What Does a Student Know Who Earns a Top Score on the Advanced Placement Chemistry Exam?

Claesgens, Jennifer; Daubenmire, Paul Lemuel; Scalise, Kathleen; Balicki, Scott; Gochyyev, Perman; Stacy, Angelica M.

doi:10.1021/ed300796r

Cited by 7 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…For an exam containing at least 20 items, Rasch modeling is more effective at detecting learning gains with more consistency and less error than CTT, , which is why it has been applied to a number of high stakes exams (i.e., GRE, MCAT, SAT, etc.). However, the implementation of Rasch modeling is inherently more challenging than CTT, and consequently, there are less than a dozen published examples of applying it to chemistry exams. − Much of this work has focused on standardized testing (i.e., the AP chemistry exam and chemical concept inventories) with large ( n > 1000) multiclassroom and multiuniversity data sets. However, Rasch analysis is effective on samples sizes as small as n = 100 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Classical Test Theory and Rasch Modeling to Improve General Chemistry Exams on a Per Instructor Basis

Sorenson

Hanson

2021

J. Chem. Educ.

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Exams are a critical part of our current teaching paradigm and are used to assign grades, evaluate teaching strategies, and more. Unfortunately, in the absence of shared/standardized exams, the exam creation often rests solely on individual instructors whose decisions are frequently guided by intuition. Here we show that, even on a single general chemistry instructor/classroom basis, exam quality can be improved by using (1) classical testing theory and Rasch modeling to guide reused question selection and (2) a few general, multiple choice question design criteria. Even after only two and three iterations, we observed a dramatic improvement in both question and overall exam quality in nearly every quantitative metric. We also use real outcomes to show that (1) there is no evidence that students have access to previous exams or if they do it does not increase their performance on repeated questions, and (2) a semester-to-semester change in exam averages may not reflect student abilities but instead could be due to changes in question difficulty.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Classical Test Theory and Rasch Modeling to Improve General Chemistry Exams on a Per Instructor Basis

Sorenson

Hanson

2021

J. Chem. Educ.

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“…A goal of many chemistry curricula is to train students to think like chemists. There is, however, much evidence that students can learn to solve specific sets of problems in chemistry without developing a fundamental understanding of the underlying concepts. , This lack of conceptual understanding and the associated alternative conceptions often persist through and beyond undergraduate training . Despite this goal of preparing chemistry students to think conceptually like experts in the field, there are few assessment tools to probe this type of growth.…”

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confidence: 99%

Thinking Like a Chemist: Development of a Chemistry Card-Sorting Task To Probe Conceptual Expertise

et al. 2016

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An underlying goal in most chemistry curricula is to enable students to think like chemists, yet there is much evidence to suggest that students can learn to solve problems without thinking conceptually like a chemist. There are few tools, however, that assess whether students are learning to think like Ph.D. faculty, putative experts in the field. Here, we present a card-sorting task that probes how individuals organize information about problems in chemistry. Chemistry faculty tend to organize around "deep" features centered on fundamental ideas in chemistry while novices tend to organize around "surface" features such as problem presentation or specific vocabulary. We used established statistical techniques from card-sorting tasks in other fields and introduce a new quantitative measure that compares individual performance on the sorting task to faculty and novices that is hypothesis-independent. Initial results indicate that the card-sorting task is effective at distinguishing between populations of faculty and novices in chemistry and can be used to track progress toward more expert-like thinking over time through a chemistry education program.

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“…program. The opportunity for alternative outcomes has been highlighted in previous evaluations of other educational programs. , These additional outcomes such as improved understanding, increased interest and positive attitudes toward organic chemistry have been identified in the evaluation of the OCIA! program.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research , has highlighted the importance of the role of the teacher in influencing student learning. The teacher should understand their learners’ cognitive ability and have the necessary Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). , Teachers need to understand how their students learn in order to teach effectively . The Organic Chemistry in Action!…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The state examination determines students’ progression to undergraduate level and is comparable to the Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry Exam in the U.S. On average over 70% of candidates sitting the Irish Chemistry state examination achieve an A/B/C grade . Likewise, approximately 55% of American high school students achieved a score of 3 or more in the AP Chemistry examination . The concern about the learners’ level of conceptual understanding despite these high grades is currently being addressed in the US in the redefined AP Chemistry course .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Organic Chemistry in Action! What Is the Reaction?

O’Dwyer

Childs

2015

J. Chem. Educ.

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The Organic Chemistry in Action! (OCIA!) program is a set of teaching resources designed to facilitate the teaching and learning of introductory level organic chemistry. The OCIA! program was developed in collaboration with practicing and experienced chemistry teachers, using findings from Chemistry Education Research (CER). The program was developed as an alternative mode of teaching the prescribed high school organic chemistry curriculum in Ireland. The program aims to improve learners' attitudes towards, interest in and understanding of organic chemistry. The OCIA! program has been trialed with 87 students in six high schools. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated using three methods: feedback from the chemistry teachers in the experimental group (n = 6), feedback from the students in the experimental group (n = 87) and quasi-experimental comparison with students in a control group (n = 117). The evaluation has shown that this project was effective in improving the students' attitudes towards, interest in and understanding of organic chemistry. This evaluation identifies the challenges and opportunities in implementing CER in designing Chemistry curricula for high school classrooms. The integration of CER in practice requires collaboration between all parties responsible for designing, teaching and assessing school Chemistry. It is hoped that the evidence from this intervention can be used to encourage the use of evidence-based best practice in high school chemistry classes internationally. The approach is also useful for introductory organic chemistry courses at university.

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What Does a Student Know Who Earns a Top Score on the Advanced Placement Chemistry Exam?

Cited by 7 publications

References 24 publications

Using Classical Test Theory and Rasch Modeling to Improve General Chemistry Exams on a Per Instructor Basis

Using Classical Test Theory and Rasch Modeling to Improve General Chemistry Exams on a Per Instructor Basis

Thinking Like a Chemist: Development of a Chemistry Card-Sorting Task To Probe Conceptual Expertise

Organic Chemistry in Action! What Is the Reaction?

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