Chemistry Education Research and Practice最新文献

{"title":"“I’m still here and I want them to know that”: experiences of chemists with concealable identities in undergraduate research†","authors":"Evelyn A. Boyd and Kelly Best Lazar","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00094C","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00094C","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Students with concealable identities, those which are not always visually apparent, must navigate the difficult choice of whether to reveal their concealed identities—a choice that has been found to impact an individual's psychological well-being. Research that gives voice to those with concealable identities is highly lacking, and subsequently, work that describes the experiences of undergraduate chemists participating in engaged learning opportunities is even more limited. This study utilizes a phenomenographic approach through the theoretical lens of Undergraduate Research Science Capital (URSC), to analyze the experiences of six students as they navigate undergraduate research experiences and the effect of their visible and concealable identities. Though all six students described similar levels of URSC, their experiences, especially as they relate to their concealable identities, help to construct a multi-faceted perspective of undergraduate chemists who engage in undergraduate research. These results highlight the need for multiple approaches to equity efforts to ensure that high-impact practices such as undergraduate research are accessible to all students.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 197-209"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A lack of impact of pedagogy (peer-led team learning compared with didactic instruction) on long-term student knowledge of chemical equilibrium","authors":"Jessica D. Young, Betül Demirdöğen, Christopher F. Bauer and Scott E. Lewis","doi":"10.1039/D3RP00148B","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D3RP00148B","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Peer-led team learning is a socially mediated pedagogy where trained peer leaders, students who have completed a course, return to lead students in groups within a targeted course. The effect of peer-led team learning to improve student success in chemistry has been extensively documented but it is unclear if it is just as effective at facilitating retention of knowledge across time. This paper describes two studies designed to examine this possibility, each focusing on the impact of peer-led team learning in second-semester general chemistry on students’ long-term knowledge of chemical equilibrium. The first study measured student knowledge at three time points for one year following enrollment in general chemistry. The second study measured student knowledge while enrolled in analytical chemistry. Both studies used a repeated measures design and found no demonstrable effect of pedagogy on the long-term retention of knowledge. This finding indicates that concepts students hold in first-year chemistry remain long-standing throughout their undergraduate training, conceptual understanding of equilibrium shows ample room for improvement across both pedagogies, and peer-led team learning supports knowledge retention comparable to didactic instruction.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 183-196"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/rp/d3rp00148b?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A question of pattern recognition: investigating the impact of structure variation on students’ proficiency in deciding about resonance stabilization","authors":"Irina Braun, Scott E. Lewis and Nicole Graulich","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00155A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00155A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The ability to reason with representations is pivotal for successful learning in Organic Chemistry and is closely linked to representational competence. Given the visual nature of this discipline, this comprises competency in extracting and processing relevant visual information. With regard to the resonance concept, proficiency in identifying whether electron delocalization applies in a molecule is an essential prerequisite to using this concept in problem-solving. However, prior research shows that students struggle to recognize whether molecules profit from electron delocalization, and seldom use this concept in problem-solving. As it remains unclear how the variation of structural features affects students’ consideration of resonance, this quantitative study seeks to identify characteristics regarding students’ perception of electron delocalization. To this end, undergraduate students enrolled in an Organic Chemistry I course (<em>N</em> = 699) completed an online survey in which they had to decide on resonance stabilization for molecular structures with varying structural features. <em>K</em>-means cluster analysis was performed to explore patterns in students’ proficiency in discerning resonance stabilization and how they relate to other performance variables (<em>e.g.</em>, time-on-task). The results suggest pattern recognition approaches with students’ attention being guided by singular structural features or structures’ visual similarity to familiar patterns (<em>i.e.</em>, allylic carbocations), with less attention to implicit features.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 158-182"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Student success and experience in a flipped, senior physical chemistry course spanning before and after the COVID-19 pandemic†","authors":"Trisha M. Gomez, Charmaine Luciano, Tam Nguyen, Sachel M. Villafañe and Michael N. Groves","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00074A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00074A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >A flipped classroom is typically one where some of the instruction occurs asynchronously prior to the scheduled synchronous meeting between students and the instructor. Since 2000, they have gained substantial popularity especially in STEM fields where they have been shown to have increased exam scores and reduce the number of students who fail. In the university setting, many of these studies have been performed in lower division courses. Very few studies have been conducted in senior physical chemistry courses resulting in very little data being collected on this instructional technique at this level. The purpose of this study is to assess student outcomes when flipped classroom techniques are implemented in a senior physical chemistry course. In our flipped classroom, students were expected to watch lecture videos and complete preparation exercises created by the authors prior to coming to class. Then in class, a just in time teaching model was employed prior to students working in groups to complete activities created by the authors. Seven quizzes were performed individually