Dr. I.
David Reingold
Juniata's Organic First Curriculum:
Juniata's Chemistry curriculum is quite unusual, in that we begin all students with Organic Chemistry. This is not the normal sophomore organic course taught to freshmen: we have created a new hybrid course, one that leads in slowly enough for freshmen, that leaves out some of the traditional organic material needed only by chemists, that interweaves as much biochemistry as possible into the fabric of the course. If you are interested in a complete description of the curriculum, its philosophy, logistics, and results, click on the links below.
Overall Philosophy and Approach (printed in J. Chem. Ed. 2001, 78, 869 )
Applying the Philosophy to Sophomore Organic (printed in J. Chem. Ed. 2004, 81, 470 )
Organic First Development Site
One of the problems we struggled with for years in this curriculum is that there is no book designed for this audience. Fortunately, in 1999-2000 I was supported by a grant from NSF to write such a textbook on organic chemistry for freshmen. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Co. in July of 2001 until summer of 2006, and is now available from IA Books.
Dr. David Reingold
Juniata College
Huntingdon, PA 16652
Phone: 814-641-3565
e-mail me!!
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