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Becoming a CAST Fellow
I had the amazing opportunity to be selected as a Climate and Sustainability Teaching (CAST) fellow this academic year (2024-2025). The program started in the summer, and I had an opportunity to collaborate with exceptional individuals with similar interests in incorporating applications related to climate change within their courses. The summer provided me an opportunity to grow in terms of understanding key concepts to consider, identifying resources to use, and strategies for weaving in ideas within lecture and assessments. I decided to incorporate these concepts into my large introductory chemistry course that I was co-teaching with Jie Liu, who co-led the CAST program.
Bridging Chemistry to Climate and sustainability
In deciding which course to redesign, I opted for the larger course, which has predominately nonmajors who are completing the course as a prerequisite for their majors. I wanted to focus on this course because I strive to illustrate the relevance and importance of chemistry in society. Chemistry introduces many abstract concepts that involve qualitative and quantitative problem-solving strategies to fully understand. Applications are emphasized periodically, but students have different interests. I felt that sustainability has wider implications for everyone instead of focusing on niche applications that appeal to select majors. This is a sensitive topic, and in redesigning that course, I was careful to avoid a doom and gloom attitude and opted to illustrate the issues at hand and discuss solutions through the lens of chemistry.
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With introductory chemistry, we start on day 1, and I opted to review key concepts that are not covered in depth in the course, while setting the frameworks for subsequent discussions related to sustainability. I decided to probe students with a question that I found shocking when I first did the calculation. How many pounds of carbon dioxide are generated per mile, assuming the car gets about 20 miles per gallon. The answer is 1 lb., which led me to do the calculation a couple of times to ensure that I did make an error. I wanted to this calculation with the intent of returning to subsequent discussions once they had more chemistry knowledge. I incorporated sustainability periodically throughout my lectures and within my assignments, but I decided to use these concepts to frame the review lectures at the end of the term. I incorporated the classic Haber-Bosch process paramount for synthesizing fertilizer to make food. This served to review kinetics and thermodynamics. Additionally, I incorporated other case studies related to the kinetics of ozone depletion from halogenated hydrocarbons, biofuel production from algae, and strategies for minimizing ocean acidification. I used data to drive the discussions. When feasible, I discussed social issues with potential solutions to provide a multi-dimensional perspective.
More to Come
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I plan to continue incorporating sustainability and climate change case studies as part of my lectures and assessment. As an educator, I think it is important to raise awareness while emphasizing strategies that are being researched to address the problems. Our amazing undergraduate students at Duke will graduate and many will be on the forefront of researching and creating innovative solutions to preserve our futures.
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This blog was written by Charlie Cox as part of a CAST Fellows' outreach effort to share resources and personal experiences in designing courses to engage Duke students across disciplines with topics of sustainability and climate change.