A Simulation-Based Pedagogical Approach in Chemistry Education

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With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project aims to develop, implement, validate, and disseminate a program of study that will support the fundamental understanding of chemical reactions and their application in solving advanced science problems by using computational modeling. Many institutions require engineering students to take a prerequisite chemistry course, however, such a course is often not aligned with knowledge and skills that students seek for their majors and is not immediately applicable to solving advanced engineering problems. Additionally, students may experience difficulties in learning chemistry due to its abstract nature and a lack of student-centered learning strategies. To address these challenges the Simulation-Based Pedagogical Approach in Chemistry Education for All Students to Succeed in STEM (SPACE) project aims to fill a gap in the research by integrating advanced engineering techniques to give students dynamic representation of abstract and unobservable phenomena at molecular and atomic levels using real-time simulations. This project intends to embed evidence-based practices in entry level courses to improve long-term student learning and create a community that will cultivate their science identity.The goals of Project SPACE are to develop and test a co-curricular set of activities that will support the fundamental understanding of chemical reactions and their application in solving advanced science problems for undergraduate students in engineering majors. The project will use training in computational modeling and simulation skills, incorporate evidence-based learning strategies, and further develop students’ science identity through an asset-based pedagogical tool. The project will recruit engineering undergraduate students who are enrolled in a prerequisite chemistry course at California State University, Los Angeles using a variety of methods. Over the course of two years in three distinct implementations the team will pilot-test and refine the course of study. In each implementation, students will be assessed before, during, immediately after, and one semester later in four main areas: chemical reaction knowledge, context-based science problem-solving skills, motivation toward science, and science identity. Through the three implementations, the project will be comprehensively evaluated using a set of instruments to examine its promises for future adaptation and replication at an institutional level. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity for institutional transformation at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.