General College Curriculum Goals

Course Number: 1166 (Principles of Chemistry)

Credits: 3 semester credits

Diversified Core: No

Designated Theme: No

Writing Intensive: No

Completed by: Rick Uthe

Date completed: 5 Feb 99

A. Develop academic skills (i.e., processes involved with both acquiring and demonstrating knowledge) and successfully apply them to college-level coursework

Curricular Goals	Course Goals	Learning Activities
1. Students will read college-level texts.	Students must acquire content from the textbook, including vocabulary, skills, procedures, and quantitative manipulations.	Students read relevant sections of the text before attending class on that topic. Students read relevant sections of the text when reviewing for tests.
2. Students will understand lecture material.	Students learn to take accurate and complete lecture notes. Students ask questions during lecture either to clarify, to bring in new ideas, or to ask about chemical concepts about which they learn outside class.	Students must take notes on lectures to do well on lecture exams. Teacher solicits questions from the class. Teacher asks questions of the class based on the lecture material to be included on exams.
3. Students will participate in classroom discussions.	Students exchange ideas, support arguments, document solutions, and ask questions orally when interacting with each other and the teacher.	Teacher encourages student interaction in lecture.
4. Students will write a variety of documents.	Students write clear solutions to questions on exams.	Teacher asks leading questions in lecture to review constantly material students should be learning. Teacher requires students to write answers to test questions, rather than using multiple-choice or other similar formats.
5. Students will understand quantitative problems.	Students are introduced to quantitative methods in chemistry, such as mole relationships, stoichiometry, and gas-law relationships, then are asked to apply them.	Students use algebra to solve problems expressed in English.
6. Students will be able to use a computer.
7. Students are willing to receive information and respond to it.	Students are attentive in class and are encouraged to actively engage with the course content and the instructor. Students are encouraged to actively engage with the teaching assistant.	Teachers create an environment where students are encouraged to be actively engaged in the classroom experiences.
8. Students develop values, organize them into systems, and apply those systems to their private and public lives.	Students show respect for the ideas of others. Students are willing to examine ideas that are contrary to their own beliefs.	Teachers create an environment that is comfortable for students of all abilities, interests, and backgrounds. Teacher intervenes when the personal or civil rights of students are attacked or threatened.
9. Other.

B. Build and use a foundation of general knowledge in the discipline

Curricular Goals	Course Goals	Learning Activities
10. Appreciate the discipline as a valuable area of knowledge.	Students learn that chemistry affects their lives on a day-to-day basis. (a) plastics, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural chemicals enhance human lives. (b) chemical changes occur constantly within all living organisms to sustain life and promote growth and reproduction.	Teacher introduces concepts and applications in class, then discusses them with students. Students use this background to apply concepts on tests. Teacher uses numerous demonstrations of chemical phenomena to illustrate chemical concepts and their applications.
11. Identify and describe issues or problems in the discipline.	Students learn that chemistry must be employed to address most environmental pollution problems.	Teacher uses applied chemistry problems as examples of chemical concepts.
12. Analyze and reflect upon issues or problems in the discipline.
13. Solve issues or problems in the discipline.
14. Think creatively.	Students learn different ways of approaching chemical problem-solving.	Students apply basic chemical principles to relevant problems.
15. Other.

C. Demonstrate greater awareness of and respect for individual, cultural, ethnic, and religious differences

Curricular Goals	Course Goals	Learning Activities
16. Awareness and respect for diversity in terms of content.	Students realize that different cultures view chemical phenomena and their causes differently.	Textbook provides historical context for some chemical ideas.
17. Awareness and respect for diversity in terms of process.	Students realize that the applications of chemical concepts to enhance society or mitigate environmental concerns are viewed differently by different cultures.	Teacher provides different viewpoints and ways of applying chemical knowledge in different settings.
18. Other.

D. Develop attitudes and behaviors that are associated with success in college

Curricular Goals	Course Goals	Learning Activities
19. Class participation.	Students are encouraged to work together to study for exams.	Students often work in groups of two or more to help one another learn concepts. Students respond to discussion questions in lecture.
20. Use of learning resources.	Students use each other, the lecture teacher, and the teaching assistant for extra help.	Teacher encourages students to work together outside lecture class. Teacher encourages students to work individually with the instructors.
21. Task completion.	Students complete their lecture assignments completely and on time.	Assignments are due at specific times.
22. Appropriate interaction with peers, faculty, and staff on academic issues.	Students seek help from peers, teacher, and teaching assistant. Students interact in class thoughtfully and respectfully.	Teacher encourages students to work together outside of lecture. Teacher encourages students to work individually with instructor and teaching assistant.
23. Understand themselves better as learners.	Students learn to organize chemical concepts, terminology, and problem-solving techniques so they can use them to interpret questions. Students determine problems they have learning chemical concepts by taking optional practice exams before completing tests.	Teacher provides daily outline in lecture to help students organize their chemical knowledge. Teacher poses written questions during lecture, then shows step-wise, problem-solving processes to solve them.
24. Evaluate their own strengths, limitations, and interests.	Students examine their graded lecture tests to determine if they are making consistent or systematic errors	Teacher encourages students to go over their work and look for patterns of errors. Teacher gives students regular and frequent feedback on performance on tests. All graded materials are returned to students with scores as a percentage listed. The standard grading scale for the course is listed in the syllabus so students know exactly how they are doing in the class throughout the school term.
25. Set attainable academic and career goals.	The course syllabus lists exactly what topics are included in the course, how many tests are given, what reading to do in the textbook and supplementary materials, how grades are determined, students expectations, and other stuff so that students can judge whether the course will fulfill their needs.	The teacher distributes the syllabus on the first day of class and spends about an hour discussing it in detail.
26. Time management.	Students are encouraged to arrange their schedules so that they can spend two or three hours a day working on the lecture part of the course outside class. On the first day of class, students are informed about dates for tests.	The teacher encourages students to seek him out at any time during the school term to discuss problems they are having successfully completing any parts of the course.
27. Test taking.	Students learn strategies for taking chemistry tests.	Students are encouraged to purchase copies of past lecture tests available in the bookstore so they can observe how test questions are worded and as practice for the current term's exams. Availability of past tests is designed to help reduce test anxiety for students, especially for those for whom science has been daunting in the past.
28. Library skills.
29. Condensing and summarizing.	Students learn how to take notes in a science class.	Teacher summarizes each lecture's major topics, then uses a series of overhead transparencies as examples of those topics and their applications in the real world.
30. Techniques for organizing knowledge.	Students learn the differences among definitions, properties, and procedures.	Teacher places a daily outline on an overhead projector which should help students organize their notes and for studying for lecture exams.
31. Familiarity with different learning strategies.	Students experience participation in large lecture classes.	Teacher encourages interaction and discussion in lecture by asking leading questions.
32. Awareness of personal learning styles.	Students prepare for tests in various ways, depending on test format -- short essay, short answer, quantitative problem-solving.	Teacher uses different test-question formats, announced prior to testing, so that students can practice different modes of study.
33. Other.