By Mauri A. Ditzler and Robert W. Ricci

Students taking General Chemistry at the College of the Holy Cross participate in a teaching and learning experience that parallels the scientific method itself. Cooperative efforts by the students in both obtaining and evaluating data support Discovery Chemistry -- a curriculum that features introduction of many General Chemistry concepts in the laboratory rather than the lecture.

OVERVIEW OF DISCOVERY CHEMISTRY

College students often associate chemistry with a collection of facts and theories rather than an ongoing, participatory process for creating knowledge. Too many believe their ability to benefit from or contribute to introductory chemistry is determined by the factual foundation they bring from high school. Few first-year students see chemistry as a field that will allow them to develop and express their intellectual creativity. To counter this perception, chemistry faculty nationwide are engaged in a concerted effort to develop introductory courses that present chemistry as a dynamic and developing discipline that values both creativity and collaboration.

At The College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) the Chemistry Department has been experimenting since 1989 with a laboratory-based, process-oriented curriculum called Discovery Chemistry (Ricci and Ditzler, 1991; Ditzler and Ricci, 1994; Jarret and McMaster, 1994). Our approach is based on the philosophy that chemistry teaching should parallel the chemists' approach to investigating nature. Practicing chemists draw heavily from a widely accepted body of knowledge, making extensive use of the literature and their colleagues' expertise. In the end, however, the proof is provided by experimental evidence. In a similar fashion, the Discovery Chemistry program focuses the learing experience on laboratory exercises that use a guided-inquiry format. In these exercises students work individually and cooperatively to generate data that is pooled and analyzed to discover fundamental aspects of the discipline. While Discovery Chemistry is novel in that it places the student within a community that is actively creating knowledge from well-crafted experiments we still draw heavily from traditional instructional tools such as lectures and textbook assignments. Furthermore, the instructor still plays an active role, however his or her focus includes ensuring that students are exposed to the same processes and structure that scientists use to support their creative insights.

College students often associate chemistry with a collection of facts & theories rather than an ongoing, participatory process for creating knowledge.

The Discovery Chemistry program focuses the learning experience on laboratory exercises that use a guided-inquiry format.

His or her focus includes ensuring that students are exposed to the same processes and structure that scientists use to support their creative insights.