Undergraduate Chemistry Students Research Articles

Stepping stones to success: A qualitative investigation of the effectiveness of adaptive stepped supporting tools for problem-solving in organic chemistry to design an intelligent tutoring system

ABSTRACT Supporting students in complex problem-solving tasks is intricate due to the variety of difficulties students face. Although adaptive support has proven effective in addressing various difficulties in different disciplines, its application and exploration in science education, particularly through intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs), is limited. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of adaptive support in fostering students’ problem-solving processes in organic chemistry, focusing on deriving insights for designing an ITS. Adaptive support, in the form of adaptive stepped supporting tools (ASSTs), was developed and implemented in problem-centred interviews with 19 undergraduate chemistry students. The analysis indicated that ASSTs generally supported students’ problem-solving processes effectively. Additionally, certain factors were identified that influenced the effective processing of ASSTs. The results suggest that an effective ITS should feature highly flexible support pathways, a prior knowledge assessment, the explicit communication of identified difficulties, a drop-out option, and discipline-specific task formats. However, the results also raise questions about the assumed extent of prior knowledge in adaptive support and the point at which the amount of required support becomes impractical.

Data Science Meets Mineral Analysis: An Innovative Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Experiment for Undergraduate Chemistry Students

Data Science Meets Mineral Analysis: An Innovative Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Experiment for Undergraduate Chemistry Students

Analysis of undergraduate chemistry students’ responses to substitution reaction mechanisms: a road to mastery

Abstract This study analyzed third-year undergraduate Chemistry major students’ drawings and written explanations of substitution reactions. Seventy (70) students were purposively selected for this study. The main data collection instrument was a diagnostic test and students’ responses were analyzed using deductive coding. The study aimed to unearth students’ conceptual understanding and difficulties on substitution reactions to provide significant insights into improving teaching strategies and learning outcomes. The findings revealed that: 1. Students were more familiar with SN2 reaction mechanisms and could answer questions on SN2 reaction mechanisms better than SN1 reaction mechanisms; 2. Students’ use of ‘chemical vocabulary’ did not translate into an understanding of electron movement and causal mechanistic explanation; 3. About 97 % of the students who gave a correct/partially correct description provided a description of what was happening in the reaction without any further explanation of why the reaction occurred; 4. Students had a slightly better understanding of drawing the correct mechanisms than providing accurate explanations. This study recommends that, in teaching organic reaction mechanisms, instructors should emphasize on electron-pushing formalisms and explain how and why reactions occur to encourage mechanistic thinking in students. Also, students should be given ample practice in organic reaction mechanisms to improve mastery.

Attitudes Toward Chemistry Laboratory: A Survey of Indonesian Undergraduate Students

This study seeks to examine and compare the attitudes of students towards chemistry laboratory activities, while also investigating the impact of both grade levels and gender on these attitudes. A total of 226 undergraduate chemistry students from a public university in Indonesia participated in the study, selected through convenience sampling. The researchers developed the Attitudes toward Chemistry Laboratory Scale (ACLS) to collect the necessary data. Statistical analyses including ANOVA, t-tests, and descriptive statistics were conducted. The results indicated that: (i) students have positive attitudes toward chemistry laboratory, (ii) significant gaps exist when students’ scores on attitudes are linked with gender in favor of male students, and grade levels in favor of students in the junior level, and (iii) no significant interaction effect between gender and grade levels was observed, even though separately, gender mainly effects on students’ attitudes. The results contribute significantly to the effectiveness of the chemistry learning process at the tertiary level. By knowing the students’ initial attitudes, lecturers are expected to apply various teaching methods that can develop students’ positive attitudes and performance to a satisfactory level.

Evolution of Teaching Independent Undergraduate Chemistry Research Courses and Student Skills Developed through the COVID-19 Pandemic and Forward

Evolution of Teaching Independent Undergraduate Chemistry Research Courses and Student Skills Developed through the COVID-19 Pandemic and Forward

A strategic guide for solving problems in precipitation gravimetric analysis

This study evaluated the use of a heuristic table as a pedagogical tool for solving the problems of gravimetric analysis by precipitation in analytical chemistry. Targeting undergraduate chemistry students, this study adopts a qualitative-quantitative approach and employs an action research methodology. The central hypothesis suggests that the heuristic table facilitates the interpretation, data organization, and analysis of gravimetric problems. The results indicated a significant improvement in students' understanding and skills following the introduction of the table, indicating its efficacy as a meaningful learning tool (p-value < 0.05). This study contributes to the development and validation of effective didactic methodological approaches in analytical chemistry to promote meaningful learning.

