| Pilot Site: | |
| Pilot course for Logan Memorial Educational Campus. Other schools may not offer this course without prior approval from the Interdivisional Curriculum Committee. | |
| Grade Range: | |
| 10-11 | |
| Prerequisites: | |
| None. | |
| Course duration: | |
| Two semesters. | |
| Subject area in which graduation credit will be given: | |
| Science: Chemistry | |
| UC subject area satisfied: | |
| d - Laboratory Science | |
| Course Description: | |
| Medical Chemistry and Public Health is a year-long chemistry lab course that connects the study of chemistry to the everyday life of students and their communities. The course engages students in investigating and applying chemistry concepts and methodologies to understand and address issues related to personal and public health. The elements and molecules of the human body and the environment are used to contextualize the standards covered in chemistry. For instance, Dimensional Analysis is practiced while figuring a patient’s medication dosage. Students practice creating molar solutions by making IV solutions and apply gas laws to respiration and buffers to antacids. Thermodynamics is related to familiar organic molecules (food) energy and exercise.
Students study principles of atomic structure, periodicity, chemical bonding, molecular structure, stoichiometry, states of matter, thermodynamics, acids and bases, concentration units, equilibrium, nuclear chemistry, and organic chemistry. Students come to understand that each of us is basically a large chemical factory and that we and our communities regularly interact with chemicals that contribute to our health (or not). Guest health professionals working in diverse public health positions utilizing chemistry or collaborating with chemical professionals demonstrate that the study of chemistry is not only interesting, but can lead to a range of college majors and careers. In addition, as a result of their study of Medical Chemistry and Public Health, students will be able to utilize their knowledge of chemistry to evaluate medical, environmental, personal, and public health issues. | |
| State Course Code(s): | |
| 7951 - Intermediate Public and Community Health (Concentrator) | |
| Basic Texts and Teaching Guides: | |
| Stacy, A 2015, Living by Chemistry, W.H. Freeman and Company Kean, S 2011, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, Back Bay Books | |