Employing Context-Based Learning to Bolster Conceptual Understanding of Gas Law Relationships in General Chemistry

Abstract

The subject of gas laws is regularly taught as part of the general chemistry curriculum in college. In this study, there is an examination of the effectiveness of a 45-minute in-class based intervention using a series of four short vignettes of contexts students are likely to be familiar with to help improve students' conceptual understanding of the relationships between different properties of gases. The study was completed over a 3-year period involving a total of 352 students. In each year, there was one intervention class and one control class in which performance on identical gas law assessment items was compared. In particular, this intervention was designed such that it could fit smoothly into a traditionally lecture based general chemistry course without requiring major shifts in overall course design in order to make it more attractive to faculty who might be resistant to a major overhaul of their general chemistry course. When compared with the control class not containing the intervention, students in the intervention course were found to have performed significantly better on assessment items related to how gases behaved when not supplied with numerical data (p < .001).