Learning Reaction Kinetics through Sustainable Chemistry of Herbicides: A Case Study of Preservice Chemistry Teachers’ Perceptions of Problem-Based Technology Enhanced Learning

Abstract

Teaching the fundamentals of chemical kinetics on the college level is challenging to teachers and students alike due to its abstract nature of concepts and limited connection with real context applications. This study consisted of two phases starting with designing a chemistry education for the sustainable development-based learning environment of reaction kinetics, followed by a case study in which students’ perceptions toward learning chemistry by solving a real environmental problem using digital resources, spreadsheets, and an active learning environment, were explored. First, we designed a Socio-Scientific Environmental Chemistry module centered on the sorption kinetic processes of herbicides in volcanic ash derived soils (VADS) and their potential to pollute groundwater. The objective of the learning module was to contribute to the development of sustainability skills, to promote learning of contextualized chemistry knowledge, and to develop scientific skills. This module employs spreadsheets as computational tools in chemistry to model real sorption kinetic data of herbicides in VADS. The learning module was designed for one section of two Analytical Chemistry courses and one Physical Chemistry course of an undergraduate chemistry teacher-training program. After the design phase, the learning module was implemented in each course, and students’ perceptions were gathered using the focus group technique. The sample was of 22 students distributed into three focus groups. The data collected were analyzed and categorized through qualitative content analysis using the Technological Pedagogical Science Knowledge (TPASK) framework. On the basis of our findings, the students acquired contextualized chemistry knowledge and develop skills and knowledge related to using digital resources and spreadsheets in a scientific context. Besides, the preservice chemistry teachers’ knowledge of pedagogy allowed them to develop some elements of their pedagogical science knowledge and TPASK. This case study shows that the problem-based learning approach offers great potential in supporting a learning environment suitable to working with spreadsheets to solve real-environment problems in chemistry education.

The Effects of Using Socio-Scientific Issues and Technology in Problem-Based Learning: A Systematic Review

“…In this vein, Cáceres-Jensen et al [12] indicate that there is great concern among scientists in assessing the potential risk of environmental contamination to avoid the contamination of non-renewable natural resources, for which they propose the SSECh module to solve an REP that allows us: (i) to contextualise a certain learning content that allows for the evaluation of the potential risk of contamination of natural resources; (ii) transfer this awareness from scientists to students; and (iii) develop critical thinking skills and technological-analytical-reflective skills. In this previous study, we proposed a PBL environment that allows for the solving of global problems such as an REP within education for sustainable development (ESD), and to inspire students to act sustainably.…”

“…According to Pepper [9], PBL engages students with profound learning since it is constructive, self-directed, collaborative and contextual. There is ample evidence of the effectiveness of this methodology regarding the participation and motivation of students, the promotion of group work, problem solving and contextual learning, creative thinking, self-regulated learning skills, autonomy, self-evaluation, creativity, collaboration, synthesis, communication, development of useful laboratory skills such as collecting data and extracting and analysing samples [10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, this evidence differs when disaggregated between educational levels.…”

“…In this regard, positive effects have been reported on improving communication, learning skills, student performance, critical thinking, evaluating self-assessments and promoting better knowledge retention [14,[29][30][31]. Concerning the appropriate selection of learning content for the resolution of a real environmental problem (REP), recently, Cáceres-Jensen et al [12] proposed a module termed socio-scientific environmental chemistry (SSECh), which considered the learning content "Kinetics" to obtain the sorption kinetic parameters of herbicide sorption in volcanic ash-derived soils (VADS) to solve the following REP: "Which VADS is more efficient in retaining a herbicide (glyphosate, metsulfuron-methyl, or diuron) to prevent the potential risk of groundwater pollution?". To provide a real-world context for this REP, the authors: (i) selected herbicides that were among those most widely used in the world and the most commonly sold in Chile; (ii) selected VADS that represented 70% of the agricultural area of Chile; (iii) considered the variability of physicochemical properties of the herbicide-soil (adsorbate-adsorbent) system; and (iv) examined the morphological characteristics of VADS and its interaction with these herbicides.…”

“…Likewise, several authors indicate that using digital environments linked to PBL optimises application times and favours reception by students [56,57]. Recently, Cáceres-Jensen et al [12] used a REP in an SSECh module that combined chemical and environmental sciences. The design of this module revealed how digital resources and mathematical models using spreadsheets facilitated the representation of numerical data and graphs of herbicides' kinetic sorption on agricultural volcanic soils in a PBL learning environment.…”

STEAM Project-Based Learning Activities at the Science Museum as an Effective Training for Future Chemistry Teachers

“…Chemistry is indeed a very experimental discipline and the role of laboratorial activities, where students are actively involved in all steps of the learning process, has been recognized as a central aspect of chemistry education [12,18,63,66,[78][79][80]. Despite different types of laboratorial strategies have been developed to teach chemistry, including many examples of virtual and digital laboratorial activities performed during COVID-19 pandemic [81,82], almost all recent works focus on inquiry-based, problem solving and project-based learning methods [63,[72][73][74][75][76][77]83]. Project-Based Learning (PjBL) is a teaching/ learning pedagogy that centers learning experiences around projects, which can be structured in different ways depending on the targets, aims and chemical contents.…”