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The five projects of the NSF initiative Systemic Changes in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum are about to introduce significant and fundamental changes into introductory chemistry courses. The outlines of these projects show that their goal is that of helping students, often through cooperative efforts, develop skills in dealing with information, procedures, people, and technology by addressing various topics in chemistry. This approach, which can be labeled information management, must be distinguished from the traditional science goal of individual understanding in which each student is helped to build his or her own understanding of the physical world.
Only if the distinction between information management and individual understanding is recognized will the two routes into chemistry succeed. (If this distinction is not made, both will succumb to the tangle of conflicting attitudes and goals that has plagued introductory chemistry courses.) With this distinction, the "new tradition" of the NSF projects can be successful in capturing the attention and serving the needs of mainstream students. In addition, the success of these projects can leave room for the development of alternative courses for students who want to build a traditional base of understanding.
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