Teaching assistants' topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge in ¹H NMR spectroscopy

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an essential analytical tool in chemistry, and the technique is routinely included as a topic across the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. As a result of NMR's importance, classroom instruction of this topic has received considerable attention in chemistry education research. However, little is known about instructors’ knowledge for teaching this topic. In order to better understand this knowledge, we investigated topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge in1H NMR spectroscopy among 20 chemistry teaching assistants at a large Midwestern university in the United States. A questionnaire was developed to provide an inferential measure of content knowledge and topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge in1H NMR spectroscopy for participants with a range of teaching experience. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed qualitatively and quantized using a rubric. The quantitative data were transformed using the Rasch model and statistically analyzed. Results from these analyses indicate that pedagogical content knowledge increased with teaching experience in1H NMR spectroscopy, suggesting that knowledge for teaching this topic is developed through practice. Additionally, the development of pedagogical content knowledge was found to depend upon content knowledge required for specific NMR sub-topics and problems. This finding suggests that the ultimate “grain-size,” or domain-specificity, of pedagogical content knowledge may extend to the problem level. Results from this study have implications for how instructors may cultivate knowledge for teaching NMR spectroscopy, as well as for how pedagogical content knowledge may be more effectively incorporated into instructor training programs.

Problem solving in chemistry supported by metacognitive scaffolding: teaching associates’ perspectives and practices

“…These practices shift students' attention away from their thought processes to focusing on a 'correct' answer or on collecting the most marks (Petcovic et al, 2013). These issues could be due to poor pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) or a lack of training in metacognitive strategies (Connor and Shultz, 2018). PCK is knowledge of a subject through the lens of an educator (Shulman, 1987).…”

“…With little experience, TAs heavily rely on content knowledge (CK) to teach students (Zotos et al, 2020). However, content knowledge alone is not sufficient for teaching chemistry (Connor and Shultz, 2018). Teaching chemistry requires both CK and PCK (Shulman, 1986;Shulman, 1987;Connor and Shultz, 2018).…”

“…However, content knowledge alone is not sufficient for teaching chemistry (Connor and Shultz, 2018). Teaching chemistry requires both CK and PCK (Shulman, 1986;Shulman, 1987;Connor and Shultz, 2018). Schultz and co-workers found that chemistry TAs with a range of teaching experiences had extensive CK but lacked PCK due to a greater reliance on their exposure to instructing as students than on their teaching experience (Hale et al, 2016;Lutter et al, 2019).…”

Development and Evaluation of the H NMR MoleculAR Application

“…Graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs) are often the instructors in laboratories that teach 1 H NMR spectroscopy . Connor and Shultz found that even when TAs have strong NMR content knowledge, it does not necessarily translate to having strong topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge (TS-PCK) .…”

Research on Students' Understanding of Michaelis-Menten Kinetics and Enzyme Inhibition: Implications for Instruction and Learning

“…content into effective teaching, an idea based on the observation that knowing the content is not enough to be able to teach and help students learn the content. Throughout the literature, multiple models for PCK have been described and used in a variety of contexts to frame research studies that focused on characterizing PCK and supporting instructors' development of PCK (72); many of these types of studies exist in chemistry education (73)(74)(75)(76)(77)(78)(79)(80)(81). More recently, an updated model of PCK has been presented, called the refined consensus model of PCK (82).…”