Exploring Chemistry: One thing I have learned as a chemistry instructor is that chemistry has many
great stories. These stories present themselves in a human context—showing the choices, efforts, strengths,
and fl aws of human beings. Too often these stories are relegated to boxed essays or the last chapters of a book
that rarely get covered, and our students thereby lose the opportunity to see the impact chemistry has on their everyday lives. However, interesting stories in and of themselves are not sufficient. In the development of each case study, the stories are chosen to engage the students in a meaningful and thought-provoking manner, which
leads to students wanting to read more. The concept of learning chemistry by means of narratives from other contexts and other disciplines has proven remarkably effective.