a significant amount of science for their ultimate academic career goals.

Essential Components

  • The curriculum educates the student in
    • The scientific method.
    • Analytical and, or, scientific reasoning.
    • The curricular goals of the program. 
    • Laboratory skills. 

Successful Practices

  • Courses intended to support student transfer to an ACS approved baccalaureate chemistry program provide a foundation in general and organic chemistry.
  • Partners representing key stakeholders participate in curriculum development to ensure that key skills and knowledge are addressed. 

Aspirational Goals

  • Courses provide an introduction to the subdisciplines: 
    • Analytical
    • Biochemistry
    • Inorganic
    • Physical chemistry
  • Courses include content that addresses the unique chemistry of:
    • Synthetic polymers
    • Biological macromolecules 
    • Supramolecular aggregates 
    • Meso- or nanoscale materials
    • Green chemistry and sustainability.

Chemistry Courses
Section 6.2

Students are best served when everyone involved in student admission to chemistry classes respects the importance of adhering to prerequisites. Failure to do so reduces student retention and graduation rates, as well as the quality of the learning environment.

Essential Components

  • The prerequisites for each chemistry course are carefully determined   and assessed by the faculty.
  • Prerequisites are clearly stated and publicized in the college catalogs, in the schedule of classes, and in any other curriculum publications.
  • Institutions perform an effective assessment of student preparation and readiness to ensure that students take the appropriate preparatory courses in chemistry, math, and, or, skill development.

Students may need chemistry courses to prepare them for college-level programs of study. Such courses

  • Emphasize the scientific method.
  • Include critical thinking and analytical reasoning skill development.
  • Introduce chemical calculations and problem solving techniques needed for general chemistry.
  • Provide the chemistry background needed to prepare for other STEM courses.

Successful Practices

  • There is a strong advising component to help students be prepared for and succeed in courses. 
  • In cases where limits to the number of prerequisites exist, faculty provide extra resources such as student self assessments and review materials to help prepare students.

  • Preparatory courses include a laboratory component equivalent to that of a high school chemistry course. 

General Chemistry
Section 6.2a

Essential Components

General chemistry courses include the following:

  • The scientific method
  • Critical thinking and analytical reasoning skill development
  • A laboratory component that supports the course and provides the technical skills students will need in their subsequent courses
  • A solid background   for future chemistry studies as well a general grounding in chemistry for students that take only General Chemistry

Successful Practices

  • The general chemistry course contains significant coverage of the applications of theories to real life examples that engage student interest.

Organic Chemistry
Section 6.2b

Essential Components

  • Typically, the equivalent of two semesters of general chemistry with a laboratory is a prerequisite for organic chemistry. 
  • Contains a laboratory component that supports the course and includes a variety of standard techniques. 

Successful Practices

  • The laboratory component of the course provides an in person experience using a variety of spectroscopic techniques.

Aspirational Goals

  • Collaborate with the institutions to which students transfer to ensure that all required topics are covered appropriately. 

Other Courses
Section 6.2c

Essential Components

Allied Health Courses

  • Courses are developed in consultation with the programs in which the students are enrolled and to which they will transfer. 
  • The laboratory component concretely demonstrates the application of chemistry within the health sciences.
  • Prerequisites are clearly specified.

General Education Courses

  • Are transferable,
  • Include a laboratory component that satisfies the science requirement for graduation,
  • Require elementary algebra as a mathematical prerequisite.

Chem Tech Courses

  • Skills and knowledge required by employers are identified in collaboration with program partners.

Successful Practices

General Education Courses

  • General education courses are interdisciplinary.

 

Chem Tech Courses

  • If four-year programs are among the program partners, one or more representatives should also participate in the curriculum development.

 

Other Specialty Chemistry Courses
Section 6.2c

Focused programs of study, such as those for primary and secondary educators, emergency first responders, and medical technicians, may require specialty chemistry courses.

Essential Components

  • The content of specialty chemistry courses is directly relevant to the desired career interests of the students enrolled. 
  • Courses are taught at the level appropriate for the students needs and goals.
  • The lab component demonstrates the application of chemistry within the specialty field.

Frequency & Consistency of Courses
Section 6.3

Essential Components

  • The institution schedules courses so students can complete a full sequence of general or organic chemistry in a single academic year, or both general and organic sequences in two academic years.
  • An annual listing of chemistry courses is published and widely distributed, permitting students to schedule courses in proper sequence.
  • The schedule of chemistry courses is coordinated with other required courses within common degree tracks.
  • The lecture and laboratory components of a course are taken concurrently.  

Successful Practices

  • Courses should be offered with sufficient frequency that a student may complete a course sequence in an adequate time frame.

Laboratory Experiences
Section 6.4

Laboratory work in chemistry courses is designed to give students an understanding that experimental work is the foundation of chemical knowledge. This hands-on experience is necessary for students to have the technical skills needed for subsequent courses and future careers in the laboratory or in health care settings. A face-to-face environment also provides students with teamwork skills that are desired by future employers (see Section 6.7 for the discussion on virtual and remote laboratory experiences).

Essential Components

  • Students are familiar with (see Section 3)
    • Maintaining a culture of safety in the laboratory  by recognizing hazards, assessing risks, minimizing risks and preparing for emergencies.
    • Using appropriate personal protective equipment, fume hoods and other appropriate equipment.
    • Performing accurate quantitative measurements.
  • Kitchen chemistry experiments may supplement in-person experience in non-major and introductory chemistry sequences.

