Students In Introductory Chemistry Courses Research Articles

Environmental and Social Injustices of the Flint, MI Water Crisis: A General Chemistry Exercise

A two-week exercise on the Flint, MI water crisis was developed for high school and undergraduate students in introductory chemistry courses. During the first week of the exercise, students learn t...

Metacognitive Training in Chemistry Tutor Sessions Increases First Year Students’ Self-Efficacy

Recent educational research emphasizes the importance of personal social cognitive beliefs and metacognitive knowledge and skills for achievement in science as well as retention in the field. In this project, a mandatory evening tutorial program was developed to provide direct instruction in metacognitive skills for first year students enrolled in an introductory chemistry course. As measured by student surveys and grade outcomes, this approach directly increased students’ self-efficacy in STEM and increased students’ achievement. In addition, these effects were more pronounced for women in the course. These results suggest that teaching metacognition to students in introductory chemistry courses could improve achievement and potentially improve retention in the field, particularly for women in physical sciences.

Teaching Chemistry in Rural America: A Comparative Study Examining Innovative Informal Education and Applied Science Approaches to Improving Engagement

<p>How to engage underrepresented students in Science and Engineering careers is an important challenge in most rural areas. A formal school environment is not always the best place to learn for many students. Informal, place-based, culturally relevant and applied Science education can be used to engage many students commonly bypassed by formal lecture approaches. Integration of traditional “western” Science with traditional local culture has been proposed to increase engagement and broaden the participation of rural students in Science courses. Principles of chemistry such as colors and dyes were taught in both standard University classes and community workshops. Participant self-assessments were compared with self-assessments of students in introductory chemistry courses at two Universities. The formal course data correlated prior knowledge of content to increased learning gains for basic chemistry concepts. The community workshop participant responses differed with those of formal University students, indicating both location and context of the presentation as factors in engagement. When held in a University classroom and laboratory, where ideas were not related to local cultures and places, learning outcomes were lower in applied knowledge compared to workshops held at a cultural center. A long-term commitment to informal Science education in a community setting is a promising approach to improving diversity in the Science workforce by using applied Science topics and cultural relevance to teach basic concepts.</p>

Investigation of Absolute and Relative Scaling Conceptions of Students in Introductory College Chemistry Courses

Scale as a theme in science instruction is not a new idea. As early as the mid-1980s, scale was identified as an important component of a student’s overall science literacy. However, the study of scale and the scale literacy of students in varying levels of education have received less attention than other science-literacy components. Foremost into the foray of students’ scale literacy has been the research by Gail Jones and co-workers, who have been studying students in middle and high school, in-service teachers, and experts in their respective fields. However, the scale literacy of students in undergraduate college chemistry courses is unknown. One should not assume that students in introductory chemistry courses have an appropriate and developed conception of scale, particularly down to the relevant size realms for chemistry. The research presented here investigates the relative and absolute scaling conceptions of students in introductory chemistry courses.

An alternate path to stoichiometric problem solving

Stoichiometric problem solving has always been a stumbling block for many students in introductory chemistry courses. Research has shown that it is quite common for students to rely on algorithms when doing stoichiometric calculations. In previous studies, students were confronted with simple stoichiometric problems that involved comparing molar masses with simple ratios to one another. It turned out that students very successfully used their own problem-solving strategies. It is typical of these strategies that students describe relations in their own words rather than applying mathematical calculations. In this paper, an alternate path to teaching introductory stoichiometry-based on the results of research-will be discussed. The recommendation given is to use problems of the kind mentioned above which can easily be solved by quick mental calculation.

Electrochemistry in the general chemistry curriculum

Students in introductory chemistry courses at large universities do not develop sufficient understanding of electrochemical phenomenon. From State-of-the-Art Symposium: Electrochemistry, ACS meeting, Kansas City, 1982.

Teaching aids for visually handicapped students in introductory chemistry courses

The major difficulty in teaching a blind student is that the instructor must realize what the student needs in the way of learning aids without any input from the student, who has no way of knowing what he or she is missing and who, therefore, cannot take any initiative in requesting specific materials.