Broadening Participation in STEM by Wilson-Kennedy Zayika;Byrd Goldie S.;Kennedy Eugene;Frierson Henry T.;

Author:Wilson-Kennedy, Zayika;Byrd, Goldie S.;Kennedy, Eugene;Frierson, Henry T.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2019-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

CREATING A COMMUNITY IN FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR CHEMISTRY COURSES

The Gateway and Bottleneck

Introductory general chemistry courses, traditionally taken by chemistry and biochemistry majors in their first year and other science and non-science majors in their second year, mark students’ first experience grappling with their potential to navigate the STEM curriculum. With the belief that mastery of chemical knowledge shapes one’s ability to comprehend other scientific subjects, the challenges encountered in introductory courses often compel students to leave the major. These observations imply that general chemistry courses aim to separate those who are prepared for the rigors of a STEM course of study from those who are not. General chemistry has long been considered the gatekeeper designed to challenge students’ readiness for what comes next academically. Likewise, organic chemistry is regarded as the course designed to determine whether a student can continue as a STEM major and persist in a STEM career, particularly those related to health care. The high demand for this course combined with the inherent difficulty and abstract nature of its concepts results in low success rates, creating a bottleneck in the curriculum. Gateway and bottleneck courses have typically served to reduce the number of STEM majors, not just chemistry majors, at many institutions. Given the centrality of chemistry to other sciences and the need to improve diversity in STEM, faculty in the department are reshaping the curriculum to assist students in overcoming the hurdles of the first- and second-year curriculum. Targeting students’ emerging scientific thinking at this level should translate into a skill set that will serve students well in subsequent science courses (Smith, Chungh, Sadouq, & Kandiah, 2015; Tai, Sadler, & Loehr, 2005). This section details strategies to address students’ developmental needs at these critical junctures.

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