Chemistry Curriculum
University of Minnesota Rochester
This site describes the content, delivery and sequence of the undergraduate chemistry courses at the University of Minnesota Rochester. The sequence of courses are shown in the diagram below.
What are CHEM1 and CHEM2?
The first two semesters combined, CHEM1 and CHEM2, may be seen as to what elsewhere is “General Chemistry 1” and “Organic Chemistry 1”, but not in that order and not with the exact content. Our students are all graduating in Health Science. This means that no student would need only General Chemistry (like some physics and engineering degrees do). This is why we can remove the pedagogically artificial barrier between the organic and general chemistry courses, and introduce organic structures and spectroscopy since the very beginning while introducing some fundamental aspects of chemical structure and reactivity.
What is different in this curriculum?
Organic/Bioorganic compounds are introduced since the very beginning: In a health science degree a student should not need to wait until the third chemistry semester (which is not mandatory to graduate in our BSHS) to study the structure and reactivity of health-relevant compounds. Typical properties studied in General Chemistry such as phase change, solubility, and polarity are studied in an organic/bioorganic context. This strategy also enhances the possibility of integration with biology courses that students take during their first year.
Experimental evidence is used everywhere: Since the first semester, experimental data and spectroscopic techniques are used as evidence of chemical structure and chemical reactivity. Students learn to select, represent and interpret experimental data to construct explanations.
Math is progressively introduced: The quantitative aspect of introductory chemistry courses is a problem for first year students (See https://confchem.ccce.divched.org/2017FallConfChem) This is why we consider the first four semesters as a whole bundle that allow us to progressively add more quantitative problems that parallels the math courses that students enroll at UMR during their first two years.
How different is this curriculum from elsewhere?
The diagram below shows how the topics from typical General and Organic chemistry courses are now realigned in the new curriculum. Of course, we are not just changing the sequence. The new sequence will allow us to integrate the organic and general chemistry topics throughout the entire course sequence.
curriculum_poster_48x36.pdf