Creating an Interdisciplinary IntroductoryChemistry Course without Time-IntensiveCurriculum ChangesElizabeth M. Vogel Taylor†, Rudolph Mitchell§, and Catherine L. Drennan†,‡,�,*†Department of Chemistry, ‡Department of Biology, and the §Teaching and Learning Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, and �Howard Hughes Medical Institute

C utting edge scientific research in-creasingly occurs at the interface ofdisciplines, and equipping students

to recognize interdisciplinary connections isessential for preparing the next generationof researchers, health workers, and policy-makers to solve the toughest scientific prob-lems (1, 2). Accordingly, new recommenda-tions for premedical curricula issued by theAmerican Association of Medical Colleges(AAMC) and the Howard Hughes Medical In-stitute (HHMI) call for a competency-basedtraining, shifting away from specific courserequirements to the ability of students toapply knowledge and recognize underly-ing scientific principles in medicine (3).Chemical principles underlie all of the lifesciences, and while the relevance of chem-istry to biological processes is frequentlydiscussed in advanced chemistry courses,this is long after most general chemistryand premedical students have stoppedtaking chemistry entirely. Introductorychemistry courses therefore provide aunique opportunity to impact a diversecross section of students (4). Additionally,early exposure to the applications of chem-istry may be particularly relevant for the re-cruitment of underrepresented minoritiesand students from lower socioeconomicbackgrounds into the sciences, since re-search indicates that students from lowereconomic backgrounds value college ma-jors with clear career applications (5).

Some schools have implemented com-bined introductory chemistry/biologycourses, which can offer valuable learningexperiences but require ongoing commit-ments from dedicated faculty members andcurriculum flexibility (6, 7). More commonly,schools have rigid curriculum guidelines ingeneral chemistry, which are not amenableto redesigning the course. For example, incolleges that condense general chemistryinto a single semester or in high schoolcourses with state- or AP-based syllabi, re-moving topics from the curriculum to makeroom for interdisciplinary units is not an op-tion. Ideally, an introductory chemistrycourse should inspire and equip studentsto recognize underlying chemical principlesin other disciplines and solve interdiscipli-nary problems without sacrificing the origi-nal content in the course.

Here we describe the development,implementation, and assessment of suc-cinct examples from biology and medicinethat illuminate applications of chemicalprinciples. These examples were incorpo-rated into the lectures and problem sets ofthe 2007 and 2008 semesters of the gen-eral chemistry course 5.111 at MIT, with ayearly fall enrollment of �200 freshmanfrom 19 different intended academic ma-jors, including over 60% women and 25%underrepresented minority students (seeSupplementary Table 1). The materials arefreely available to other educators and the

*Corresponding author,cdrennan@mit.edu.

Published online December 18, 2009

10.1021/cb9002927 CCC: $40.75

© 2009 American Chemical Society

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public via MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) andare a straightforward way to apply the newAAMC-HHMI recommendations for more in-tegrative courses to any general chemistrycurriculum.

Overview of Biology- and Medicine-Related Examples in Freshman Chemistry.On the basis of conversations with studentsand course evaluation responses from pastyears, it was observed that MIT freshman en-rolled in the nonadvanced version of gen-eral chemistry were very interested in hu-man health and biology, but that many ofthose same students viewed chemistry asuninteresting or irrelevant to their interests.To address this disconnect while keepingthe rigorous chemistry curriculum intact, webegan supplementing lectures and home-work with brief examples from biology andmedicine.

Examples ranging from 2 to 5 min wereincorporated into lectures, such that the 36-lecture course now includes approximately30 in-class biology-related examples. A

summary of course lecture topics and corre-sponding interdisciplinary examples can befound in Table 1. In many cases, examplesserve to stress the significance or potentialapplications of a given topic. For instance,when introducing periodic trends, the selec-tivity of ion channels in neurons is used to il-lustrate the importance of atomic radius inproper neuron signaling, helping to answerthe question “Why should we care about pe-riodic trends?”. Still other examples intro-duce the class to the types of problems theycould someday tackle using chemistry. In akinetics lecture, for example, students areintroduced to HIV protease inhibitors andthe use of kinetic measurements to analyzedrug candidates.

For other course topics, a problem-solving example within the lecture is di-rectly replaced with a relevant biology-applied problem. For instance, in the intro-duction of the Nernst equation for redoxreactions, the in-class problem waschanged to address the reduction of vita-

min B12 in the body. In another lecture, stu-dents apply their knowledge of polar cova-lent bonds to predict which vitamins arewater-soluble and easily excreted and whichare fat-soluble and can build up to danger-ous levels. The use of classroom responsedevises, or clickers, further facilitates stu-dent participation for in-class problem solv-ing examples.

