Contemplative Fridays: Mindfulness Pedagogy in the General Chemistry Classroom

This commentary describes a short, end-of-the week meditation, contemplation, and visualization exercise for general chemistry classes called "Contemplative Fridays". The exercise begins with a few minutes of focused breathing followed by paying attention to the natural breath and monitoring thoughts as they arise. Students are then led in a visualization of a chemical system, frequently starting by inviting them to picture a single entity, like a proton, atom, or molecule, and then gradually building in complexity to reinforce a concept discussed in class that week. Numerous literature sources describe contemplative practices in higher education for general purposes of student well-being. The exercise described here is unique in two ways: first, there are few examples of contemplative practices in chemistry courses, and second, the visualization component relates to chemistry-specific content. Research that demonstrates the learning benefits of mindfulness in general, and visualization specifically, supports the implementation of such an exercise and is discussed. The Supporting Information for this paper provides scripts of two exercises, links to videos of actual exercises recorded during class, and an assessment of student reception of Contemplative Fridays.