Chemistry departments chemical education communities

Chapter 14 Building a Fruitful Relationship between the Chemistry and Chemical Education Communities within a Department of Chemistry Gabriela C. Weaver... 

Given this plethora of resources, it is somewhat surprising that such a small number of chemical educators were engaged in green chemistry education in the early 2000s. Like the vast majority of the chemical education community at that time, our department remained largely unaware of and indifferent to the principles and perspectives of the green chemistry movement. 

Chemical Physics Preprint Database. This database [81] is a fully automated electronic archive and distribution server intended to provide a means for rapid and efficient preprint distribution within the international theoretical chemical physics community. A preprint is a copy of a paper that has been submitted for publication. This database has been designed to be a useful and freely available tool for education and research. It allows investigators to submit and retrieve electronic copies of preprints via the Internet. Access for retrieval and listing of papers in the database is possible through WWW servers, anonymous ftp, or e-mail. Currently research papers are submitted to the databases via e-mail. This project is a joint effort by the Department of Chemistry at Brown University and the Theoretical Chemistry and Molecular Physics Group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The homepage of Chemical Physics Preprint Database is http // www.chem.brown.edu/chem-ph.html. (For a more... 

Chapters 2 (Zare) and 14 (Weaver) give two perspectives on chemical education research the chemist s view of the questions that chemical education research could address and a chemical education researcher s view on how to grow and thrive within a chemistry department. These two authors essentially define the conversation that currently exists within chemistry departments on what chemical education research is capable of doing and how it can accomplish this widiin the scientific research community. To be successful, chemical education research must bridge both the culture and the practice of two distinct disciplines (chemistry and education) and do it within the language of scientific research. The authors in this book argue that the culture of scientific research... 

Chemical education researchers are often the only such specialist in a chemistry department. This situation often leads to possibilities of collaborating in the research projects of other faculty who need an expert in chemical or science education research as part of their team. Chapter 3 (7) describes how a chemical education researcher can build collaborations to support his or her own research. This chapter discusses the many ways in which being the chemical education expert in a department or on a campus can provide additional opportunities to work with colleagues in science and engineering who carry out traditional research, with school of education colleagues, with K-12 systems, or in community partnerships. Regardless of the size of the collegiate institution, its location, or its specialization, there are opportunities to participate in collaborative projects that can impact science and education research. 

Many chemical education researchers are faculty members within departments of chemistry at higher education institutions. The type of research work that they carry out has fundamental similarities to other scientific research in the department, but differs in its methods and tools. Research in chemical education can be of great benefit to departments and other scientists in those departments. However, the work and the field may not be fully understood by all of the stakeholders. This chapter describes ways in which the goals of chemistry departments and chemical education researchers can be identified and overlap between them can be found. Descriptions of possible modes of collaboration and interaction are provided. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the importance of communication among chemical education researchers, other scientists and the broader public. 

This volume began with a call for improved communication between chemical education researchers and odier chemists. One of the first places where this should occur is in the home institutions and departments of each chemical education researcher. In order for any researcher to be successful and to be fulfilled in his/her work, it is necessary for a good relationship to exist between the individual and his/her department. If good communication and mutual respect are achieved, the relationship can be a fruitful one for bodi the individual researcher and the department as a whole. This chapter will provide an overview of issues to consider and strategies to follow in establishing a fioiitful relationship between a chemical education researcher and the rest of the chemistry community in that person s department. 

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