Chemistry Content Knowledge Research Articles

The influence of representations on task difficulty in organic chemistry: an exploration using a novel paired-items test instrument

ABSTRACT The intricate relationship between representational competence and content knowledge in organic chemistry has been widely debated, and the ways in which representations contribute to task difficulty, particularly in assessment, remain unclear. This paper presents a multiple-choice test instrument for assessing individuals’ knowledge of fundamental concepts – such as nomenclature and basic reaction mechanisms – in organic chemistry using item pairs with and without representations. We conducted a pilot test of the instrument with 55 undergraduate students and administered the final version to 357 undergraduate chemistry students from seven German universities. We used the Rasch methodology for psychometric analysis to identify sound and reliable test properties. A task-difficulty comparison revealed no differences between the item pairs with and those without representations. Hierarchical regression suggests that the complexity and cognitive processes involved in a task influence its difficulty. Our data suggest that the relationship between representational competence and content knowledge may not be disentangled when item difficulty is considered. We argue that representational competence and content knowledge might not represent separate constructs, which is in line with the literature on representational dilemmas: representations cannot be taught without content knowledge, and content knowledge cannot be taught without the use of representations.

Evaluation of Chemistry Content Knowledge and Verbal Analogical Reasoning as Potential Predictors of Teachers' Quality of Chemistry Concept Analogies

This study evaluated the possible relationship of Chemistry Content Knowledge and Verbal Analogical Reasoning to Teacher's Chemistry Concept analogies among 20 Public High School Science Teachers in Cebu, Philippines using validated questionnaires. Test for Chemistry Content Knowledge showed that teacher-respondents' scores has a mean of 34.90, indicating an approaching proficiency level of knowledge in Chemistry concepts with Chemical reactions and Atomic structure as the least and mastered topics, respectively in the test. A mean of 23.10 was a result for the test in Verbal Analogical reasoning, indicating a below-average analogical reasoning skills among teacher-respondents. These then implied the need to improve teacher-respondents Chemistry Content Knowledge and Verbal Analogical Reasoning skills. Moreover, analogies by the teacher-respondents on Chemistry concepts exhibited qualities of good analogies, although some qualities such as the use of functional similarities and discussing the deviation of the target and analog concept were not observed. It was also found out that there were no significant relationship among the variables, Chemistry Content Knowledge and Verbal Analogical Reasoning as indicated by the p-value of 0.360. Moreover, relationships between Chemistry Content Knowledge to Chemistry Concept Analogies and Verbal Analogical Reasoning Analogies to Chemistry Concept Analogies were also not significant as indicated by p-values 0.097 and -0.068, respectively. Hence, Levels of Chemistry Content Knowledge and Verbal Analogical Reasoning were not predictors of the quality of analogies employed by teachers in teaching Chemistry concepts. This study aimed to provide educational experts insights into these factors' underlying relationships and improve chemistry education quality by supporting teachers' understanding of Chemistry concepts and use of analogies. Moreover, results of this study filled the gap of understanding the relationship between Chemistry Content Knowledge and Analogical Reasoning to teachers' effective use of analogies in teaching Chemistry concepts.

Leveraging the Analytical Chemistry Primary Literature for Authentic, Integrated Content Knowledge and Process Skill Development

Students develop process skills through repeated practice of data interpretation, problem solving, and critical thinking. The primary literature provides a rich source of data and application problems to engage students in this practice within the context of chemistry content knowledge. However, most existing classroom activities based on the literature involve reading full articles. To offer students more frequent practice, we suggest that instructors prepare assignments based on data excerpted from articles. Herein, we demonstrate the pedagogical goals, design strategy, and implementation of such assignments, using over 40 examples from our own analytical chemistry courses. These examples are provided for direct use or as models in the Supporting Information.

Exploring Differences in Student Learning and Behavior Between Real-life and Virtual Reality Chemistry Laboratories.

Recent global events and educational trends have led schools to heavily rely on digital media to educate their students. Science classes, in particular, stand to lose substantial learning opportunities without the ability to provide physical laboratory experiences. Virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to resolve this issue, but little is known if VR environments can produce similar results to real-life (RL) science learning environments. This 2 × 1, between-subjects study compares students’ learning results and safety behaviors in VR and RL chemistry laboratories. The study attempts to identify differences in learning experience (i.e., general chemistry content, experiment comprehension, laboratory safety knowledge) and laboratory safety behavior. Results indicate learning general content knowledge, laboratory skills, and procedure-related safety behaviors were comparable between RL and VR conditions, but clean-up behaviors were less frequent in VR. Also, the exploratory, risk-free nature of VR environments may have allowed the learners to elaborate and reflect more on general chemistry content and laboratory safety knowledge than in the RL environment.

