Most undergraduate chemistry courses and a few high school honors courses, which focus on physical chemistry and quantum mechanics, are highly mathematically-oriented. At the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, we developed a new module for high school students, titledChemistry – From “the Hole” to “the Whole”: From the Nanoscale to Microelectronics. The module is based on a qualitative approach to teaching quantum chemistry, emphasizing interdisciplinary real-life applications and integration of visualization. While aimed at honors high school chemistry students, the module was also partially implemented and assessed in an undergraduate chemistry course. The research objective was to investigate the effect of the module on the visual and textual understanding of quantum mechanical concepts among 122 honors and 65 volunteer undergraduate chemistry students. The research tools included students' pre- and post-questionnaires. High school honors and undergraduate students, who were exposed to the module, significantly improved their textual and visual understanding of quantum mechanical concepts and their ability to move across illustrations and explanations. Honors and undergraduate students minimized the gap that had existed between them in terms of integrating micro and quantum levels into their post-questionnaire answers. Our findings augment the current set of the four chemistry understanding levels – macro, micro, symbol and process – by adding the quantum mechanical level as a fifth level of chemistry understanding. The study contributes to teaching physical chemistry by providing a tool for learning, assessment, and research of chemistry understandingviaboth visual and textual modes.

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Chemistry students in Israel have two options for studying chemistry: basic or honors (advanced placement). For instruction in high school honors chemistry courses, we developed a module focusing on abstract topics in quantum mechanics: ChemistryFrom the Nanoscale to Microelectronics. The module adopts a visual–conceptual approach, which replaces mathematical derivations and includes interdisciplinary, real-life applications. The module has also been used as enrichment material for an undergraduate mathematically oriented quantum chemistry course. We assessed the comprehension of quantum mechanical concepts and the thinking skills of high school honors students and undergraduate chemistry students who studied this module. These skills included visual and textual chemical understanding, graphing, and far transfer of learning. Participants included over 100 high school honors students in high and intermediate levels, and over 60 undergraduate students, with students separated into groups of those exposed to the module and those who received mathematics enrichment instead. The questionnaires revealed that both high school honors students and undergraduate students improved their scores. High-level academic students outperformed their undergraduate peers, and undergraduate students who had been exposed to the module outperformed undergraduates who had studied the topic with mathematical enrichment. The research contributes to the field of teaching quantum mechanics and thinking skills, suggesting that high school honors students and undergraduate students could benefit from studying quantum mechanics using a visual–conceptual approach along with real-life applications. This contribution is part of a special issue on teaching introductory chemistry in the context of the advanced placement (AP) chemistry course redesign.

Colleges of engineering increase accessibility to higher education in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. There is often a need to promote students' learning and thinking skills in order to maintain high academic standards and at the same time avoid high rates of failure and dropout. In addition, academic staff with high pedagogical qualifications is an essential requirement. Establishing a Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is an increasingly frequent process for achieving these goals. Such centers offer various programs for the promotion of teaching and learning in academic institutions.This article examines the factors that influence the significant role played by TLC in an institution, and the effectiveness of its curricula. The literature refers to several factors, such as the initiation of innovative programs and participation in the institutional strategy plan. In our college, the tight linkage between teaching and learning and the involvement of faculty members in TLC programs are highly influential factors.