and in groups while three midterms and a cumulative final exam were performed individually. Grade, student opinion questionnaires and survey data collected over seven semesters from Fall 2017 to Spring 2022 will be presented. Our findings indicate that there was only one semester out of seven where the average GPA of the students was significantly higher than the control class which was taught in a traditional lecture style. According to student surveys, the students focused on the importance of the preparation questions and dismissed the importance of completing activity/homework problems given that preparation activities were assigned credit while homework was not. Given that the in-class activities/homework questions resembled the material in assessments like quizzes, midterms and final exams, while preparation questions were scaffolded formative problems meant to introduce students to the concepts to be studied during the synchronous lecture, an important link between course concepts and material on summative assessments was not made. Future changes to address this issue will be discussed as well as how COVID-19 affected students during the pandemic as well as flipped classroom instruction.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 210-230"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Metacognitive problem solving: exploration of students’ perspectives through the lens of multi-dimensional engagement†","authors":"Kimberly Vo, Mahbub Sarkar, Paul J. White and Elizabeth Yuriev","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00096J","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00096J","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Solving chemical problems entails content knowledge and mastery of problem-solving processes. However, students sometimes lack metacognitive processes required for problem solving in chemistry. This study investigated how first-year chemistry students engaged with the metacognitive problem-solving scaffold Goldilocks Help. Data was collected from an activity, which involved students reflectively comparing their problem-solving attempts to an expert solution. These comparative reflections (<em>N</em> = 373) were thematically analysed to investigate scaffold engagement in three dimensions: cognitive, emotional, and behavioural. Findings showed that scaffold use, coupled with self-reflection, allowed students to identify flaws in their solutions that were either problem specific or related to their problem-solving skills. Students were able to propose improvement strategies, such as posing prompting questions to themselves and finding multiple alternatives for evaluating an answer. Students, who initially lacked structured problem-solving skills, found that scaffolding helped them to slow down metacognitive processes that would otherwise be rushed through or engaged with on a surface level. Students’ resistance to the scaffold was due to fear of making a mistake or viewing the scaffold as requiring extra time and effort. Within a semester, many students demonstrated an improvement in successful and structured problem solving but some required more practice to internalise the scaffold. Our findings also indicated that students’ reflections on problem solving became more sophisticated as a result of continued exposure to the scaffold and iterative opportunities to compare their work to expert solutions, to self-assess, and to reflect. Further research on reflective writing in chemistry education should focus on the ipsative nature of such assessments, <em>i.e.</em> processes focusing on students’ own progress, growth, and improvement, compared to their previous performance, while recognising the power relations operationalised in course-embedded reflections. From the teaching practice perspective, having an awareness of students’ thoughts, emotions, and actions can help instructors differentiate between levels of student capabilities, mindsets, and needs for extra support, allowing teaching efforts to be directed at promoting metacognitive and structured problem solving.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 141-157"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“That's not a super important point”: second-semester organic chemistry students’ lines of reasoning when comparing substitution reactions","authors":"Ina Zaimi, Field M. Watts, David Kranz, Nicole Graulich and Ginger V. Shultz","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00086B","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00086B","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Solving organic chemistry reactions requires reasoning with multiple concepts and data (<em>i.e.</em>, multivariate reasoning). However, studies have reported that organic chemistry students typically demonstrate univariate reasoning. Case comparisons, where students compare two or more tasks, have been reported to support students’ multivariate reasoning. Using a case-comparison task, we explored students’ multivariate reasoning. Our study was guided by the resources framework. One conceptual resource activates another conceptual resource and, successively, a set of conceptual resources. This successively activated set of resources is expressed in a line of reasoning. Pairing this framework with qualitative methods, we interviewed eleven second-semester organic chemistry students while they compared two substitution reaction mechanisms and chose the mechanism with the lower activation energy. We analysed what conceptual resources and lines of reasoning were activated and the variation to which students engaged in multivariate reasoning. Students activated multiple conceptual resources and, moreover, extended their activated resources into both developed and undeveloped lines of reasoning. When constructing their explanations, most students engaged in univariate reasoning. These students provided a developed line of reasoning selected from multiple activated resources, or they provided an undeveloped line of reasoning constructed from only one activated resource. Few students engaged in multivariate reasoning. These students provided both developed and undeveloped lines of reasoning from multiple activated resources. Our findings highlight the variation with which students engage in both univariate and multivariate reasoning. Therefore, we recommend that case-comparison activities scaffold engagement with multiple lines of reasoning in addition to activating and developing them.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 112-125"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142185546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing the accessibility of chemistry assessments for multilingual learners: understanding challenging features in assessment items","authors":"Eshani N. Lee and MaryKay Orgill","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00187G","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00187G","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Multilingual learners face significant challenges when navigating the linguistic complexities of chemistry assessments. This study, employing the Equitable Framework for Classroom Assessment, identified these specific challenging features in general chemistry assessment items on the topics of limiting reactant and percent yield. