Using Chemistry Education Research to Inform Teaching Strategies and Design of Instructional Materials

Cole, Renée S.

doi:10.1002/9783527679300.ch7

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Other factors which play a role in the ecology of these classes are students' prior preparation as measured by the ACS diagnostic exam, and their enrollment in a supplemental workshop. We believe our data demonstrates that the studio environment is superior to the traditional environment for improving student content knowledge by engaging multiple modes of learning in a social environment with a highly cohesive curriculum in which students are con tinually tasked with linking the macroscopic and nanoscopic levels of chemistry through the use of chemistry symbols and representations (National Research Council, 1996;Schwartz et al, 1999;Bransford et al, 2004;Cole, 2015;Lamba, 2015). While the variability is too high to make conclusive statements about a decrease in DFW rate, there is a general downward trend in the data, which we will continue to explore.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…These responses run parallel to the CLASS-Chem attitudes survey results that showed growth toward expert-like thinking in areas such as conceptual connections. Considering that the studio's design and the curriculum we have developed are based on disciplinebased education research in chemistry (Cole, 2015), these results are not surprising. Particularly promising, however, are these positive opinions given that previous studies have demonstrated that students are sometimes resistant to the implementation of non-traditional teaching practices that add a higher level of interaction or minimize lecture (Knight and Wood, 2005;Silverthorn, 2006;Cummings, 2008;National Research Council, 2015).…”

Section: Opinion Surveymentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Though the studio chemistry curriculum has continued to grow and mature from its initial introduction in 1994, we continue to use the latest evidence-based approaches to inform the development of our pedagogy and curriculum (Cole, 2015). In particular, these pedagogical and curricular reform efforts are guided by social constructivist learning theories that emphasize the importance of active learning that is socially mediated and which offers opportunities to explore multiple levels of representation: macroscopic, symbolic, and nano scopic (Johnstone, 1993).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Johnstone, 1982;Gabel et al, 1987;Gabel, 1993Gabel, , 1998Keig and Rubba, 1993;Kozma and Russell, 1997;Wu et al, 2001;Chittleborough, 2014), and evidence-based research on best practices in curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment (e.g. Cole, 2015;Lamba, 2015;Taber, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An examination of student outcomes in studio chemistry

Kiste

Scott

Bukenberger

et al. 2017

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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Twenty years ago, a major curriculum revision at a large, comprehensive university in the Western United States led to the implementation of an integrated lecture/laboratory (studio) experience for our engineering students taking general chemistry. Based on these twenty years of experience, construction of four purpose-built studio classrooms to house the majority of the remaining general chemistry courses was completed in 2013. A detailed study of the effects of the entire ecology of the studio experience on student success was initiated at that time. Data from content knowledge pre- and post-tests, learning attitudes surveys, and student course evaluations show positive effects on student performance, the development of more expert-like learning attitudes, increased student engagement, and increased student–instructor interactions vs. the previous separate lecture and laboratory instruction for non-engineering students. Our data also show that an associated new peer Learning Assistant program increases student engagement while also having positive impacts on the Learning Assistants themselves.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Opinion Surveymentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An examination of student outcomes in studio chemistry

Kiste

Scott

Bukenberger

et al. 2017

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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“…Above, the personal and educational benefits of mindfulness practices in higher education are documented. Complementary to those studies, there is ample evidence that visualizing chemical systems helps students learn chemistry. − While much of that literature focuses on students’ abilities to interpret images and animations created by others, a few reports indicate that having students build physical, 3D models of molecules and/or use computer modeling improves student performance on assessments. − Very recently, Steiff et al tested the effects of having students create their own drawing of chemical systems. They state that their results “indicate that drawing had a positive impact on how much students learned” and conclude that “drawing... clearly plays a primary role in facilitating learning.” These results support the 2020 meta-analysis of Cromley et al about “drawing-to-learn” strategies in the sciences, which included 53 peer-reviewed studies involving over 8000 participants .…”

Section: Novel Aspect Of the Mindfulness Exercise: Learning Through V...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemplative Fridays: Mindfulness Pedagogy in the General Chemistry Classroom

Vitha

2022

J. Chem. Educ.

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This commentary describes a short, end-of-theweek meditation, contemplation, and visualization exercise for general chemistry classes called "Contemplative Fridays". The exercise begins with a few minutes of focused breathing followed by paying attention to the natural breath and monitoring thoughts as they arise. Students are then led in a visualization of a chemical system, frequently starting by inviting them to picture a single entity, like a proton, atom, or molecule, and then gradually building in complexity to reinforce a concept discussed in class that week. Numerous literature sources describe contemplative practices in higher education for general purposes of student well-being. The exercise described here is unique in two ways: first, there are few examples of contemplative practices in chemistry courses, and second, the visualization component relates to chemistry-specific content. Research that demonstrates the learning benefits of mindfulness in general, and visualization specifically, supports the implementation of such an exercise and is discussed. The Supporting Information for this paper provides scripts of two exercises, links to videos of actual exercises recorded during class, and an assessment of student reception of Contemplative Fridays.

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Scaffolding of experimental design skills

Szalay

Tóth

Borbás

et al. 2023

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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The results of an earlier four-year longitudinal research study on the development of experimental design skills led to the conclusion that 12–13 year old students probably need more help to design experiments than had been offered to them in that project. This paper reports the findings of the first year of a further four-year empirical research project. Its aim is to modify ‘step-by-step’ instructions for practical activities in a way that may enable the development of experimental design skills. Nine hundred and thirty-one (931) students have been involved. All were 12–13 years old in the beginning of the study (September 2021). Each year students spend six lessons (some or all of each) doing practical activities using worksheets we provide. The students were divided into three groups. Group 1 (control group) follow step-by-step instructions. Groups 2 and 3 are experimental groups. Group 2 follow the same instructions as Group 1 but also complete a scheme (a series of questions) on their worksheets concerned with the design of the experiment. Group 3 is required to design the experiments, guided by the scheme. The scheme asks indirect questions about the identification of the independent variable, the dependent variable and the constants. The impact of the intervention on the students’ experimental design skills (focusing on the identification and control of variables) and disciplinary content knowledge is measured by structured tests. After the first school year of the project it was clear that the applied type of instruction had a significant positive effect on the results of the Group 3 students’ experimental design skills (Cohen's d effect size: −0.28). However, no significant effect of the intervention could be detected on the changes in the Group 2 students’ experimental design skills (Cohen's d effect size: −0.11). ANCOVA analysis showed that these effects were due to a combination of several factors (mainly the intervention, school ranking and prior knowledge). This paper provides the interesting details of the results of the first year of the research and discusses the minor changes to the approach that have been made for the remaining three years of the project.

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Using Chemistry Education Research to Inform Teaching Strategies and Design of Instructional Materials

Cited by 3 publications

References 92 publications

An examination of student outcomes in studio chemistry

An examination of student outcomes in studio chemistry

Contemplative Fridays: Mindfulness Pedagogy in the General Chemistry Classroom

Scaffolding of experimental design skills

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