News & Comment

Chemistry degrees are often very broad. What might a degree look like if we covered fewer topics more deeply?

R/S Chemistry is a free, game-based learning tool for students to practise stereochemical assignments in an interactive setting, leading to increased student engagement in the topic.

As academic staff scrambled into emergency remote teaching during COVID-19 restrictions, we also had to move in-person exams online without compromising integrity. This disruption caused us to think carefully about how chemistry is assessed, because ‘business as usual’ was no longer possible — and at some institutions, there are no plans for in-person exams to return.

Chemists make crucial contributions to society and are often found in a broad range of workplaces. To sustain these impactful contributions, a diverse range of career skills must be embedded into the curricula.

The world is facing multiple unfolding global crises and chemistry systems are integral in both the cause and solution to these challenges. Systems thinking can be used not only to support student learning of chemistry concepts, but also to build community within and beyond the classroom.

While there is much of the last two years we may wish to forget, it is imperative that we share our pandemic chemistry teaching experiences.