Teaching of Chemistry

Overview

Key facts

The Teaching of Chemistry curriculum at Boston University encompasses all the basic fields of chemistry, and provides the necessary coursework in secondary education as well as the student teaching experience for certification in teaching. Students pursuing this major may need to complete as many as 144 total credits for graduation with the BA. The current recommendation of both the Chemistry Department and the Wheelock College of Education & Human Development is that students interested in public and private high school teaching careers complete the Chemistry major, then pursue a master’s degree from Wheelock.

All students should refer to the Departmental Regulations section of the Chemistry Department page for important stipulations. NOTE: Students may not switch tracks in general or organic chemistry after the initial course in the sequence.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Demonstrate mastery of the foundational material of general chemistry in order to advance further into the traditional chemistry sub-disciplines of the curriculum (inorganic, organic, biochemistry, physical chemistry).

• Learn to use and apply appropriate concepts and quantitative methods in all sub-disciplines of chemistry, both intellectually and experimentally.

• Learn to integrate and apply a relevant body of knowledge to the evaluation of existing scientific studies, and to design studies to test specific hypotheses to address unsolved problems in the chemical and life sciences that benefit from expertise in chemistry.

• Learn to use computers in data acquisition and processing, and to utilize appropriate software as a tool in data analyses.

• Learn to employ modern literature search tools to locate and retrieve appropriate scientific information, and effectively communicate both orally and in writing about the processes of the chemical sciences as the result of scientific inquiry.

• Follow the ethical practice of research, experimental interpretation, presentation, and application of research in both the instructional and research labs.

• Learn to impart the above outcomes to their students in a secondary educational setting.

• Be qualified to teach chemistry at the high school level.