Math in chemistry versus chemistry in math: Identifying and avoiding oppressive educational practices

Here, we present the results from a mixed-methods evaluation of the intellectual priorities conveyed by classroom practices across three enactments of large-enrollment, first- and second-semester general chemistry. What we discovered was how a heavy emphasis on the performance of calculations perpetuating the educational marginalization of students who identify as first-generation, women, First Nations, Black or African American, and Hispanic or LatinX who comprise a disproportionate number of chemistry students scoring in the bottom quartile of pre-college math test scores (e.g., ACT, SAT). However, when success in the course was defined by a student’s application of fundamental disciplinary ideas to apply models (including mathematical models) useful in making sense of phenomena, a substantive increase (8-20%) in the pass rates of the marginalized student groups was predicted. Thus, we offer implications toward the development of increasingly equitable enactments of college-level general chemistry courses emphasizing the application of models (including mathematical models) to making sense of chemical phenomena, questioning the tradition surrounding how chemistry courses have been assessed.