Dr. Daniel Fried is Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Saint Peters University, has developed new methods and content for chemistry education in K-12 that incorporates pedagogies from Daniel’s background in music and art. It’s very visual, tactile, and kids learn the concepts in a way that mirrors how students learn musical instruments.

What or who inspired you to focus on Chemistry?

I stumbled on chemistry while taking Organic Chemistry over the summer in college. I loved how the subject finally gave explanations about how living matter is put together and how it reacts. I started taking more courses in organic and biochemistry because I wanted to know how everything in the biological world was structured!

Why did you want to develop content for chemistry education for K-12?

At the end of graduate school, and with a Ph.D. in chemistry, I felt that I had a birdseye view of the subjects of chemistry and biochemistry, and wanted to go back to fill in the gaps and try my hand at revolutionizing the subject for early learners. I didn’t want other kids to get stuck the way I did. I also wanted to show that kids have an untapped potential that wasn’t acknowledged with the standard approaches to learning that I experienced as a kid. I didn’t think that kids should have to wait until they were adults to find out about biochemistry. I wanted to see if kids could learn it from an early age.

Click on the Read More button to learn more along with contact information for Dr. Daniel Fried…

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