Beyond Language Barriers: Allowing Multiple Languages in Postsecondary Chemistry Classes Through Multilingual Machine Learning

AbstractStudents who learn the language of instruction as an additional language represent a heterogeneous group with varying linguistic and cultural backgrounds, contributing to classroom diversity. Because of the manifold challenges these students encounter while learning the language of instruction, additional barriers arise for them when engaging in chemistry classes. Adapting teaching practices to the language skills of these students, for instance, in formative assessments, is essential to promote equity and inclusivity in chemistry learning. For this reason, novel educational practices are needed to meet each student’s unique set of language capabilities, irrespective of course size. In this study, we propose and validate several approaches to allow undergraduate chemistry students who are not yet fluent in the language of instruction to complete a formative assessment in their preferred language. A technically easy-to-implement option for instructors is to use translation tools to translate students’ reasoning in any language into the instructor’s language. Besides, instructors could also establish multilingual machine learning models capable of automatically analyzing students’ reasoning regardless of the applied language. Herein, we evaluated both opportunities by comparing the reliability of three translation tools and determining the degree to which multilingual machine learning models can simultaneously assess written arguments in different languages. The findings illustrate opportunities to apply machine learning for analyzing students’ reasoning in multiple languages, demonstrating the potential of such techniques in ensuring equal access for learners of the language of instruction.

A Smart Strategy for Prediction of Jahn-teller Distortion in Octahedral Complexes

This article describes the prediction of Jahn-Teller distortion in a smarter way just like a dial number method for electronic configurations d1 to d10 in the case of both high-spin (HS) and low-spin (LS) octahedral complexes of transition metal ions. These short tricks will help undergraduate chemistry students to solve problems associated with the prediction of Jahn-Teller distortion in the competitive examination, as it reduces the time in the exam hall. In addition, a few examples are explained based on smarter tricks for the prediction of Jahn-Teller distortion in octahedral complexes of transition metal ions.

Examination of the Epistemic Status of Propositions Incorporated within Arguments of Undergraduate Chemistry Students

Examination of the Epistemic Status of Propositions Incorporated within Arguments of Undergraduate Chemistry Students

Ray Freeman. 6 January 1932—1 May 2022

Ray Freeman pioneered many of the important advances in the technique of liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: he changed fundamentally the ways in which chemists and structural biologists use NMR. Born in Nottingham, he was an undergraduate chemistry student at Oxford after National Service working with radar, and completed his Part II and doctoral research with Rex Richards (FRS 1959). After brief spells with Anatole Abragam (ForMemRS 1983) in Saclay, France, and at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, he worked for 10 years in the research department of Varian Associates, Palo Alto, USA. He was appointed as lecturer in physical chemistry and tutorial fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1973, and subsequently promoted to Aldrichian praelector. In 1987 he was appointed to the John Humphrey Plummer chair at the University of Cambridge, where he remained active in research long after his retirement in 1999, publishing his last paper at the age of 84.

Development of a self-test for undergraduate chemistry students: how do students solve tasks on basic content knowledge?

Abstract In this paper we describe the development of a self-test on content knowledge as one element of a digital learning environment. The self-test on prior knowledge consists of tasks in the categories Periodic Table of Elements, chemical bonding, chemical formulas, and chemical reactions (reaction equations and reaction mechanisms). For the study, tasks from all topics have been used in a paper-pencil multiple-choice and multiple response test on the task at hand and an accompanying questionnaire with closed and open items. The results of the study show that the students rated the tasks as suitable. Comments for improving the tasks regarding the wording or the design were implemented. Because of students’ lack of understanding regarding some of the technical terms, a glossary and games will be added to the digital learning environment. Many students overestimated their knowledge and their competences, therefore the self-test in the learning environment will include feedback to ensure that the students can improve their content knowledge and its application.

