Efficacy and Insights Gained from a Utility Value Intervention with Inorganic Chemistry Students

Abstract

Utility value interventions (UVIs) are brief assignments designed to promote students' perceived utility value of the content they are learning. UVIs have been shown to improve students' academic performance in varying STEM courses; however, the use of UVIs in either chemistry courses or upper-level courses has not been well explored. This study evaluated a UVI in an upper-level chemistry course on student performance using an experimental design. Students were randomly assigned to either a utility value group or a content summary group. The first group received prompts asking students to describe the utility of what they are learning toward their career plans; the second group received prompts asking students to summarize what they are learning. Each student received three prompts over the semester and was tasked to write a short essay in response to each prompt. To evaluate the UVI, independent sample t tests were conducted on exam scores between the two groups, and effect sizes indicated that the UVI has no impact on one exam and a positive impact on two exams. In addition to the quantitative evaluation, the study qualitatively characterized student engagement in the intervention, namely how students' responses demonstrated an internalization of the perceived utility value of chemistry topics. The results suggest that the majority of students perceived a personal utility of chemistry topics as the intervention intended. Furthermore, students' responses provided details on their career plans, which can provide instructors' insight in designing curricula responsive to students' plans. In summary, enacting UVIs has low instructional costs and may benefit student performance and provide valuable insights for the instructors. Therefore, UVIs are recommended for consideration in instructional practices of upper-level chemistry courses.

Influence of Chemistry Learning Motivation on Freshmen’ Laboratory Safety Perception

“…The first academic year of students is an important period, and the freshmen undergo the transition from high school to college, which influence their future career plan. 24 Therefore, strengthening safety education and training for the freshmen is utmost important for students in chemistry and related majors. The instructor should seek more student-centered teaching approaches and resources and provide more opportunities for freshmen to participate laboratory safety education, encouraging diversity of their voices and experiences.…”

“…The first academic year of students is an important period, and the freshmen undergo the transition from high school to college, which influence their future career plan . Therefore, strengthening safety education and training for the freshmen is utmost important for students in chemistry and related majors.…”

Prior mathematics achievement and mathematics self-efficacy as indicators for success in pre-service teachers’ achievement in geometry and trigonometry

“…Selfefficacy and value views, which in this instance pertain to the topic of mathematics, are strongly associated with academic accomplishment (Ardi et al, 2019). The bulk of research on self-efficacy has concentrated on the primary, junior, and high school years, which have been recognized as crucial for predicting success in the science, technology, english, biology, and mathematics disciplines (Ahmed et al, 2022;Semilarski et al, 2022;Tai et al, 2006;Wang & Lewis, 2022). Mathematics self-efficacy in adolescents is quite changeable (Arens et al, 2022;Hiller et al, 2022).…”

Undergraduate Independent Study Project: Theoretical vs Computational Approaches to Calculate the Electronic Structure of the D5h symmetric Pentafluoroxenate(IV) Anion

“… The C 5 rotation axis is a challenge as the geometry does not allow for any simplifications of the projector operator method and includes concepts like the “golden ratio” from number theory that may inspire students to explore further into that mathematical space . The difficult activity proposed in our article aims to enhance student comprehension of molecular orbital theory as previously published articles have stated to assess or explain. ,− This article and the Student Supporting Information (SI) should be provided to the student, while the Instructor SI contains the answer key and completed tables. The Student SI contains instructions for the independent-study student that start with the Schrödinger Equation and explain how the electronic structure is assessed via group theory and computationally. − By starting with the Schrödinger Equation, the student does not need to consult multiple texts to begin working on the exercise while still appreciating the context of first principles .…”