Enriching the General Chemistry Laboratory Experience with Pedagogical Simulations

该项目正在开发和评估“互联化学课程”（CCC），该课程将嵌入建模环境的可视化表示软件作为普通化学本科学习活动的核心组成部分。参与课程的学生可视化和操作化学系统中的单个分子，并可视化他们实验操作的结果。该软件使嵌入二维表示的信息变得明确，并提供分子相互作用的可视化展示供学生观察，以及多种表示以促进概念理解和强调符号表示之间的联系。该项目的目标是1)设计10个独立的学习模块和辅助材料，其中包括CCC模拟作为核心组成部分，以解决学生在学习一般化学概念方面的困难；2)使用嵌入式评估和课堂实践的实地观察来优化模块；3)通过准实验研究，比较使用CCC模块学习的学生与只使用传统课堂和实验方法学习的学生的成绩，评价模块对提高化学成绩的效果。该项目旨在加强学生对科学表述的解释和操作方面的知识基础，并为化学教学提供可视化工具，同时为新的基于可视化的科学课程的设计提供信息。

This project is developing and evaluating the Connected Chemistry Curriculum (CCC), which incorporates software that employs visual representations embedded in a modeling environment as the core component of undergraduate learning activities in general chemistry. Students participating in the curriculum visualize and manipulate individual molecules in a chemical system and visualize the result of their experimental manipulations. The software makes the information embedded in two-dimensional representations explicit, and provides visual displays of molecular interactions for students to observe, as well as multiple representations to foster conceptual understanding and emphasize connections between symbolic representations. The goals of the project are to 1) design ten self-contained learning modules and supporting materials that include CCC simulations as a core component to address student difficulties in learning general chemistry concepts, 2) optimize the modules using embedded assessments and field observations of classroom practice, and 3) evaluate the efficacy the modules for improving chemistry achievement via a quasi-experimental study that compares the achievement of students learning with CCC modules to students learning from traditional lecture and laboratory methods alone. The project is expected to strengthen the knowledge base regarding student interpretation and manipulation of scientific representations and the affordances of visualization tools for teaching chemistry, as well as inform the design of new visualization-based science curricula.