Book chapter
Energy in Chemical Systems: An Integrated Approach
Teaching and Learning of Energy in K – 12 Education, pp.301-316
Springer International Publishing
03/14/2014
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-05017-1_17
Abstract
“Energy” is a complex scientific concept central to all scientific disciplines. Here we describe three perspectives often used to address energy in the context of introductory college level courses: the macroscopic, which involves thermodynamic and mathematical treatments of energy and energy changes, the atomic-molecular, which relates to energy changes that result from bonding and intermolecular interactions, and the quantum-mechanical, which relates to energy quantization and provides the basis for understanding periodic trends, molecular structure, and electromagnetic radiation. A robust understanding of the role of energy within chemical systems requires that these three perspectives be integrated, but often they are separated into distinct sections of the course and are not explicitly connected. Moreover, prior instruction that does not explicitly address energy concepts at the molecular level almost certainly adds to student challenges. We suggest an alternate approach, illustrated by the new general chemistry course “Chemistry, Life, the Universe and Everything”, in which structure, properties and energy are presented as three interconnected learning progressions, and the treatment of energy is integrated. All three energy perspectives are explicitly addressed and related to each other in increasingly more sophisticated ways, so that students are led from the structure of the atom through to networked biological reactions, and the role that energy, entropy and Gibbs energy play in these systems.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Energy in Chemical Systems: An Integrated Approach
- Creators
- Melanie M Cooper - Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USAMichael W Klymkowsky - Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, USANicole M Becker - Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Teaching and Learning of Energy in K – 12 Education, pp.301-316
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-319-05017-1_17
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing; Cham
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/14/2014
- Academic Unit
- Chemistry
- Record Identifier
- 9984216708402771
Metrics
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