Factors shaping the choice in chemistry: insights from undergraduate students within a societal context

There is a decline in recent years in the number of students studying chemistry in higher education. Many studies have been conducted on elementary and high school students' choice with fewer focusing on the factors that influence undergraduate students to choose to major in chemistry. Research also indicates that belonging to a minority group influences the choice of pursuing science. Despite a higher percentage of Israeli Arab students studying chemistry in high school compared to Israeli Jewish students, the percentage of those who continue to study chemistry in higher education is small. They also lack sufficient representation in academia and industry. Analyzing the similarities and differences in the perceptions of Israeli Jewish and Arab students may shed light on the societal aspect and its role in shaping chemistry participation. This led us to ask the following questions concerning undergraduate chemistry students: (1) What are the factors that influence undergraduate chemistry students to choose a chemistry career? (2) What are the differences between Jewish and Arab undergraduate chemistry students in choosing chemistry career, if any? (3) How do the factors that influence chemistry career choice correlate, if at all? Guided by the social cognitive career theory (SCCT), we used quantitative and qualitative methods to identify and analyze factors and categories. These factors and categories were related to personal and environmental themes and influenced third-year chemistry undergraduate students to choose a chemistry career. 117 third-year undergraduate chemistry students took part in this research. The findings indicate that there are six major factors in choosing a career in chemistry by undergraduate students, which are divided into two themes, a personal theme, and an environmental theme. Our study shows that ‘self-efficacy – scientific/chemistry learning’ is secondary to students’ desire to complete an academic degree. The influence of their friends and family and extrinsic motivation related to rewards/status/prestige are more influential as well. When exploring differences between Israeli Jewish and Israeli Arab societies, our findings revealed variations in the factors influencing career choices. Our findings have practical implications for educational institutions aiming to foster a diverse and inclusive learning environment in chemistry education.

Exploring diversity: student's (un-)productive use of resonance in organic chemistry tasks through the lens of the coordination class theory

Resonance is a crucial concept in Organic Chemistry that enables both deriving chemical properties from molecular structures and predicting reactions by considering electron density distribution. Despite its importance for problem-solving and learning success, learners encounter various difficulties with this concept. Although prior research suggests that learners struggle to reason about resonance in problem-solving tasks, existing studies are often limited to singular contexts. Given that task approaches and reasoning are context-dependent, little is known about how learners use resonance across task contexts and which characteristics underlie productive concept use. To this end, a qualitative interview study was conducted, in which undergraduate chemistry students (N = 21), all beginners of Organic Chemistry, solved three organic case comparison tasks requiring the consideration of resonance. Through the analytical lens of the coordination class theory, we analysed the extent to which students used their representations of resonance structures, their task approaches, and the variety of resonance-related resource activation and connection in problem-solving across three different contexts. The results show that students’ use of resonance is diverse across the contexts. It can be characterized by a complex interplay of multiple factors reflecting the multifold processes when considering resonance. However, some essential characteristics of productive concept use in problem-solving (e.g., the activation of resources across different granularity levels) could be deduced. Implications for supporting learners’ use of resonance in problem-solving are discussed.

Examining the role of assignment design and peer review on student responses and revisions to an organic chemistry writing-to-learn assignment

Research on student learning in organic chemistry indicates that students tend to focus on surface level features of molecules with less consideration of implicit properties when engaging in mechanistic reasoning. Writing-to-learn (WTL) is one approach for supporting students’ mechanistic reasoning. A variation of WTL incorporates peer review and revision to provide opportunities for students to interact with and learn from their peers, as well as revisit and reflect on their own knowledge and reasoning. However, research indicates that the rhetorical features included in WTL assignments may influence the language students use in their responses. This study utilizes machine learning to characterize the mechanistic features present in second-semester undergraduate organic chemistry students’ responses to two versions of a WTL assignment with different rhetorical features. Furthermore, we examine the role of peer review on the mechanistic reasoning captured in students’ revised drafts. Our analysis indicates that students include both surface level and implicit features of mechanistic reasoning in their drafts and in the feedback to their peers, with slight differences depending on the rhetorical features present in the assignment. However, students’ revisions appeared to be primarily connected to the peer review process via the presence of surface features in the drafts students read (as opposed to the feedback received). These findings indicate that further scaffolding focused on how to utilize information gained from the peer review process (i.e., both feedback received and drafts read) and emphasizing implicit properties could help support the utility of WTL for developing students’ mechanistic reasoning in organic chemistry.

