Studying Synthetic Polymers in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum. A Review of the Educational Literature

This review and its comprehensive list of 339 references is published on the Web at the JCE Online site. It is offered as an up-to-date resource for chemical educators for their use in developing innovative ways of teaching the topic of synthetic polymers within the context of the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. An account is given of (i) the scope of polymer chemistry in education, (ii) the educational literature available in this field, (iii) course modules that may be used for instruction about polymer chemistry, and (iv) polymer-based experiments for the teaching laboratory. To encourage the wider inclusion of polymers in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum, a selection of simple experiments that relate to common polymers is recommended.