Joseph Reni, Brown David R, Mehltretter Sara A, Knobloch Katherine R, Roberts Anthony J, Conners Pamela, Wysocki Laura M
Department of Physical and Engineering Sciences, St. Louis Community College, 3221 McKelvey Rd., Bridgeton, Missouri 63044, United States.
Department of Chemistry, Southwestern College, 900 Otay Lakes Rd., Chula Vista, California 91910, United States.
J Chem Educ. 2025 Jul 18;102(8):3691-3695. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c00425. eCollection 2025 Aug 12.
In general chemistry, instructors have valuable opportunities to connect foundational chemistry concepts to larger societal issues early in a student's academic career. Deliberation, a facilitated conversation that considers different perspectives on complicated and multidisciplinary issues, is one method to achieve this and has previously demonstrated positive effects at four-year institutions. However, the content demands within general chemistry can make this goal difficult to attain and two-year colleges can have a distinctly different environment from four-year colleges. Here, we discuss the transferability of a deliberation module about environmental contaminants to a Foundations of Chemistry course at a two-year college, including training recommendations, implementation suggestions, and positive outcomes. Student participants in the 2 h activity reported a high-quality experience during the deliberation, including considering others' perspectives, and they showed motivation to take action to improve water quality. Moreover, the instructor for the course noticed that the activity helped to build community within the class and develop connections between current societal issues and the material they were learning in the course, in this case ion solubility.
在普通化学课程中，教师有宝贵的机会在学生学术生涯早期将基础化学概念与更广泛的社会问题联系起来。审议是一种经过引导的对话，它会考虑复杂多学科问题的不同观点，这是实现这一目标的一种方法，并且此前在四年制院校已显示出积极效果。然而，普通化学课程的内容要求可能使这一目标难以实现，而且两年制学院的环境可能与四年制学院截然不同。在此，我们讨论一个关于环境污染物的审议模块在一所两年制学院的化学基础课程中的可转移性，包括培训建议、实施建议和积极成果。参与2小时活动的学生报告说在审议过程中有高质量的体验，包括考虑他人观点，并且他们表现出采取行动改善水质的动力。此外，该课程的教师注意到该活动有助于在班级中建立社区，并在当前社会问题与他们在课程中所学内容（在这种情况下是离子溶解度）之间建立联系。
