Students leaving the course say they feel prepared for almost any other science class at the College.
"The students learn more than just the material--they learn a way of thinking." Pine says. "They get an analytical system for how to look at a situation. It teaches you how to model things."
Course's Future
Layzer says he would like to see more students enroll in Chem 8.
Undergraduates who were turned off by their physics classes in high school would be likely to enjoy the class in part because it teaches "the music of physics," he says. Too often in high school, physics is presented as difficult and inaccessible to most students, according to Layzer.
Both Friend and Layzer say they have several ideas for the course's future. For example, they say they want to lighten the workload slightly.
"We're trying to make the problems more do-able than they were before, both in quantity and quality," Layzer says. "Right now the workload is a little too heavy."
Both professors say lessons learned in Chem 8 and 9 should be applied other science courses.
They recognize, of course, that it may not possible to get every student into an introductory science course with only 15 students.
"Introductory classes play a large service role since many students take them to fulfill concentration or grad school requirements." Friend says. "That's why it's hard to have a class like Chem 8, which functions ideally with about 15 students. "It's not the traditional approach."