Despite all the efforts students make to graduate with a science major, research has shown that most college science courses provide students with only a fragmented (碎片化的) understanding of fundamental scientific concepts. The teaching method improves memorization of separate facts, proceeding from one textbook chapter to the next without necessarily making connections between them. 

With that in mind, we developed a series of cross-disciplinary (跨学科的) activities. In our most recent study, we investigated how well college students could use their chemistry knowledge to explain real-world biological phenomena. To begin with, we interviewed 28 college students majoring in sciences or engineering. All had taken both introductory chemistry and biology courses. We asked them to identify connections between the content of these courses and what they believed to be the take-home messages from each course. The students responded with extensive lists of topics, concepts, and skills that they'd learned in class.

Following that, a set of cross-disciplinary activities were designed to guide students in the use of core chemistry ideas and knowledge to help explain real-world biological phenomena. One activity explored the impacts of ocean acidification (酸化) on seashells. Here, the students were asked to use basic chemistry ideas to explain how the increasing level of carbon dioxide in sea water is affecting shell-building marine animals such as corals and oysters. 

Overall, the students felt confident of their chemistry knowledge. However, they had a harder time applying the same chemistry knowledge. The students in our study also reported that these activities helped them see links between the two disciplines that they wouldn't have perceived otherwise. The ability to make these connections is important beyond the classroom as well, because it's the basis of science literacy (素养). So we also came away with evidence that our chemistry students at least would like to have the ability to have a deeper understanding of science and how to apply it.