Using systems thinking to connect green principles and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in a reaction stoichiometry module

Abstract

ABSTRACTTo help students address problems related to climate change, chemistry fundamentals are taught using sustainable principles. The principles of green chemistry and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are guides to help us reach a sustainable future. Educators use these to create resources to connect green principles and sustainability goals. Systems thinking provides the method for creating relevant lectures, meaningful activities, and cohesive assessments in an educational module. A week-long stoichiometry module for introductory chemistry is described. Students tackle multiple learning outcomes to answer complex questions such as ‘what makes an reaction efficient?’. This module relates SDGs #7 and #13, clean energy and climate action, to the green principle of atom economy, which evaluates the efficiency of chemical transformations. The process of backward design is used with systems thinking to map learning outcomes across the module. Students demonstrate skills related to individual outcomes and use their knowledge to evaluate chemical systems from multiple perspectives across outcomes. Incorporating real-world examples the module explores how incomplete combustion impacts human health and the environment while exploring the material efficiency of making different fuels. The context and practice of sustainable science can be used to teach chemistry in a systematic way.

Keywords

• Atom economy
• clean energy
• climate action
• stoichiometry
• reaction efficiency