Unit name | Building Blocks of Chemistry |
---|---|
Unit code | CHEM10009 |
Credit points | 40 |
Level of study | C/4 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
Unit director | Dr. Chris Russell |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Chemistry |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Building Blocks of Chemistry aims to focus on the core knowledge and skills that underpin a degree in Chemistry. These are centred around three key themes:
These in turn will be broken down into eight components: Models; Periodicity; Shape 1; Shape 2; Reactivity 1; Reactivity 2; Characterisation; and Molecular Orbital Festival.
In teaching these themes, we aim to emphasise skills/problem solving over knowledge, to form explicit links between seemingly disparate content, and to show how chemistry addresses real-world problems.
Aims:
To ensure that chemistry students have the skills and knowledge to understand chemistry as a single, seamless discipline.
By the end of the unit students should be able to:
We aim to use a blended learning approach involving a mixture of lectures, online resources, and individual and team-based student-led enquiry-based learning. Embedded within the unit we will use cornerstone and capstone components to address the role of chemistry in addressing global problems (e.g. Climate Change, Energy, Plastic Fantastic?, Health, How things work/Technology, Nanotechnology). The synoptic questions that will be used in the end-of-year exam will come exclusively from these capstone/cornerstone components.
Summary of approximate student workload:
Formative Assessment:
Students will complete regular marked exercises as part of tutorials/workshops. Tasks leading to summative coursework will also be underpinned by either staff-led or peer-to-peer formative feedback.
Summative Assessment:
The unit will be assessed by coursework (50%) and a single end-of-year exam (50%). The exam will employ synoptic questions drawn from the cornerstone and capstone components of the unit problem-based chemistry questions. The coursework will be assessed by means of:
Chemical Structure and Reactivity: An integrated approach, by James Keeler and Peter Wothers, 2nd edition, OUP, 2014.