To reinforce the interdisciplinary connec-tions formed in lecture, we include severalbiology-related problems in each of theweekly problem sets. Students often gaugehow important a concept is by its presenceor absence on homework and exams. Thebiology-related homework problems requirestudents to use their chemical problem solv-ing skills and stress that interdisciplinarythinking is part of the class, not an asidethat “doesn’t count”. Some of these prob-lems require students to apply chemicalknowledge to draw conclusions about a bio-logical system. For example, using Lewisstructure rules for free radicals, students

TABLE 1. General chemistry lecture topics and corresponding in-class biology and medicine-related examplesa

Chemistry lecture topics Biology-related examples

Introduction and course overview ● Chemical principles in research at MITWave-particle duality of light and matter ● Quantum dot research at MITPeriodic trends ● Atomic size: sodium ion channels in neuronsCovalent bonds, Lewis structures ● Cyanide ion in cassava plants, cigarettes

● Thionyl chloride for the synthesis of novacaineExceptions to Lewis structure rules ● Free radicals in biology: role in DNA damage and essential for life

● Nitric oxide (NO) in vasodilation (and Viagra)Polar covalent bonds, ionic bonds ● Water-soluble versus fat-soluble vitamins: comparing folic acid and vitamin AVSEPR theory ● Molecular shape in enzyme�substrate complexesValence bond theory and hybridization ● Restriction of rotation around double bonds: application to drug design

● Hybridization example: ascorbic acid (vitamin C)Determining hybridization in complex molecules ● Identifying molecules that follow the “morphine rule”Thermodynamics ● Glucose oxidation: harnessing energy from plantsFree energy and control of spontaneity ● ATP-coupled reactions in biology

● Thermodynamics of H-bonding: DNA replicationChemical equilibrium, Le Chatelier’s principle ● Maximizing the yield of nitrogen fixation: inspiration from bacteria

● Le Chatelier’s principle and blood-oxygen levelsAcid�base equilibrium, bufferes, and titrations ● pH and blood: effects from vitamin B12 deficiencyBalancing redox equations, electrochemical cells ● Oxidative metabolism of drugsOxidation/reduction reactions ● Reduction of vitamin B12 in the bodyTransition metals ● Metal chelation in the treatment of lead poisoning

● Geometric isomers and the anticancer drug cisplatinCrystal field theory, metals in biology ● Inspiration from metalloenzymes for the reduction of greenhouse gasesRate laws ● Kinetics of glucose oxidation in the bodyNuclear chemistry and elementary reactions ● Medical applications of radioactive decay (99Tc)Reaction mechanism ● Reaction mechanism of ozone decompositionEnzyme catalysis ● Enzymes as the catalysts of life, inhibitors as drugsBiochemistry ● The methionine synthase case study

aThe examples and homework problems (not listed) are available online (8).

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predict which byproducts of metabolismare highly reactive radical species. In otherproblems, the biology or medicine connec-tion is simply a framework for the chemistryproblem, such as identifying the potentialhydrogen bond donor and acceptor atomsin a cancer drug.

Implementation, Assessment, andOutcome. Implementation of the in-classand homework examples from biology andmedicine occurred stepwise over two years,as the material was developed. In the fall of2007, examples were included throughoutthe second half of the course (lectures19�36), and in the fall of 2008, the ex-amples were throughout the entire course(lectures 1�36). An assessment of the cur-riculum innovations in these semesters wasconducted by the Teaching and LearningLaboratory (TLL) at MIT, and 343 student

subjects, 79% and83% of the 2007and 2008 coursefreshman, respec-tively, completed aretrospective elec-tronic survey in thefinal week of classin addition to stan-dard MIT courseevaluations.

Assessment in-cluded student re-sponses on currentbeliefs and atti-tudes about chem-istry following thebiologically en-riched course andon the perceivedimpact of thecourse innovationsin shaping theseviews. Following thecourse, studentsfound chemistry in-teresting, expressedan interest in learn-

ing more chemistry, and strongly believedthat in order to understand biology well, onemust understand chemistry (see Supple-mentary Table 2, A�C). Students believedthat chemistry is relevant to the field of biol-ogy and to medicine and other health careprofessions. They strongly disagreed withthe statement that knowing chemistry is ofminimal value unless a student intends tomajor in chemistry or a related discipline(see Supplementary Table 2, D�F).

