Cottrell Scholars Reimagining Physical Chemistry Curriculum
At their July 2023 workshop in Tucson, members of the LABSIP collaborative and other interested Cottrell Scholars organized and planned steps for their group.
A Cottrell Scholar Collaborative project to create a community of practice to rethink the way physical chemistry is taught in undergraduate chemistry programs across the country has published a paper on their efforts in The Journal of Physical Chemistry.
LABSIP (Lowering Access Barriers to Success in Physical Chemistry) is a collaborative project led by eleven physical chemistry instructors and funded initially by Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Their project, Lowering Activation Barriers to Success in PChem (LAB-SIP): Towards Better Access to Creative Practice for Students in a Re-envisioned and Re-invigorated Physical Chemistry Curriculum, was among four RCSA-funded projects emerging from discussions at the 2022 Cottrell Scholar Conference in Tucson, Arizona, which focused on the theme of creativity and innovation in STEM education. Cottrell Scholar Collaborative Award teams are made up of Cottrell Scholars, Fulbright-Cottrell Scholars, Holland Awardees, and others who attended the annual conference.
Lead Cottrell Scholar on the LABSIP project is Casey Londergan, chemistry, Haverford College, in collaboration with additional Cottrell Scholars: Carlos Baiz, chemistry, University of Texas at Austin; Rob Berger, chemistry, Western Washington University; Linda Columbus, chemistry, University of Virginia; Julio de Paula, chemistry, Lewis & Clark College; Kelling Donald, chemistry, University of Richmond; Stephen Fried, chemistry, Johns Hopkins University; Brenda Rubenstein, chemistry, Brown University; Grace Stokes, chemistry, Santa Clara University; and Kana Takematsu, chemistry, Bowdoin College.
Physical chemistry, commonly viewed as one of the most difficult subjects in the chemistry major, has earned the unfortunate reputation as a common attrition point in the chemistry training pipeline that limits otherwise enthusiastic students from moving forward in the chemical sciences. As detailed in their paper, the collaborative’s short-term goal was to create community engagement around interest in making physical chemistry instruction more inclusive and dynamic, with a longer-term goal of providing guidelines and resources for those working toward a physical chemistry curriculum that would better serve students of all backgrounds.
So far, the LABSIP collaborative has held two online and one in-person workshops. They have also begun hosting meetups at ACS National Meetings.
Other interested faculty are encouraged to join the LABSIP community by visiting their website and by attending the group’s next meetup at the ACS Spring Meeting in New Orleans in March 2024. It will be held in conjunction with the “Innovative Teaching in Physical Chemistry” symposium in the PHYS division.
The group’s first workshop in 2022, attended online by 170 faculty teaching physical chemistry at a wide range of institutions across the United States, featured “lightning talks” that allowed participants to share their challenges, priorities, and ideas arising from their teaching experience. During the three-hour online workshop that followed in June 2023, the group collected feedback and prioritized ways they could provide the most benefit to the community. At a two-day in-person workshop in July 2023, members of the core collaborative as well as other interested Cottrell Scholars began organizing and planning steps for their group to take.
During their workshops, the collaborative learned how helpful and important it is for members of the physical chemistry community to connect with each other about curriculum. They gathered a clear set of shared challenges and opinions about the content and competencies that could be the focus of re-envisioned physical chemistry courses.
Based on their findings – among them, the widespread view that physical chemistry courses need not be as voluminous and intimidating to students as they often are – the collaborative worked to suggest "shared content” cores that could be complemented by applied topic-oriented modules, giving instructors and students with different goals and backgrounds the freedom to tailor their own paths to learning.
“From the start of this initiative, we have been regularly surprised by the level of community response,” Londergan said. “Many physical chemistry instructors feel like they are ‘on an island’ in their departments and crave community, and LABSIP will perhaps provide opportunities for that community to nucleate and grow.”
At their last workshop, a LABSIP working group reflected on some of the higher-level learning goals that can be accomplished by teaching physical chemistry courses. Published in their paper and on the LABSIP website, their “Ten Content-Independent Goals for Physical Chemistry” are intended to inspire new approaches and invite other physical chemistry instructors to share suggestions for changes based on their own teaching experience.
Current LABSIP activities include organizing community events using the group’s Discord server, which has nearly 100 participants, and small online subcommunities of practice in areas of particular focus (including math support for students in Fall 2023 and other foci to be chosen for Spring 2024).
Another high-priority goal planned for the near future is the construction of a repository to serve as a central clearinghouse of materials and amplifier for existing subcommunities in physical chemistry, including groups like POGIL-PCL (for guided inquiry labs) and ESCIP (for Python in chemistry and other disciplines).
A list of existing resources, as well as instructions on subscribing to the group’s emails and Discord server, is available on the LABSIP website.
