How can we apply chemistry to real-world problems in the classroom?

What if chemistry classes were organized around real-world problems instead of chapters in a textbook?In this bonus BCCE Community Conversation preview, Melissa talks with Vicente Talanquer about helping students think like chemists rather than simply memorize chemistry. They explore why authentic, real-world problems can transform learning, how instructors can make meaningful changes without rewriting an entire course, and why teaching chemistry is about developing a way of thinking—not just delivering content.   Important Links Submit a Question for Community Conversations bcce.divched.org/2026 YouTube.com/@chemforyourlife chemforyourlife.com Free resources Chemical Thinking Curriculum Structure: https://sites.google.com/site/chemicalthinking/structure More on Chemical Thinking Curriculum: https://sites.google.com/site/chemicalthinking/ General Chemistry - CLUE textbook & activities: https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/clue/general-chemistry.aspx Organic Chemistry OCLUE textbook & activities: https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/clue/organic-chemistry.aspx Time Stamps 0:00 – Why Melissa loves BCCE and chemistry education 2:50 – Meet Ellen Yezierski and the idea of scholarly teaching 4:00 – Moving beyond intuition and using evidence to improve teaching 6:35 – What chemistry educators can learn from cognitive science and education research 8:30 – The biggest challenge: finding time to improve your teaching 11:00 – Why conferences and community matter for innovation 13:45 – Barriers to evidence-based teaching and the risk of changing what’s familiar 16:20 – Applying the same scientific scrutiny to old teaching methods 19:40 – A practical first step toward scholarly teaching 21:00 – Finding useful teaching research without getting overwhelmed 25:20 – Meet the panelists and the ideas they’ll bring to BCCE 29:10 – How the Community Conversation will work 32:35 – Why good teachers are made, not born 34:00 – Filling your teaching cup back up at BCCE Support this podcast on Patreon  Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com Watch our episodes on YouTube Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.