Consortium to Improve Chemistry: Linking Nine Community Colleges with the National Science Foundation's Undergraduate Chemistry Systemic Reform Initiative

来自伊利诺伊州九所社区学院的化学教师组成了一个联盟，每年招收超过157，000名学生，每年招收超过6，000名学生。该联盟由来自城市、郊区和农村社区的社区学院组成：奥克顿社区学院、芝加哥城市学院、杜佩奇学院、莱克县学院、Triton学院、威廉雷尼哈珀学院、麦克亨利县学院、伊利诺斯州东部-奥尔尼中心和乔利埃特初级学院。该联合会正在改革成员校园的一年级化学课程，调整和采用模块化化学联合会和化学链接联盟编写的材料，以满足社区学院入学学生的需要。这些材料是由目前美国国家科学基金会（NSF）化学倡议资助的两个项目开发的。 新的化学课程是积极的，以探究为基础的，足够灵活，以解决由不同的学生群体所代表的许多学习风格，更相关的学生的生活。适应和采用的过程涉及联盟教师和ModularChemistry和ChemLinks的代表之间的积极合作。这一进程还包括与行业和专业组织建立伙伴关系。 该项目扩展了当前NSF系统化学倡议的影响，为其他社区学院考虑采用模块化方法对一年级化学课程进行改革提供了一个模式。由于全国近一半的大学生就读于社区大学，很大一部分未来的教师在社区大学接受科学教育，这个项目的潜在影响是显着的。

Chemistry faculty from nine Illinois community colleges have formed a consortium that serves an annual credit enrollment of over 157,000 students and an annual chemistry enrollment of over 6,000 students. The consortium is composed of community colleges from urban, suburban, and rural communities: Oakton Community College, The City Colleges of Chicago, College of DuPage, College of Lake County, Triton College, William Rainey Harper College, McHenry County College, Illinois Eastern--Olney Central, and Joliet Junior College. This consortium is reforming first-year chemistry curricula on member campuses by adapting and adopting the materials produced by the Modular Chemistry Consortium and the ChemLinks Coalition to meet the needs of students enrolled in community colleges. These materials were developed by two of the projects funded by the current National Science Foundation (NSF) chemistry initiative. The new chemistry curriculum is active and inquiry-based, flexible enough to address the many learning styles represented by a diverse student population, and more relevant to the lives of the students. The process of adapting and adopting involves an active collaboration between the consortium faculty and representatives of ModularChemistry and ChemLinks. The process also includes partnerships with industry and professional organizations. This project extends the impact of the current NSF systemic chemistry initiative by serving as a model for other community colleges considering the modular approach to reform of the first-year chemistry curriculum. Because nearly half of the nation's college students are enrolled in community colleges and a large portion of future teachers receive their science education at a community college, the potential impact of this project is significant.