Strengthening the Functions of Academic Research and Promoting the Integration of Science and Education: Exploration Ways to Cultivate the Talents of Undergraduate Chemistry Students

Strengthening the Functions of Academic Research and Promoting the Integration of Science and Education: Exploration Ways to Cultivate the Talents of Undergraduate Chemistry Students

THE ELECTROSTATIC FORCE APPLIED TO TEACHING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES

The unique fundamental force related to chemical bonds, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals interactions is the electromagnetic force, where the electrostatic force plays the major role. But, to our knowledge, no paper so far has explored the use of the electrostatic force explicitly to account for any molecular property (boiling point, solubility, etc.), except for the book Introductory Organic Chemistry and Hydrocarbons.1 This work uses the electrostatic force applied to chemistry to explain some molecular properties in organic chemistry. It also evaluates the understanding of Brazilian undergraduate students with respect to some topics of organic chemistry based on the electrostatic force. One questionnaire was applied to chemistry undergraduate students about Coulomb’s law and its application to organic chemistry, and the results indicate that most undergraduate students understand the electrostatic force equation applied to chemical education.

INSPIRE: Development of an Interdisciplinary Science Program in Research and Entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT We developed the Interdisciplinary Science Program in Research and Entrepreneurship (INSPIRE) to address the changing career landscape that students with an interest in Biophysics, Physical Chemistry, and Biochemistry face. Third and fourth-year undergraduate Chemistry and Physics students participated in a 4-week, hands-on program that introduced applications of biophysical and biochemical techniques to drug discovery, while simultaneously engaging in a crash course on entrepreneurship and pharma. The principal objective of this inaugural, pilot program was to introduce undergraduate students interested in pursuing a PhD to the interdisciplinary nature of Chemistry and Physics research in the Life Sciences, while simultaneously introducing the idea of translating their future graduate work into a career in biotechnology.

Embodied preparation for learning basic quantum chemistry: A mixed‐method study

AbstractBackgroundHaptic feedback has been shown to be an effective facilitator of the learning of scientific concepts in a series of studies. However, little is known about the underlying salient learning mechanisms, which are activated when learning from haptic feedback.ObjectivesWe investigate the learning mechanism in a higher chemistry education setting, in which the students learned about the abstract concept of potential energy in a quantum chemical context.MethodsIn this work, we present a mixed‐methods problem‐solving prior to instruction (PS‐I) study with chemistry bachelor students. In an interactive quantum chemistry learning environment, the students explored the energetic profiles of nucleophilic substitution reactions and the corresponding activation barriers experienced as repulsion and attraction. We measured cognitive and affective mechanisms which have been shown to be activated in PS‐I designs, such as knowledge gap awareness, state curiosity, and positive affect as well as the learning outcome quantitatively and the learning trajectories qualitatively.Results and ConclusionsPlanned contrasts revealed a small hindering effect of the haptic feedback on the learning outcome. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data lets us attribute this effect to the lack of scaffolding of the haptic feedback and the spontaneous atomic movements in the simulation, which may be interpreted as a visual representation of force in itself.This work highlights the importance of accurate mappings of the haptic feedback unto the target domain and further delivers insight into the prior conceptions of chemistry undergraduate students.

Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Perceived Abilities and Declarative Knowledge on Some Basic Aspects and Concepts of Spectroscopy

Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Perceived Abilities and Declarative Knowledge on Some Basic Aspects and Concepts of Spectroscopy

Role of concept map format and student interest on introductory electrochemistry learning

AbstractElectrochemistry, a key topic in introductory chemistry, is a topic that many students struggle with conceptually. Visual learning tools like concept maps allow the externalization of key concepts and the relationships between these concepts may aid in students' acquisition and retention of newly learned electrochemistry concepts. Partnering with a general chemistry instructor, this study explored the effectiveness of two concept map formats—fill‐in‐the‐concepts and student‐corrected maps, on electrochemistry outcomes with undergraduate general chemistry students. To examine students' engagement with these maps, we also explored the role of students' interest. Results indicated that prior knowledge and map condition were significant predictors of students' electrochemistry performance. Specifically, the fill‐in‐the‐concepts condition resulted in better learning outcomes than the map correction condition. Furthermore, students with a higher interest in electrochemistry were more likely to perform well on their respective concept mapping activities, thus, scoring higher on the posttest. These findings suggested that concept maps can effectively represent key concepts of a challenging topic, and are beneficial for students' learning and retention of information. Importantly, instructors may further support learning by providing scaffolds in the form of fill‐in‐the‐concept maps to help students better organize their mental structures and identify misconceptions.