University Chemistry ›› 2025, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (12): 95-107.doi: 10.12461/PKU.DXHX202509041

• Study and Reform of Chemical Education • Previous Articles     Next Articles

From Science to University Chemistry

Jia Yao, Xiaogang Peng   

  1. Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
  • Received:2025-09-10 Accepted:2025-09-25 Published:2025-12-27
  • Contact: Xiaogang Peng E-mail:xpeng@zju.edu.cn

Abstract: This paper examines science education from a fundamental level, discusses the essence of science, understands the spirit and wisdom of science, and analyzes the differences and connections between science and other ways of understanding the world. Furthermore, by analyzing the structure of modern science, it outlines the position of chemistry in the scientific framework and provides suggestions for teaching chemistry in first-year undergraduate students. We need to re-examine the microscopic quantum chemistry part to better serve macroscopic systems; for the macroscopic chemistry section, it is necessary to organize an overall framework that is suitable for the chemistry in the 21st century and is unified with the microscopic quantum chemistry framework, attempting to draw a picture of the unity of micro and macro. The experimental facts of chemistry are rich and accumulated in various data handbooks. For first-year undergraduate students, they should learn how to distinguish experimental data, use the data in the handbooks at an appropriate level, understand that experimental data is not absolute truth, and especially learn to distinguish experimental data from others' interpretations of experimental data.

Key words: Science, View of matter, University chemistry, Microscopic, Macroscopic, Experiment