A Trajectory of Reform in General Chemistry for Engineering Students

Abstract

<p>This chapter considers efforts to enhance learning within the general chemisty course taken by pre-engineering students. Because this course is inherently offered as a service course, often for students in a different college from the Chemistry Department at a university, there are both constraints and opportunities related to the manner in which reform can be enacted. Efforts spanning roughly 15 years are described and an emphasis on the nature of problem-solving within the course emerges as a common theme. The issue of student motivation is also considered with pre-engineering students serving as a prototype of a type of student who doesn’t inherently see the value of learning chemistry.</p>