Examining an Acid–Base Laboratory Practical Assessment from the Perspective of Evidence-Centered Design

This paper uses evidence-centered assessment design (ECD) to structure and analyze a laboratory activity where students collect and represent titration curve data to determine acid strength in terms of molarity and dissociation constant. Following principles of multidimensional learning, the activity prompts students to demonstrate knowledge of chemistry concepts related to acid–base titrations, the science and engineering practice of using mathematics, and the cross-cutting concept of patterns. The work involved writing two multidimensional learning performances, themselves elaborated into five distinct evidence statements. In the process of coding, we further differentiated the five evidence statements into 13 components, each aligned with at least one place in the task where students could provide evidence of that component to produce results that describe how frequently the students meet the evidence statements. We describe how the evidence statements and their components give insight into whether the students are demonstrating knowledge, skills, and thinking patterns. The data consisted of laboratory reports and postlab questions of 45 students in a general chemistry course at a large public urban university. We examine the data to address the research questions “How does a process of evidence-centered assessment design with associated learning performances provide a structure for research on how students can demonstrate multidimensional learning about chemistry content knowledge?” and “How does an assessment using evidence-centered design and multidimensional learning provide insight about teaching and assessment of learning about the use of titration curve laboratory data in acid–base chemistry?” The results provide insight into the challenges and opportunities associated with having a rich, deep examination of student multidimensional learning across a two-week laboratory assessment, including the way that grading rubrics can impact whether students fully engage with all aspects of the task. Patterns observed within the student work supported conclusions about the nature of student engagement in disciplinary concepts, the practice of using mathematics, and the use of patterns on acid–base titration tasks. We also develop ways to characterize particular components for whether the component can provide single-dimensional evidence, basic multidimensional evidence by requiring use of a concept or practice as a tool, linked multidimensional evidence because a concept or practice is needed to make sense of the phenomenon in a new way, or integrated multidimensional evidence of the different dimensions working together for sense-making.

School-Related Content Knowledge in Organic Chemistry—How Does the Students’ Rating of Their Perceived Relevance of Tasks Differ between Bachelor and Master Studies?

In this paper the development, use, and evaluation of tasks based on the construct of school-related content knowledge are described. The tasks were used in seminars on organic chemistry for bachelor and master preservice chemistry teachers at a German university. For the evaluation a questionnaire with open and closed items was used. The tasks were rated by the preservice chemistry teachers as relevant for their future profession as a chemistry teacher if the content of the tasks is part of the school curriculum. If the content does not belong to the school curriculum, they rated the nature of the tasks still as relevant; they seem to recognize the importance of conceptual knowledge for their future profession. However, the master’s preservice teachers argued with this conceptual knowledge more often than the bachelor’s preservice teachers. Although the study is cross-sectional, a certain shift from the focus on the content to conceptual knowledge from bachelor’s to master’s preservice teachers can be observed.

What you see is what you learn? The role of visual model comprehension for academic success in chemistry

Visualizations and visual models are of substantial importance for science learning (Harrison and Treagust, 2000), and it seems impossible to study chemistry without visualizations. More specifically, the combination of visualizations with text is especially beneficial for learning when dual coding is fostered (Mayer, 2014). However, at the same time, comprehending the visualizations and visual models appears to be rather difficult for learners (e.g., Johnstone, 2000). This may be one reason for the difficulties students experience especially during the university entry phase, which in a worst-case-scenario can result in high university drop-out rates as they are currently found in science-related study courses (Chen, 2013). In this regard, our study investigates, how the ability to handle and learn with visualizations – which we call visual model comprehension – relates to academic success at the beginning of chemistry studies. To do so, we collected the data of 275 chemistry-freshmen during their first university year. Our results show that visual model comprehension is a key factor for students to be successful in chemistry courses. For instance, visual model comprehension is able to predict exam grades in introductory chemistry courses as well as general chemistry content knowledge. Furthermore, our analyses point out that visual model comprehension acts as a mediator for the relation between prior knowledge and (acquired) content knowledge in chemistry studies. Given this obvious importance of visual model comprehension, our findings could give valuable insights regarding approaches to foster chemistry comprehension and learning especially for students at the beginning of their academic career.

