Making Chemistry Relevant: Strategies for Including All Students in a Learner-Sensitive Classroom Environment

Unique new approaches for making chemistry accessible to diverse students

Students' interest and achievement in academics improve dramatically when they make connections between what they are learning and the potential uses of that knowledge in the workplace and/or in the world at large. Making Chemistry Relevant presents a unique collection of strategies that have been used successfully in chemistry classrooms to create a learner-sensitive environment that enhances academic achievement and social competence of students.

Rejecting rote memorization, the book proposes a cognitive constructivist philosophy that casts the teacher as a facilitator helping students to construct solutions to problems. Written by chemistry professors and research groups from a wide variety of colleges and universities, the book offers a number of creative ways to make chemistry relevant to the student, including:

Both novice and experienced faculty alike will find valuable ideas ready to be applied and adapted to enhance the learning experience of all their students.