Historical Analysis of the Inorganic Chemistry Curriculum Using ACS Examinations as Artifacts.

ACS Examinations provide a lens through which to examine historical changes in topic coverage via analyses of course-specific examinations. This study is an extension of work completed previously by the ACS Exams Research Staff and collaborators in general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physical chemistry to explore content changes in the principal courses of the postsecondary chemistry curriculum. In this study, we consider how inorganic chemistry content coverage has varied over a 55-year period since the first inorganic chemistry ACS Examination was released in 1961. A total of 860 items  was evaluated on the basis of problem type (i.e., algorithmic, conceptual, or recall), use of visual-spatial or reference components, and content coverage. Our analyses identify core content areas in the inorganic chemistry curriculum, consistent with those reported in faculty surveys. Each examination also contained questions addressing a variety of specialty areas that vary widely within the discipline between 19...