Successful Practices

Students are able to, with appropriate guidance:

  • Analyze data statistically, assessing the reliability of experimental results, and discussing the sources of systematic and random error in experiments.
  • Keep accurate and complete experimental records.
  • Plan and execute experiments.
  • Make accurate measurements by using correct tools and instruments.
  • Synthesize and characterize inorganic and organic compounds.
  • Develop additional skills as identified by program partners.
  • Communicate effectively through written reports.
  • Understand the ethical issues associated with chemistry and the broader science environment.

Aspirational Goals

  • Students, using the chemical literature and electronic resources, plan and execute experiments.
  • Students are able to communicate effectively through oral reports.

Undergraduate Research
Section 6.5

Undergraduate research allows students to integrate and reinforce chemistry knowledge from their formal course work, to further develop their scientific and professional skills, and to create new scientific knowledge. Conducting mentored undergraduate research in close collaboration with a faculty mentor allows a student to draw on faculty expertise.

Essential Components

Research with students, including CUREs  

  • Has a defined topic with achievable goals.  
  • Includes appropriate safety practices.  
  • Includes access to and use of appropriate chemical equipment.
  • Is supervised by an experienced chemist or instructor.
  • Culminates in a written report, a project poster presentation, and, or, an academic talk at a local, regional, or national conference.

Successful Practices

Research with students, include CUREs

  • Is student-centered with research projects that can be pursued independently or integrated into the curriculum.
  • Includes projects that can be conducted on campus, in the facilities of partnering institutions, or in other scientific facilities. 
  • Allows students to develop and apply an understanding of in-depth concepts.  
  • Is grounded in the chemical literature.

Aspirational Goals

Research with students, including CUREs  

  • Is sufficiently novel to merit publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
  • Includes the development of  group or interdisciplinary projects that can help broaden the applicability and relevance of chemistry in allied fields.
  • Uses a variety of methods and instrumentation.

Pedagogy
Section 6.6

Essential Components

  • Courses are taught in a challenging, engaging, and inclusive manner using effective, evidence-based  pedagogies.
  • Faculty are trained in equity-minded practices to ensure an inclusive atmosphere where all students can be successful (see Section 12 - DEIR).
  • Faculty members are provided with opportunities to maintain and improve their knowledge of best practices in chemistry pedagogy and modern theories of learning and cognition including motivation of students and real life applications. 
  • As an experimental science, chemistry is taught by using appropriate and substantial laboratory work that promotes
    • Independent thinking
    • Critical thinking 
    • Scientific and analytical reasoning 
    • A perspective of chemistry as a scientific process of discovery
    • Development of technical skills

Successful Practices

  • The program regularly evaluates its curriculum and pedagogy, faculty development opportunities, and infrastructure needs relative to the program’s teaching and research mission.
  • Courses motivate students and help them see real life applications of the material.
  • The development of new pedagogy or courses involves collaboration or consultation with chemistry faculty or subject matter experts. 

Aspirational Goals

  • Courses provide a perspective of scientific discovery through the incorporation of inquiry-based and open-ended investigations in laboratory work and the classroom.
  • Instructors attend chemistry pedagogical conferences to present their innovative pedagogy.
  • New material is connected to content taught in existing chemistry courses.
  • Materials are created that are accessible for all students (i.e., subtitles, compatible for screen readers, etc.). 
  • Grading rubrics are created.
  • Collaborative assignments are developed with chemistry colleagues.
  • Chemistry instructors are informally observed peers in and outside of the department to encourage innovation.
  • Innovative approaches are developed to promote student success. 

Online & Virtual Instruction
Section 6.7

Policy on virtual laboratory experiences
Chemistry is an empirical science that requires the safe and effective physical manipulation of materials, equipment, and and instrumentation. For students that are interested in chemistry careers, this in person expertise cannot be developed entirely through virtual and remote laboratory exercises.

Essential Components

  • Colleges with online or hybrid courses ensure that students have
    • Adequate access to faculty and instructors.
    • Opportunities for collaboration with peers.
  • Instruction modalities provide parity of learning between virtual and in person learning.
  • Faculty contact-hour credit for virtual and online instruction is equivalent to the corresponding classroom experience.
  • Faculty are thoughtful about equity both in access (such as limitations of geography or student work schedules) and in outcomes (equivalent knowledge and skills) for students in face-to-face and virtual courses.
  • Assessments in both face-to-face and online environments provide accountability for students to learn the course material by using resources such as proctoring and authentic assessments.

Successful Practices

  • For laboratory course content, faculty consider what skills can be learned successfully online and which require hands-on experience. 
  • Faculty consider creative solutions such as short-term face-to-face “bootcamps” or at-home kits to ensure equitable skills outcomes for online students. 

Dual enrollment and early-admission courses
Section 6.8

A variety of options have been implemented at two-year colleges for enabling students to receive college credit while still enrolled in high school. High school students may be enrolled in college courses directly, or college courses may be offered at high schools or on the college campus; courses may be taught by high school or college faculty. 

Essential Components

  • The institution ensures quality control and quality assurance for dual enrollment and early admission courses.
  • The institution and department follow local and state laws regarding the presence of minors in the classroom and laboratory.

Successful Practices

  • The institution ensures that the course instructor, syllabus, exams, labs, and grading of dual enrollment courses are equivalent to those of corresponding college courses.
  • Close attention is paid to ensure that dual enrollment courses
    • Meet the state’s requirements.
    • Meet the admission standards of the two-year institution awarding the credit.
    • Meet the standards of their transfer institutions.

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