Students learning chemistry and other STEM disciplines will be entering a workforce that is increasingly global and addressing challenges that are often interdisciplinary. Developments over the past 30 year in the ways that we share and create information, primarily as a result of the internet, have also changed the landscape for teaching and the definitions of "learning environments". Economic developments over the last two decades have had additional impacts on the climate for higher education. What research questions in chemistry education are helping us to understand and address these changes? What are the implications for the translation of our research to the practice of chemistry teaching and learning? How are national and global policy and funding questions affecting the educational environments in which our research and practice takes place? 

The theme of the 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Chemistry Education Research and Practice is current research in chemistry education and new/ongoing developments in its practice as situated in and affected by the larger national and global contexts in which they take place. 

This meeting will bring together researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, informal science, and governmental and non-governmental agencies to address practical and theoretical issues related to the teaching and learning of chemistry relevant to a variety of educational contexts and levels. As is expected for the very highly regarded Gordon Research Conferences, presented work is intended to be current and unpublished, representing the cutting-edge of research and practice in this field. The conference format includes invited plenary sessions, semi-structured poster sessions, and free time to interact and network with conferees. Several features of the conference create an atmosphere that is intended to invigorate professional connections and promote advancement of the field: daily forums with intense intellectual engagement, off-the-record discussion of unpublished work, free afternoons in an idyllic setting, common meals and dormitory accommodations, and a limit on participation (<160).