Concept inventories assess the common misconceptions and alternative conceptions of students with regard to key concepts in a given subject area. Educators who are equipped with these concept inventories can communicate the main ideas of a course much more effectively by specifically addressing known student misunderstandings. Because effective concept inventories will focus on the most important concepts of a particular subject area, it is important to begin such research by identifying those ideas which are most important to the field.

In order to ensure that we develop effective concept inventories in chemistry, we are conducting a Delphi study of experts that will generate a list of unifying themes in chemistry. We are looking for those concepts which play a fundamental role in many or all of the various divisions of chemistry: organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, and biochemistry. Experts were solicited from each of the traditional chemical divisions, as well as from among community college and high school teachers. Philosophers and historians of chemistry are also represented on our panel of experts. The iterative nature of the Delphi survey technique allows the experts to reach group consensus as to a list of unifying themes that illustrate the relationships among key concepts in chemistry.

We intend to use these unifying themes as the framework for concept inventories in all divisions of chemistry. We believe that by structuring concept inventories (and, consequently, curriculum development) around unifying themes in chemistry, the relationships between the various divisions will be made explicit. In this way, we hope to facilitate transition between disciplines and increase student understanding of the vast field of knowledge that spans the many divisions of chemistry.