About Matthew's Project
As part of the Chemistry Teaching Fellowship Program (CTFP) at the University of Toronto Mississauga, I redesigned the tutorial structure for CHM120: Chemical Principles II. I replaced the previous 50-minute sessions with a standardized two-hour framework launching in Winter 2026.
The new format features one hour of laboratory preparation, followed by one hour of guided problem-solving, interactive activities, and a formative assessment.
Developed in collaboration with Dr. Dave Armstrong, this initiative enhances consistency, student engagement, and equitable learning across all tutorial sections.
About Isabelle's Project
In my CTFP, I developed a series of teaching modules to introduce core atmospheric chemistry concepts and data analysis tools to a cohort of Research Opportunity Program students. With guidance from the instructors and research mentors, each student worked independently on a project that sought to deepen our understanding of air quality pollutants and greenhouse gases in the Greater Toronto Area. Overall, the project was a success.
The students learned the fundamentals of atmospheric chemistry and drastically improved their data analysis, programming, and communication skills. Seeing the students go through the peaks and troughs of research while maintaining a high level of curiosity and scientific rigor was refreshing, inspiring, and a highlight of my school year. .
About Olivia's Project
Under the mentorship of Profs. Jen Murphy and Jon Abbatt, I developed and implemented a suite of brief, low-stakes writing activities to bolster the scientific communication component of Chemistry of Environmental Change (CHM210H).
Our goal was to encourage the students to critically engage with scientific articles, as well as build their reading and writing skills through regular practice, while tying in course concepts. The activities were designed to take place during tutorials, and they ranged from analyzing figures and annotating abstracts, to translating jargon for a general audience. It felt very meaningful and rewarding to use writing as an active learning tool and promote scientific communication in a subject where it's so important.
About Vince's Project
During the Fall 2025 term, I collaborated with Dr. Kylie Luska and Dr. Barbora Morra in developing question banks for 200-level organic chemistry courses (CHM247/CHM249). These question banks were developed to align with the new mechanistic-based curriculum introduced in Winter 2025. These tools are intended to help students to not only practice for their assessments but also develop the problem-solving skills needed for tackling organic chemistry questions, particularly in multi-step syntheses and structural elucidation.
This project allowed me to turn my passion for teaching chemistry into a tangible experience. I gained valuable pedagogical skills including collaborating with faculty, creating a learning environment that supports students with diverse needs, and recognizing and addressing gaps in student understanding.
About Jared's Project
A new scanning electron microscopy (SEM) module was developed and implemented in a third-year analytical chemistry course, under the guidance of Prof. Alana Ogata, to provide students with the fundamentals of the theory and hands-on experience in the function and use of SEM. This new module allows students to hone their skills and familiarity with the instrument, while developing expertise in protocol development, optimization, and utility on not just for SEM but also for the larger analytical field. These skills will prove beneficial to the students as they pursue paths in either academic research or industry.
About Bryton's Project
My CFTP assignment challenges students to use analysis and critical thinking as well as fact checking, by having them examine AI-generated essays on topics covered in class. Students edit short essay answers generated by ChatGPT, when prompted with exam-style questions.
I worked alongside Professor Dwight Seferos to design this assigment for Organic Materials Chemistry (CHM456). The underlying concept is that LLM generative chatbots are able to generate writing that is passable to non-experts, but which usually does not hold up to the scrutiny of those actively engaging with the field. Since current students are positioned to be the next generation of experts and will have to grapple with the existence of this technology for all of their professional lives, it's important to get them thinking about this early.
About Anna's Project
As a participant in the Chemistry Teaching Fellows Program (CTFP), I have had the opportunity to develop and introduce six innovative experiments for the CHMA12 Winter 2025 lab manual. Under the guidance and support of Dr. Lana Mikhaylichenko, this initiative is designed to bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications. These experiments aim to offer students hands-on experiences that highlight the significance of chemistry in everyday life.
My objective is to ignite a passion for chemistry, illustrating its relevance in daily activities and fostering both academic and personal growth. I am excited to contribute to a curriculum that not only prepares students for advanced studies but also equips them with essential practical skills, and I look forward to seeing how these new experiments will inspire and engage future learners.
About Karolina's Project
My CTFP was for developing the synthesis of lidocaine, a local anesthetic, for a third-year undergraduate course. CHM343, organic synthetic technique, teaches students synthetic techniques and research skills through experiments that involve important reactions (example: Suzuki cross-coupling) and/or useful products (example: this one!). I took this course as a student and was a TA for it later, so having another perspective from the development of the course material was a great experience.
This project was supervised by the course instructors, Dr. Andy Dicks and Dr. Kylie Luska, who were fantastic mentors and taught me a lot about the priorities and qualities for teaching instructors in chemistry. This is my third CTFP and I am excited for the future teaching projects made available through this program.
My objective is to ignite a passion for chemistry, illustrating its relevance in daily activities and fostering both academic and personal growth. -Anna Galang
The Chemistry Teaching Fellowship Program provides financial incentives and opportunities to develop specific teaching initiatives, under the supervision of a faculty member. The objective is to provide a high quality learning experience in developing pedagogical tools that would benefit both the graduate student in their future careers and directly enhance the quality of instruction currently in the department. Additional activities will include participation in the TATP where participants develop their teaching philosophy statements. Participation in CTFP will generally be for one term. The call for proposals is sent out in April and June of each year.