Introductory college chemistry courses are required by a wide range of science curricula. This fact has tended to frame the courses as places where core, fundamental ideas are taught, so that a foundation of knowledge might be called upon by students when they are in subsequent courses. Unfortunately, the preponderance of compartmentalized fundamental topics bolsters learning that has challenges in terms of transfer of knowledge to other science settings. One method that has been proposed to help alleviate this concern is to incorporate systems thinking and rich contexts that directly connect foundational chemistry ideas to larger systems. One area that shows strong potential for such efforts is the science of pharmaceuticals. Adding examples related to the chemistry of drugs, both within the large lecture setting of general chemistry and within smaller discussion groups. The role of example problems, student writing projects and group construction of systems thinking related visualizations of the context of pharmaceutical chemistry are reported.

广泛的科学课程要求大学化学入门课程。这一事实趋向于将课程设置为讲授核心，基本思想的地方，以便学生在以后的课程中可能需要知识的基础。不幸的是，分隔的基础主题的优势支持了在将知识转移到其他科学环境方面面临挑战的学习。已提出的一种缓解这种担忧的方法是将系统思维和丰富的上下文结合起来，将基础化学思想直接与大型系统联系起来。展示这种努力潜力的领域之一是药物科学。添加与药物化学有关的示例，既可以在一般化学的大型讲座中进行，也可以在较小的讨论组中进行。报告了示例问题，学生写作项目以及与药物化学环境相关的可视化相关的系统思考的小组建设的作用。