Searching for Exciting States: Curricular Reform in Chemistry at MSU

9450690建议对课程进行修改，在相关问题(环境、医疗保健、能源利用等)中引入化学原理。我们的方法不是以传统的方式(从微观到宏观)教授化学概念，而是从确定与某些化学体系相关的概念开始；此后，将自上而下地研究该体系，在“需要了解”的基础上介绍和解释化学细节。这些方法将需要使用显著提高课堂和实验室中主动学习的数量的技术，同时强调通过做而不是通过听来学习。将广泛利用计算机进行交互式独立学习和自我测试，以及命名、化学键合等。适当使用信息技术将极大地减少传统课堂讲授所需的时间，并为识别和理解各种化学概念的统一性、连贯性和相关性提供时间。实验室环境将强调小组学习和以团队为导向的实验，以便学生可以合作解决实验室问题，而不只是遵循食谱，在某些情况下，也不需要为每个学生提供全套实验室工具的成本。为规划对课程的广泛修订，将举办两类讲习班。来自已经引入创新教育模式的小型学院的教职员工将被邀请参加第一个研讨会，介绍想法并讨论如何在大型大学的环境中实施这种变化。第二个研讨会将邀请来自密歇根州立大学各系的参与者，这些系要求将化学课程作为其课程的一部分。这次研讨会的重点是规划实际课程大纲，以便更好地满足客户的需求，同时保持拟议课程修订的内容。*y

9450690 Crouch Curricular changes are proposed that will introduce chemical principles in the context of relevant issues (the environment, health care, utilization of energy, etc.). Instead of teaching chemical concepts in the conventional fashion (of microscopic-to- macroscopic), our approach will begin by identifying the concepts associated with some chemical system; thereafter, the system will be studied from the top down, presenting and explaining chemical details on a "need-to-know" basis. These approaches will require using techniques that significantly enhance the amount of active learning that will take place in classrooms and laboratories, with a concomitant emphasis on learning by doing rather than by listening. There will be extensive computer utilization for allowing interactive independent study and self-testing, and for nomenclature, chemical bonding, etc. Appropriate uses of information technologies will reduce dramatically the amount of time needed for conventional classroom lecturing, and provide, instead, time for identifying and understanding the unity, coherence, and relevance of various chemical concepts. Laboratory settings will stress group-learning and team-oriented experiments so that students may cooperate in solving laboratory problems without merely following a cookbook, and in some cases, without the costs of providing each student with a full set of laboratory tools. To plan a broad revision of the curriculum, two types of workshops will be held. Faculty from small colleges, where innovative educational modes have already been introduced, will be invited to the first workshop to present ideas and discuss ways to implement such changes in the environment of a large university. A second workshop will invite participants form various Michigan State University departments that require chemistry courses as part of their curriculum. This workshop will focus on planning actual course outlines to better serve the needs of the clients, while maintaining the elements of the proposed curricular revisions. ***y