Teaching Innovators
Published earlier this year in the journal Science, the larg-
est-ever observational study of undergraduate STEM educa-
tion monitored nearly 550 faculty as they taught more than
700 courses at 25 institutions across the United States and
Canada. This analysis of more than 2,000 college classes in
science, technology, engineering and math has imparted a les-
son that might resonate with many students who sat through
them: Enough with the lectures, already!
Teaching successful STEM courses now involves a number of
different methods, all designed to engage students actively in
the learning process. Here at Carolina Chemistry, we are proud
to have six very innovative teaching professors, all deeply
involved in moving away from the plain lecture model. A few of
these great initiatives are described below.
Dr. Brian Hogan, Teaching Associate Professor, has spent the
last three years reinventing CHEM 431, Macromolecular Struc-
ture and Function. Dr. Hogan restructured the course from a
traditional lecture to a more inclusive, high structure format
where students no longer use textbooks, but rather they are
led through the semester honing their skills reading primary
literature. This teaching method, known as C.R.E.A.T.E., Consid-
er, Read, Elucidate the hypothesis, Think of the next Experi-
ment, introduces and reinforces important research-related
skills. One former student, now a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry
at the University of Chicago, wrote Dr. Hogan and stated, “I am
currently on my first rotation and aside from my project, I am a
part of a team that has been tasked with writing a large litera-
ture review on over fifty papers. The reading and organization
skills I’ve gained from 431 have proved to be tremendously
helpful in navigating the language and structure of these pa-
pers in biological and medicinal chemistry. Writing summaries
for these readings and pulling out info is much easier since
8 | CHEMISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
I have already had exposure to, and experience with using a
systematic approach to reading this type of literature.”
Dr. Danielle Zurcher and Dr. Joshua Beaver, Teaching Assistant
Professors, have been working to extend the department’s
initiative to standardize large-enrollment introductory cours-
es with 200-400 students per section, to include the sec-
ond-year organic chemistry series, CHEM 261 & 262. Stan-
dardizing chemistry courses involves coordinating multiple
sections, 3 - 4 sections per semester, with different instruc-
tors to cover the course topics at roughly the same rate. Stu-
dents across all sections take common exams and are graded
according to the same expectations, giving all students taking
the course have a common experience. Danielle and Joshua
are building on the documented success of having the General
Chemistry sequence, CHEM 101 & 102, successfully standard-
ized for the past three years.
This semester, Carribeth Bliem, Teaching Assistant Professor,
co-led a presentation to development officers from the Uni-
versity Development Office to demonstrate the active-learn-
ing pedagogy in UNC’s first, and to date only, active-learning
classroom. Her demonstration enabled staff from Develop-
ment to experience the advantages of a flexible-use class-
room that has moveable furniture, display screens on all walls,
and other technology that supports the instructors’ efforts to
encourage collaboration among students and engage them
with course content on a deeper level. Now that the Develop-
ment Office has seen a classroom “in action,” they are poised
to raise funds dedicated to refurbishing existing classrooms in
order to support these instructional efforts.
With increasing numbers of chemistry majors each year, the
undergraduate advisors Dr. Domenic Tiani, Teaching Associate
| CHEM.UNC.EDU