CHED105 - Foundations of Chemistry

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Incompatible

CHEM103 - Introduction to Chemistry, CHEM105 Foundations of Chemistry

Unit rationale, description and aim

The science of chemistry is the foundation upon which many innovations in industry and breakthroughs in scientific research arise. To progress towards a career as a biomedical professional, students require a sound background in the basic chemical concepts that are covered in this unit. 

This unit introduces the foundation principles of chemistry, which are essential for the further study of the chemical, biological and environmental sciences. Topics taught include atomic structure, the elements, molecules, compounds, chemical bonding, chemical reactions, stoichiometry, chemical equilibrium, acids, bases, pH, buffers and radioactivity. Students will also develop laboratory skills through a comprehensive practical component.

This unit aims to form the foundation for subsequent chemistry units, providing knowledge of basic chemistry principles and assimilation of their significance in biological and environmental context, through scenario-based problems and laboratory experiments.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Describe key chemical concepts associated with matter, its structure, interactions and classification (GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Demonstrate proficiency in writing chemical formulae and chemical reactions (GA4, GA5)

LO3 - Appraise the influence and significance of chemistry in biological and environmental context (GA2, GA4, GA5, GA8) 

LO4 - Demonstrate practical chemistry skills and perform relevant laboratory tasks safely and effectively (GA7, GA8).

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

Content

Topics will include:

• Matter and measurement
• Atomic structure and periodic table
• Bonding, structure and properties
• Chemical reactions and stoichiometry
• Chemical equilibrium
• Solutions
• Gases
• Acids and bases
• Radioactivity

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Lecture sessions encourage participation and offer opportunities for students to obtain feedback to questions in real time. Workshops involve work on weekly question sets related to the lecture content and are designed so that staff can provide regular guidance and feedback to students on application of content knowledge. In the laboratory, students will undertake group and individual practical experiments related to theoretical content. These sessions encourage engagement with peers and development of individual laboratory skills and practical connections to the lecture and workshop content. These inquiry-based strategies have been chosen to best promote active learning so that all students, including those who have little or no previous chemistry education, receive appropriate support and guidance from teaching staff. 

Further to this, to ensure students are ready to transition from the Diploma and articulate into the second year of undergraduate study, transition pedagogies will be incorporated into the unit as the key point of differentiation from the standard unit. This focuses on an active and engaging approach to learning and teaching practices, and a scaffolded approach to the delivery of curriculum to enhance student learning in a supportive environment. This will ensure that students develop foundation level discipline-based knowledge, skills and attributes, and simultaneously the academic competencies required of students to succeed in this unit.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. In order to successfully complete this unit, students need to complete and submit three graded assessment tasks. In addition to this, students must obtain an aggregate mark of greater than 50% over these three assessment tasks.

This unit aims to provide students with a foundational understanding of basic chemistry concepts and techniques, to be built upon in subsequent chemistry units. A hurdle task, i.e. a bridging course provided early into the semester, prepares students for initial unit content and provides a measure of assumed knowledge upon commencing the unit. 

The intra-semester quizzes assess the students’ engagement and understanding with the theoretical unit content. Students are supported with weekly lecture and tutorial sessions, revision questions and end-of-chapter questions from the prescribed textbook. Communication with lecturing staff is encouraged to help clarify unclear content, provide regular opportunities for feedback and assist reflection on the teaching material.

Laboratory assessment tasks will appraise students’ laboratory technique, data collection and evaluation skills.

The final exam assesses material from all content areas. Having been provided with feedback from the earlier assessment tasks, previous misunderstandings and conceptual difficulties can be corrected and students can demonstrate achievement of all learning objectives.

Assessment tasks within this unit are criterion-referenced which means the teaching staff set certain standards of achievement (criteria) in advance and the performance of each student is evaluated according to those criteria. The criteria for each assessment item are based around the unit learning outcomes.

Strategies aligned with transition pedagogies will be utilised to facilitate successful completion of the unit assessment tasks. For each assessment, there will be the incorporation of developmentally staged tasks with a focus on a progressive approach to learning. This will be achieved through activities, including regular feedback, particularly early in the unit of study to support their learning; strategies to develop and understand discipline-specific concepts and terminology; in-class practice tasks with integrated feedback; and greater peer-to-peer collaboration. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bettelheim, F. A., Brown, W.H., Campbell, M. K., Farrell, S., and Torres, O.J., (2019). Introduction to General, Organic and Biochemistry (12th ed). Thomson Brook/Cole Publishers.

Blackman A.B., Bottle S., Schmid S., Mocerino M and Wille U. (2016). Chemistry (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.

Brown T.L., LeMay H.E., Burston B.E., Murphy C., Woodward P., Langford S., Sagatys D. and George A. (2018). Chemistry: The Central Science (14th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

Kotz, J.C., Treichel P.M. and Townsend J.R. (2019) Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity (10th ed.). Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Zumdahl, S.S. and DeCoste, D. (2015). Introductory Chemistry: a Foundation (9th ed.). Cengage Learning, Inc.