Educational Attainment, Teaching Experience, Professional Development and Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Chemistry Content Knowledge: Implication for the Development of a National Promotion Examination

This study examined teachers’ content knowledge (CK) in chemistry and its relationship to teachers’ chemistry background, teaching experience, involvement in professional development and self-efficacy It was further investigated which variables predicted the level of content knowledge (CK) of one hundred public secondary chemistry teachers. The data shows that the majority of science teachers have low level of CK in Chemistry. Teaching experience, professional development, chemistry background, and self-efficacy were significantly related to the CK of teachers. Teachers' professional development and self-efficacy predicted the CK of teachers.

Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry I: Interactions with Identity, Academic Preparation, and a Course-Based Intervention

Robust evidence shows that Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) improves the academic success of first-year college students in introductory Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. Less clear is the extent to which this positive PLTL effect varies across different subgroups of the population. The current study aims to deepen our understanding of the overall PLTL effect by extensively evaluating an optional PLTL program associated with General Chemistry I at a private, research university. Using five years of exam data, this study disaggregates the PLTL effect by demographics (sex and race), academic preparation (math skills, chemistry content knowledge, and experience with college-preparatory coursework), and participation in another curricular innovation (a growth-mindset intervention). Results revealed that the positive effect of PLTL was comparable across demographic identity groups. Thus, the PLTL program benefitted all participants but did not reduce the pre-existing performance disparity between underrepresented minority and white students (no sex-based disparity was observed). In terms of academic preparation, the PLTL effect interacted with students’ level of experience with college-preparatory coursework but not with their math or chemistry knowledge. This pattern suggests that PLTL may help develop students’ self-management or reasoning skills, without necessarily narrowing knowledge gaps. Finally, PLTL interacted with participation in a growth-mindset intervention: the difference between PLTL participants and nonparticipants was smaller among students who received the mindset intervention. Implications for chemical education researchers and practitioners are discussed, with an eye toward fostering equity in introductory STEM courses.

Assessing In-service Teachers’ Chemistry Content Knowledge and Self-efficacy in Teaching the K to 12 Science Curriculum

As the K to 12 Science program was formally implemented, interventions to enhance competence and confidence of teachers in teaching science in a spiral progression approach are main concerns. This study aims to assess the chemistry content knowledge and self-efficacy of 38 in-service teachers enrolled in a graduate program from a teacher education institution using a content knowledge test (CKT) and a self-efficacy beliefs scale (SeS) using a mixed-method approach. Quantitative findings reveal that the least mastered topics in chemistry of the teacher-respondents include solutions, chemical bonding, the mole concept, gas laws, and chemical reactions. The science teachers say they are “somewhat confident” in teaching the chemistry topics. Qualitative findings include difficulties in answering the CKT and challenges encountered in teaching chemistry using the K to 12 science curriculum. In the needs analysis, key findings in the results of focus group discussion are used to verify quantitative findings. The correlation between content knowledge and self-efficacy beliefs is r = -0.12, with findings showing a negligible to low correlation. This implies that even if teachers perceive that they are “somewhat confident” in teaching chemistry topics, such beliefs do not match their content knowledge scores. Valid findings are based on the CKT results and further suggest that the CKT (not the SeS) is a good measure in determining the content learning needs of teachers.

Improving preservice chemistry teachers’ content knowledge through intervention activities

ABSTRACTThe effect of intervention activities on the chemistry content knowledge of 92 preservice chemistry teachers (PSCT) was examined via a pre and post true/false with confidence level test focusing on ionisation energy values and the use of a common alternative conception (AC). Data were collected from three cohorts of PSCT each engaged in a one year full-time university-based teacher education programme. Comparison of pre-and post-test responses and discrimination differences between responses for each PSCT were used to identify the use of the AC and hence the efficacy of the intervention activities. Interviews with 14 of these PSCT allowed triangulation of the data. Findings suggest that the activities allow 71% of PSCT to identify this AC as non-scientific or become more confident in doing so. Interview data indicate that this rejection of this AC is sustained for 9 of the 11 PSCT whose test data indicated improvement. These data have implications for teacher education such that 2 hour intervention sessions can offer the opportunity for PSCT to develop their subject matter knowledge. As the accurate application of electrostatic concepts to electrons has wider application to bonding, these interventions offer PSCT more accurate chemical subject knowledge resources to draw on in their teaching.

