Prof. Vicente Talanquer
Title: Reforming chemistry to address deficiencies and disparities
Bio: Vicente Talanquer is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the UA. His research focuses on undergraduate chemistry education. He has published over 150 peer reviewed and invited papers where he has explored the conceptual difficulties that students face when learning chemistry and the effect of different teaching strategies on student understanding. He has also investigated prospective science teachers’ reasoning and practices. Dr. Talanquer has applied the results of his educational research to the development of innovative curricula for undergraduate chemistry education. He has received various awards during his academic career, including the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry by American Chemical Society, and the Educational Research Award by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents. In 2015, he was named Arizona Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation. In 2019, Dr. Talanquer received the Education Research Award from the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, and he has recently been awarded the 2021 ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching & Learning of Chemistry.
Abstract: Research in chemistry education has shown that traditional approaches to teaching foundational chemistry courses often fail to help students develop meaningful understandings, lead to high failure rates, and contribute to significant disparities in performance, achievement, and persistence in STEM careers among diverse student groups. To address these issues, over the past 20 years, we have embarked on a continuous reform process that includes significant changes in curriculum, instruction, and assessment in our general chemistry courses for science and engineering majors. In this presentation, I summarize the findings from investigations conducted to understand the challenges faced, describe the core educational changes implemented, and highlight their impact on various aspects of teaching and learning for different student populations.
Keywords: Chemistry education, teaching and learning