Respondents credited the course fortheir positive views and attitudes. They re-ported that as a result of the course innova-tions their interest in chemistry and desireto learn more chemistry increased. Studentsalso credited the course for their increasedunderstanding of the role chemistry plays inother disciplines, everyday life, and healthcare (see Supplementary Table 3). Eighty-six

percent of the students reported that thebiology- and medicine-related exampleshelped them see the connection betweenbiology and chemistry, mirroring the over-whelmingly positive course evaluation com-ments that the in-class examples “made merelate chemistry to other subjects”, were“applicable to life”, and “definitely in-creased my interest in the subject”.

In addition to the TLL assessment, stan-dard MIT course evaluations allowed for di-rect comparisons of student evaluations ofthe general chemistry course prior to imple-mentation of the biology-related examples(2006), following implementation in onlythe second half of the course (2007), and af-ter complete implementation (2008), withthe caveat that while the curriculum re-mained constant, faculty changes occurredeach year. There was a statistically signifi-cant increase between 2006 and 2008 inthe overall course rating as well as in stu-dent assessment that the course instructors“inspired interest” in chemistry and “usedgood examples” (Table 2 and Supplemen-tary Table 4). The quantitative assessmentreflected the attitude of students’ qualitativecourse assessment comments, with manyconveying “I didn’t like chem. when I startedthis class. I do now.”

Dissemination. One priority in develop-ing biology-related materials for our owngeneral chemistry course was a low barrierfor use of our material by other educators.While finding and creating examples can beprohibitively time-consuming for many pro-fessors and high school teachers, incorpo-rating these examples into an existingcourse requires minimal instructor or classtime, and the concise and modular formatmakes the examples amenable to use ineven the most rigid chemistry curriculum.All of our in-class examples and biology-related homework problems are availablethrough the MIT OpenCourseWare 5.111Web site (8). The site has generated over40,000 unique page views in the first full

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month online and also includes full videolectures and lecture notes.

Conclusion. We have developed and in-corporated a set of biology-related ex-amples and homework problems for gen-eral chemistry that encourage interdiscipli-nary thinking but have a minimal impact onclass time and are easy and free to imple-ment. With the recent budget and person-nel cutbacks at colleges and universities na-tionwide, it is particularly important toconsider teaching innovations that canstrengthen undergraduate education with-out being costly in terms of faculty time,class time, or institute resources. Evalua-tion of our biologically enriched generalchemistry course suggests that inclusion ofbiology-related examples can have a strongimpact on undergraduate interest in chemis-try, awareness of the role of chemistry in bio-logical and biomedical research, and the re-alization that knowledge of chemistry isimportant for success in biology, medicine,and related fields. Incorporation of succinctbiology and medicine-related examples inthe general chemistry classroom is onestrategy to adhere to the recommendationsof the AAMC and HHMI to offer integratedcourses and equip students with the skills

to apply scientific principles (3). We antici-pate that this and other forms of exposure toconnections between chemistry and biol-ogy at an introductory college level can helpfoster more diversity in chemistry (4) andlead to a generation of scientists preparedto take on challenging and important inter-disciplinary research (1, 2) and doctors ableto integrate scientific advances into theirmedical practices (3).

Acknowledgment: This work was supported bythe Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)through an HHMI Professors Program grant toC.L.D.

Supporting Information Available: This materialis available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

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3. AAMC-HHMI Committee (2009) Scientific Founda-tions for Future Physicians.

4. Moore, J. W. (2007) The many faces of (general) chem-istry, J. Chem. Ed. 84, 1559.

5. Ma, Y. (2009) Family socioeconomic status, parentalinvolvement, and college major choices-gender, race/ethnic, and nativity patterns, Sociol. Perspect. 52,211–233.

6. Wolfson, A. J., Hall, M. L., and Allen, M. M. (2001) In-troductory chemistry and biology taught as an inter-disciplinary mini-cluster, J. Chem. Ed. 75, 737–739.

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8. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Chemistry/5-111Fall-2008/CourseHome/index.htm.

TABLE 2. Mean student evaluations of general chemistry course 5.111prior to implementation of biology-related examples (2006), withimplementation in half of the lectures (2007), and with implementa-tion throughout the course (2008)a

aAll items are on a 7-point scale from 1 (poor or strongly disagree) to 7 (excellent or stronglyagree). The rating differences between each consecutive year are statistically significant for all cat-egories with the exception of “course rating”, which is statistically significant between 2006and 2007 but not between 2007 and 2008 (see Supplementary Table 4 for details). N � 135,198, and 160 for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 data, respectively.

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