Green Chemistry Pedagogy

AbstractThis chapter attempts to show how the practice of chemistry teaching and learning is enriched by the incorporation of green chemistry (GC) into lectures and labs. To support this viewpoint, evidence from a wide range of published papers serve as a cogent argument that GC attracts and engages both science and nonscience students, enhances chemistry content knowledge, and improves the image of the field, while preparing the world for a sustainable future. Published pedagogy associated with green and sustainable chemistry is critically reviewed and discussed.

Cooperative learning in organic chemistry increases student assessment of learning gains in key transferable skills

Science and engineering educators and employers agree that students should graduate from college with expertise in their major subject area as well as the skills and competencies necessary for productive participation in diverse work environments. These competencies include problem-solving, communication, leadership, and collaboration, among others. Using a pseudo-experimental design, and employing a variety of data from exam scores, course evaluations, and student assessment of learning gains (SALG) surveys of key competencies, we compared the development of both chemistry content knowledge and transferable or generic skills among students enrolled in two types of large classes: a lecture-based formatversusan interactive, constructive, cooperative learning (flipped classroom) format. Controlling for instructor, as well as laboratory and recitation content, students enrolled in the cooperative learning format reported higher learning gains than the control group in essential transferable skills and competency areas at the end of the term, and more growth in these areas over the course of the term. As a result of their work in the class, the two groups of students reported the most significant differences in their gains in the following areas: “interacting productively to solve problems with a diverse group of classmates,” “behaving as an effective leader,” “behaving as an effective teammate,” and “comfort level working with complex ideas.” Our findings clearly show that cooperative learning course designs allow students to practice and develop the transferable skills valued by employers.

The Effects of Scientific Reasoning Skills, English Language Proficiency and other Factors on the Acquisition of Chemistry Content Knowledge

This paper aims to examine the effects of English Language Proficiency, Scientific Reasoning Skills, and other factors such as primary language at home, subject interests, type of school graduated, family monthly income, and available studying materials on acquisition of Chemistry content knowledge of fifty-four (54) randomly selected pre-service science teachers from a state university. Using One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Pearson r formula, the results of this 2-way interaction showed an F ratio of 1.025 with a significance level of 0.445. This finding is significant as it implies that combined high levels of English language proficiency and reasoning skills enhance students’ abilities to learn science content. In addition, a significant main effect for the variable scientific reasoning skills, an F ratio of 0.550 with a significance level of 0.815 show that English Proficiency does not significantly affect the Chemistry Skills of the Science Students. Science Reasoning Skills is correlated with Chemistry performance. Further, higher scientific reasoning skills are attributed to better Chemistry Skills. Primary language significantly affects language proficiency while subject interest affect the students skills in subject areas.

Mixed-Methods Study of Online and Written Organic Chemistry Homework

Connect for organic chemistry is an online learning tool that gives students the opportunity to learn about all aspects of organic chemistry through the ease of the digital world. This research project consisted of two fundamental questions. The first was to discover whether there was a difference in undergraduate organic chemistry content knowledge between students at a public institution who complete homework assignments online and those who complete homework assignments on paper. The second was to determine what kind of effect online homework had on student learning. Courses were designated at random to perform either online homework or traditional homework. At the end of the semester, students were asked to fill out a survey regarding their thoughts on the homework method used for their course. Students’ exam grades were then analyzed. Students who utilized the Connect homework program did significantly better than those who completed traditional homework (p < 0.006, n = 112). The ACS average exam per...

Humanizing Chemistry Education: From Simple Contextualization to Multifaceted Problematization

Chemistry teaching has traditionally been weakly connected to everyday life, technology, society, and history and philosophy of science. This article highlights knowledge areas and perspectives needed by the humanistic (and critical–reflexive) chemistry teacher. Different humanistic approaches in chemistry teaching, from simple contextualization to socioscientific orientations to multifaceted problematization, are discussed. The latter is crucial for “critical chemistry teaching”, which includes both problematized content knowledge in chemistry and problematized knowledge about chemistry and chemistry education (about the nature of chemistry, its role in society, and the way it is communicated inside and outside the classroom). We illustrate how various facets of chemistry knowledge for teaching can be used to characterize different levels of complexity in the integration of the human element into chemistry education.

