Goals for Student Learning

Below are the departmental learning goals mapped to College-wide goals for student learning.

In order to engage in and take responsibility for their own development to strive for excellence (IIe), each student majoring in chemistry will learn to:

Content-based

• Understand science is a systematic and inquiry-based human enterprise to better comprehend the natural world based on empirical evidence and is influenced by the cultures of its practitioners; chemistry, in particular, is the science of the composition, structures, properties, analyses, energetics, behaviors, reactions and syntheses of matter. (Ia, Ic, IVb)
• Understand and apply chemical models to describe and predict the composition, structures, properties, energetics, behaviors, mechanisms, and reactivities of matter at appropriate levels of sophistication. (Ia, Ic, IIa, IIb)
• Understand the physical basis for spectroscopic and analytical technologies as well as their appropriate uses. (Ia, IIa, IIb)
• Develop chemical models to understand nature based on empirical evidence. (Ic, IIa, IIb)
• Apply chemical knowledge and understanding to socially significant endeavors. (IIa, IIb, IIId)

Skill-based

• Use both qualitative and quantitative methods to solve chemical problems. (IIa, IIb)
• Design and conduct increasingly sophisticated chemical experiments. (Ic, IIa, IIe, IIId, IVc)
• Critically interpret, evaluate, and analyze scientific information including chemical literature and data. (Ic, IIa, IIb)
• Effectively communicate scientific information in oral, written, and visual formats to both professional and general audiences. (Ic, IIc, IVa)
• Collaborate in an inclusive manner to pursue common goals. (IId and IIIb)
• Employ responsible and ethical practices in interactions with others, experimental design, data collection and analysis, documentation, reporting, and attribution. (IIIa, IIIb, IVb)
• Assess safety concerns both in and out of the laboratory and employ best practices to address. (IIId, IVc)