Medical Students as Popular Science Authors: Building Science Communication Connections to Organic Chemistry through Writing Assignments

Our organic chemistry course enrolls students from the medicine major. As future healthcare professionals, medical students should also take on the responsibility of publicizing scientific knowledge related to human health. Therefore, starting from 2020, we have designed an assignment that tasked students with writing a popular science essay for the general public based on organic chemistry concepts discussed in class. By engaging in writing assignments, medical students can serve as effective science communicators, bridging the gap between complex organic chemistry concepts and the wider public. This approach aims to ignite students’ creativity, integrate their interests and majors, and improve their writing and communication skills, as well as critical thinking and self-learning ability. Subsequent surveys show that students’ feedback on this assignment is generally positive. We suggest that this student-centered and self-directed learning methodology can be incorporated into other introductory chemistry courses.