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with multilingual students, we discovered critical barriers to comprehension: lack of metacognitive support, complex vocabulary and syntax, dense text layout, and extraneous information. These findings emphasize the need to better understand and alleviate these types of linguistic features in assessment items to more accurately measure chemistry knowledge, rather than linguistic proficiency. By addressing these challenges, instructors can design more accessible assessment items for a diverse group of students. The results also offer valuable insights and practical guidance for writing equitable assessment items.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 1","pages":" 126-140"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141941726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A case study on graduate teaching assistants’ teacher noticing when enacting a case-comparison activity in organic chemistry","authors":"Ina Zaimi, Daisy B. Haas, Matthew J. Silverstein and Ginger V. Shultz","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00093E","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00093E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) hold a unique positionality as instructors and research mentors to undergraduate students, research mentees to faculty members, and employees to an institution. With limited pedagogical training and teaching resources, the enactment of planned teaching activities and learning resources may be influenced by how GTAs conceptualize their teacher identity, role, and experiences. In this study, we explored how chemistry GTAs enacted a scaffolded, cooperative-learning case-comparison activity in a second-semester organic chemistry laboratory course. Our study was guided by the conceptual framework of teacher noticing. Teacher noticing – an instructor observing “important” instructional moments and connecting their observations to theory and practice – is a part of developing instructional responses based on students’ reasoning. Pairing this conceptual framework with a case study methodology, we recruited two GTAs, and conducted a pre-observation interview, two observations, and a post-observation interview. We explored GTAs’ teacher noticing – what they observed and interpreted as well as how they shaped and responded. We exposed the tension and the resolution between learning objectives (<em>i.e.</em>, objectives set by the instructional team for students) and teaching objectives (<em>i.e.</em>, objectives set by the GTAs for themselves and their students). GTAs’ framing seemed to influence their shaping, and their shaping seemed to balance the instructional team's learning objective and GTAs’ teaching objectives. Because chemistry GTAs serve as instructors in many science undergraduate courses, understanding the unique GTA framing may support both graduate and undergraduate learning experiences. Furthermore, our study has implications for researchers who design organic chemistry learning resources to consider different ways GTAs may support students’ learning. This study additionally has implications for faculty instructors to develop transformative, consistent professional development opportunities focused on transparency, collaboration, and community in teacher learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 4","pages":" 1268-1288"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141869828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How upper secondary students figure chemistry","authors":"Jonas Niemann, Henriette Holmegaard and Lene Møller Madsen","doi":"10.1039/D4RP00145A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4RP00145A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The formation of chemistry identities among students is closely linked to the norms and practices prevalent in their chemistry learning environments. However, these norms may not be equally accessible or aligned with formal assessment criteria, leading to disparities for students in cultivating a positive chemistry identity. This study investigates how students conceptualise chemistry and the opportunities it affords for identity formation. Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of figured worlds and science identity, data were collected from 45 upper secondary school students across three Danish schools through classroom observations and focus groups. The findings reveal that students perceive the laboratory and classroom settings as distinct in purpose, nature, and relevance, with varying degrees of celebration for enacted performance in each. While work in and related to the laboratory is highly valued by both students and teachers, individual enacted performance in the classroom is often equated with proficiency in chemistry. However, implicit norms for example governing the division of labour in laboratories indicate an inequitable distribution of tasks and underscore the need for a more equitable approach to identity formation in chemistry education.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 4","pages":" 1289-1310"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141780313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Flipping the script in organic reaction mechanism instruction: using generative pedagogies instead of lecture to improve learning outcomes","authors":"Connor Haindfield, William Cerbin, Douglas Baumann and Heather Schenck","doi":"10.1039/D3RP00322A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D3RP00322A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Two generative approaches to reaction mechanism instruction for novice students were compared to lecture instruction. In both approaches, students were coached to propose selected reaction mechanisms based on prior knowledge. New instructional methods were correlated with increased skill in representations of electron movements and other gains. Students who saw a larger amount of new pedagogy showed stronger abilities to propose mechanisms for unfamiliar reactions. In the group that saw a larger amount of new pedagogy, first-generation college student (FGS) grades rose to match non-FGS grades. Learning gains were interpreted with respect to cognitive load theory, flagging high element interactivity as a likely obstacle for novice students. Problem solving during mechanism instruction for novice students offers the potential to improve learning outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":69,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry Education Research and Practice","volume":" 4","pages":" 1311-1325"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141744177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}