Chemistry

Department of Chemistry

People

CWSEI Deptartment Director: Jackie Stewart (2010-2017), Laurel Schafer (2007-2010)

STLFs: Elizabeth Gillis, Jane Maxwell, Kerry Knox, Jennifer Duis

Faculty: R. Algar, D. Bizzotto, M. Blades, G. Bussiere, G. Dake, E. Grant, P. Kennepohl, A. Lekhi, J. Love, V. Monga, J. Rodríguez Núñez, C. Rogers, R. Stoodley, M. Thachuck

Students: Chad Atkins, Claire Chatalova Sazepin, Eugene Chong, Caitlyn Grypma De Jong, Ravina Binning, Zachary Nevin, Armandeep Sidhu, Merrill Isenor, Nicholas Mah, Samantha D'Souza, Ainge (Y. C.) Chang, Aalia Sachedina, James Zhou, Michael Carlson, and Yuri Samozvanov

Activity

Activity summary report for the Chemistry CWSEI group (course and curriculum projects, research) - PDF download

Chemistry's Learning Blog (ongoing)

Overview

The Chemistry Department began work on CWSEI course transformations in 2008. Initially, the work focused on evaluating and redesigning the Chemistry 123 lab (Physical and Organic Chemistry).

In spring 2013, the second phase began, which focused on 1) analytical chemistry courses (CHEM 211 and 311), 2) third-year integrated laboratories (CHEM 315/325/335/345), and 3) Global Challenges, a Chemistry Perspective (CHEM 341).

The third and final phase of course transformations, beginning in spring 2016, targeted Chemistry 208 (Coordination Chemistry), 218 (Fundamentals of Reactivity in Inorganic Chemistry), 233 (Organic Chemistry for the Biological Sciences), 300 (Communicating Science), and 327 (Introduction to Materials Chemistry).

In addition to CWSEI teaching initiatives, the department underwent an independently funded external review of our 1st year chemistry program. Mike Wolf, Derek Gates and Jackie Stewart developed improved course support materials for CHEM 121 (tailored in-house textbook, homework sets, power point notes for instructors, etc.) independently supported by TLEF and Skylight. Additionally, seven interactive online tutorials were developed and implemented over the past eight years to complement existing CHEM 121 lab experiments as part of an ongoing co-operative between Sophia Nussbaum and the ChemCollective of Carnegie Mellon University. Funding from Skylight was used to develop yet another interactive tutorial and refine two existing tutorials with Carnegie Mellon. In Fall 2014, activities supported by UBC’s Flexible Learning Initiative were implemented in CHEM 121.