Spring 2027

Chemistry in Our World

Chemistry in Our World covers selected inorganic and organic chemistry topics, emphasizing relevance to biological, environmental, and social issues.

offering recorded5 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Lea Gustin4.3/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Clark Landis

Students noted weekly problem sets and Friday quizzes that did not closely align with homework, while exams were considered easy.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Apply appropriate chemical concepts to describe contemporary scientific issues and evaluate proposed solutions to these issues.

  • Identify the chemical concepts and principles needed to solve a chemistry problem and evaluate the validity of an answer to a given problem.

  • Apply models of atoms, molecules, and their interactions to explain the physical and chemical macroscopic properties of gasses, liquids, and solids.

  • Visualize and apply chemical and mathematical models to link atomic and molecular structure to macroscopic properties (e.g., to predict the outcome of selected chemical reactions).

  • Conduct, modify, and analyze experiments in the laboratory pertaining to product-generation, thermochemistry, and spectroscopy while developing fundamental safety, measurement, and sample isolation techniques.

  • Articulate the rationale behind experimental results in verbal communications and written assessments.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forCHEM 104, 109, or 115

CHEM 108 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Lea Gustin

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.44/5 from 68 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.00 GPA, 42.8% A/AB (n=215 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.93 GPA, 40.8% A/AB (n=223 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CLARK LANDIS is recorded teaching in Spring 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JAMES HUTCHISON is recorded teaching in Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LEA GUSTIN is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MELISA M. CHERNEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2008. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAUL HOOKER is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TERESA CHRISTINE LARSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2650
DIS 543Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 544Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 548Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 549Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 550Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 843Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 844Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 848Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 849Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 850Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 545Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 845Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 546Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 846Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 547Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 847Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 541Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 542Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 841Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 842Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 552Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 852Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 551Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 851Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 553Classroom Instruction0 / 190
DIS 554Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 853Classroom Instruction0 / 190
LAB 854Classroom Instruction0 / 190

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Melisa Cherney, Paul Hooker

Past students described the course as engaging and fun, with instructors who made the material approachable for those new to chemistry.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.00 GPA, 40.4% A/AB (n=188 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.00 GPA, 42.8% A/AB (n=215 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.93 GPA, 40.8% A/AB (n=223 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Clark Landis

Students noted weekly problem sets and Friday quizzes that did not closely align with homework, while exams were considered easy.

Past student reviews · Jeannine Szczech

Worksheets and pre-exam review sessions helped prepare students for quizzes and exams, making the material easier to learn.

Topics

  • Inorganic and organic chemistry topics.
  • Relevance of chemistry to biological, environmental, and social issues.
  • Laboratory experiments in product-generation, thermochemistry, and spectroscopy.

Skills

  • Applying chemical concepts to describe and evaluate contemporary scientific issues.
  • Using atomic and molecular models to explain macroscopic properties of matter.
  • Conducting laboratory experiments in product-generation, thermochemistry, and spectroscopy.
  • Communicating experimental rationales verbally and in written assessments.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.14 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
CHEM 108 · Spring 2027

Chemistry in Our World

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:224:002754",
    "course_id": "CHEM 108",
    "course_uid": "course_fb3bca2c59f2d3212648955d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002754",
    "source_subject_id": "224",
    "title": "Chemistry in Our World",
    "credits_min": 5,
    "credits_max": 5,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "6b9468e37b98b15e6c0d91bfe8ba47c5a74f5c5f3cd4df43c74190a4355d5481",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}