What Are Essential Skills and Concepts for Teaching Mass Spectrometry to Undergraduates?

Instructors of college-level science courses often have a strong desire to use techniques and concepts from the fields of educational psychology and pedagogy, but it can be difficult to adapt information from those fields to specific technical topics such as mass spectrometry. A useful technique to apply various learning theories to teaching a specific topic is to distinguish between skills and concepts that are needed to understand and apply that topic to various problems. This report summarizes information gathered at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 2021 Undergraduate Research Interest Group Workshop and seeks to identify essential skills and concepts that need to be taught to undergraduate students learning about mass spectrometry. Some recommendations are made for how members of the mass spectrometry community can engage with their institutions to enhance mass spectrometry education.