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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2004  > January  >
Chemistry for Everyone
Chemistry as General Education
Nivaldo J. Tro
Department of Chemistry, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA 93108
Cover
January 2004
Vol. 81 No. 1
p. 54
Abstract
Science courses are common in most general education requirements. This paper addresses the role of chemistry classes in meeting these requirements. Chemistry professors have for many years questioned the appropriateness of the standard introductory chemistry course as general education, resulting in the growing popularity of specialized non-majors courses. I suggest that current non-major chemistry courses cover too much consumer chemistry and ignore some of the big contributions of chemistry to human knowledge. Majors chemistry courses, while they prepare students for majoring in science, do not address these issues either. Consequently, chemistry courses are often an ineffective and unpopular way to meet general education science requirements. Part of the reason for this dilemma is the lack of chemists who address the contributions of chemistry to human knowledge in general. I propose that faculty at liberal arts colleges engage in this important task and that non-majors chemistry textbooks incorporate questions and issues that relate chemistry to a broader view of human knowledge. If these things happen, perhaps chemistry courses will become more effective as general education.
More Information
*  Citation
 Tro, Nivaldo J. J. Chem. Educ. 2004 81 54.
*  Keywords
 Nonmajor Courses; Public Understanding; Teaching/Learning Theory/Practice
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 December 8, 2003
February 18, 2005
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