Investigating Preschool and Primary School Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Needs in Teaching Science: A Pilot Study

In recent years, the curricula reforms at the levels of preschool and primary school in Sweden have caused new demands on the teachers. In particular, numerous teachers lack the educational training in science subjects. Therefore, this study aims to investigate teachers’ self-efficacy and needs in relation to science teaching. A total of 71 teachers, divided into three groups of preschool, 1-3 grades and 4-6 grades, were invited to join this pilot study. From the EU FP7 project, PROFILES, a Likert scale questionnaire (with scores from 1 to 3 to represent strongly disagree, agree to strongly agree, and I don’t know was scored 0) was used and revised for the data collection in this pilot study. The results showed that the participating teachers had relatively high self-efficacy and no significant differences were found among the three groups of teachers. However, even though the teachers had high self-efficacy, the needs of further education were expressed by the teachers to a large extent. In particular, the group of preschool teachers addressed the need for more content knowledge (CK) in physics and chemistry (&gt;41%). In terms of the groups of 1-3 and 4-6 grades teachers, the needs relating to scientific literacy were revealed, with a focus on engaging students in socio-scientific problems (52%, 56%) and assessment (44%, 61%). The implication of this study is discussed in the hope to contribute to teachers’ professional development for both pre- and in-serviceteachers in science education.

A Degree Is Not Enough: A quantitative study of aspects of pre-service science teachers’ chemistry content knowledge

Aspects of chemistry content knowledge held by 265 UK-based pre-service teachers (PSTs) were probed using 28 diagnostic questions in five chemistry concept areas, Particle theory and changes of state, Mass conservation (taught to 11–14-year-olds), and Chemical bonding, Mole calculations and Combustion reactions (taught to 14–16-year-olds). Data were collected over six years from academically able science graduates starting a full-time, university-based teacher education programme of one academic year duration. PSTs in three sub-cohorts (‘chemists', ‘physicists' and ‘biologists' on the basis of their undergraduate degrees) demonstrated similar levels of content knowledge (CK) for Particle theory and changes of state and Mass conservation. Biologists demonstrated statistically significantly weaker understanding than chemists and physicists in Chemical bonding, Mole calculations and Combustion reactions. Forty-four ‘triads' each comprising one chemist, physicist and biologist, matched by academic and personal backgrounds, showed that chemists outperformed biologists and physicists in Chemical bonding and Combustion reactions. The findings suggest that non-chemists' CK is insufficient for teaching these chemistry concepts in high schools, despite their possession of ‘good' Bachelor of Science degrees. These data have implications for science teacher education, including how best to prepare science graduates from diverse backgrounds for teaching specialist science subjects to 11–16-year-olds.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Students’ Active Learning in Chemistry

The paper presents an evaluation of the effectiveness – from the perspective of both knowledge and motivation – of an active learning approach to 8th grade chemistry. The effectiveness of the learning approach has been evaluated using a chemistry content knowledge pre/post test protocol and the Motivational Learning Environment (MoLE) instrument. A total of 171 students from four Slovenian primary schools participated in the investigation, divided into a control group (regular chemistry classes) and an intervention group (our treatment courses with PROFILES modules). PROFILES modules, as used in the treatment group, promote inquiry-based science education in the socio- scientific context and support science teachers in developing more effective ways to teach students. The results obtained underline the advantages of the treatment courses in comparison to regular chemistry classes, but indicate that students need some time to adapt to an innovative teaching- learning strategy.

Chemistry Test Items Development: Assessing Conceptual Understanding among Malaysian Students

TIMSS has reported that, Malaysian students' achievement in science has exceeded the international average; however, it was still far behind its neighbouring country Singapore which is on the top three ranking. This paperwork aims to develop and validate instruments to assess the level of empowerment for chemistry-content knowledge. The instruments were adapted from previous researches on Conceptual Alternative in chemistry content knowledge. The test was administered to a group of 134 Form Five students who took chemistry subject in school. Development of a good research tool for Chemistry Content Test (CCT) needs analyses of the 31 items to find the reliability and validity values. This article discussed the steps in the item development process and a summary of how Rasch Modelling were applied to analyze the items. The implication of this research is that teachers can use the CCT as a guideline to develop questions that are needed for teaching and learning.