Fostering Scientific Modelling in Chemistry Degree Courses

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This project aims at investigating causal relationships between the visual model comprehension of chemistry students and their study performance (domain-specific knowledge, exam scores) at the end of the first university year by means of two intervention studies. To do so, the present project distinguishes between an iconic and a symbolic-mathematical model comprehension. Iconic models have a structural depicting character that refers to a reference object (e.g., the visual display of an atomic orbital), while symbolic-mathematical models do not show this similarity (e.g., a stoichiometric or physical-chemical equation). The goal of the interventions is to support iconic as well as symbolic-mathematical model comprehension, both of which are chemistry-specific study requirements according to the ALSTER framework model. We suppose that fostering iconic model comprehension will lead to a deeper comprehension of the structure of matter, while at the same time, fostering symbolic-mathematical model comprehension will increase the ability to perceive chemical equations quantitatively considering different aspects. First, a laboratory-based experiment using a control design with two intervention groups will investigate the effectiveness of fostering iconic and symbolic-mathematical model comprehension. Besides model comprehension, study performance and results from standardized domain-specific knowledge tests in organic and physical chemistry will be used as dependent variables. Second, the trainings will be conducted under ecologically valid circumstances in a field experiment during a course within a semester. Both trainings groups will also serve as waiting control groups for each other. Regarding the method, both trainings will be based on a worked-examples approach. To do so, the steps of the worked examples will be gradually faded over the course of the training, so that students are triggered to develop their own explanations, also in related domain-specific contexts. Regarding study performance and based on the basic concepts of organic and physical chemistry and on the relational analyses of the first funding phase, we expect that training iconic and symbolic-mathematical model comprehension will be beneficial for both chemical sub disciplines. Our application-oriented goal is the development and evaluation of methods to support iconic and symbolic-mathematical model comprehension, which can be integrated into university-based teaching right away and thus bear the promise of a sustainable and long-lasting increase of study success.