Exploring the Relationships among Classroom Instruction, Engagement in Key Thinking Processes, and Students' Abilities to Apply General Chemistry Ideas Effectively in New Contexts

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Chemistry (12)This project is studying relationships between classroom instruction and engagement in critical thinking processes to further understanding of how to enhance students' abilities to apply general chemistry ideas effectively in new contexts. A central issue being examined is how transfer of learning can be promoted in traditional lecture-based general chemistry settings by integrating carefully crafted classroom activities and homework assignments into the courses. The project has four main goals: 1) to develop and implement such activities and assignments for general chemistry in alignment with research on transfer of learning, 2) to study how the implementation of each of the activities and assignments influences how students engage in key thinking processes, 3) to study relationships between key thinking processes and students' application of general chemistry understanding to new contexts, and 4) to explore how students' beliefs about learning, motivation, and preferred learning strategies impact their engagement in key thinking processes. The project team is adapting the Designs for Knowledge Evolution (DKE) instructional method (developed by Daniel Schwartz's research group) and the Model-Observe-Reflect-Explain (MORE) Thinking Frame instructional method to develop at least twenty DKE-based "notice and reconcile" activities to be integrated with lectures, eight MORE-based homework assignments that integrate in-class activities and demonstrations with students' development of initial and refined models through reconciliation with evidence, five "reflect on your learning processes/strategies" assignments, and "clicker" questions designed to augment and assess learning. The project team is collecting and analyzing data using existing instruments measuring students' attitudes about science, strategies for learning, and conceptual understanding in general chemistry, as well as field observations and video of the implementation of classroom activities, students' written coursework and responses to regular course exams. Analysis of video of student interviews will measure retention of learning through isomorphic questions and transfer of learning through questions that require students to apply their understandings in new contexts. Resources developed by this project will be shared through peer-reviewed publications and through a workshop on how to use the activities and assessments at the 2012 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. Participants in the workshop will be invited to test the materials, and the project team will provide the materials and support effective implementation.