Analysis of halogenated volatile organic compounds (HVOCs) by GC–MS demonstrates the use of instrumentation in the environmental analysis of pollutant molecules and enhances student understanding of stable isotopes in nature. In this experiment, students separated and identified several HVOCs that have been implicated as industrial groundwater contaminants and deduced the isotopic content by analyzing the molecular ion region of the mass spectra. The HVOCs were analyzed by direct sampling of the headspace vapor over a dilute aqueous solution, which is designed to simulate a contaminated groundwater sample. The rapid headspace sampling and analysis allowed completion of the experiment by many lab classes per week. The impact of the lab was assessed using online surveys before and after the lab that queried student perceptions of their understanding, skills, and attitudes toward science and chemistry. The surveys showed noticeable gains in understanding and skills; however, few changes in attitudes were seen among students, the majority of whom already seemed committed to science and engineering careers and majors.

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Where you live should have something to do with what you teach. In the Arctic, this idea of place-based education—teaching and sharing knowledge that is needed to live well— is central to the UARCTIC consortium and the 4th International Polar Year educational reform effort. A place-based issue oriented context can engage students in chemistry concepts when it intersects with their experience and lives. This article examines the rationale and means of integrating local concerns such as world view, culture, traditional knowledge and policy into both general and specialized chemistry courses. More broadly, capacious place-based issues should be widely adapted by all curriculum reform efforts to demonstrate the connectivity between science and societal understanding of technological options. A case in point is the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in a non-majors general chemistry course when the concepts of scientific method, ice and water resources, genetic engineering, etc. are discussed. In a specialized course on radioactivity in the north, topics connected nuclear chemistry and radioactivity to people and energy. The local landscape should be central to science courses and involve issues relevant to stewardship, a component of the indigenous world view. The historical issues can be connected to current nuclear energy and uranium mining as they relate to the risks and benefits for the local community. This article will make the case that curriculum reform that focuses on real-world topics will not only engage students so that they perform well in class but also spark their interest so that they continue learning after the course is over.

Problem statement: In our undergraduate science courses, we need to engage students by including the current issues and concerns of our students as well as recognizing the place-based context in which they learn. Including culture, policy and traditional knowledge when it intersects with a chemical principle and a challenging real world issue adds concreteness to the scientific process. Approach: Science Education for New Civic Engagement and Responsibilities (SENCER) is a national dissemination project for courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. SENCER courses connect science and civic engagement by teaching through complex, capacious, current and unresolved public issues to the underlying scientific principles. The more that our students were exposed to culturally responsive interdisciplinary science courses that encompass biocomplexity, the more prepared they will act as agents of long term stewardship through periods of rapid change and ecological challenge. It was therefore critical that issues such as sustainability, environmental health, food security, justice and precaution be integrated into science teaching. In studying public issues of the north, students and faculty can use examples from traditional knowledge to illustrate the use of science principles. Results: As part of the IPY UARCTIC effort, examples from climate change, nutrition, nuclear science and chemical ecology were developed to illustrate this integration. The courses adapted and delivered at an arctic university will illustrate the benefits of integrating social and cultural topics with science. Student responses showed an increase in interest in science. Conclusion:The adapt and adopt process is synergistic and should be goal oriented. This approach was especially relevant to minority and indigenous students who were engaged in the issues of their local community. The SENCER approach to arctic science creates a legacy of new, engaging courses in the north.