This study examines how students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge of chemical equilibrium is affected by technology-supported formative assessment (TSFA) strategies. This study's embedded/nested mixed method research design was used to achieve the study's objective. A random sampling method was used to choose the sample of two intact classes for the treatment group and one intact class for the comparison group. To gather quantitative data, the chemical equilibrium conceptual test and the chemical equilibrium procedural test were adapted from the literature. The qualitative data were also gathered using semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were employed to analyze the quantitative data, and theme analysis was utilized to examine the qualitative data. One-way ANOVA results revealed that, in comparison to students who were taught using conventional methods and formative assessment strategies, students who were taught using technology-supported formative assessment strategies demonstrated improvements in conceptual and procedural knowledge. The results of semi-structured interviews and classroom observations also show that, when compared to students who are taught using conventional methods and formative assessment alone, students who are taught using technology-supported formative assessment strategies have a high improvement in learning outcomes of learning chemical equilibrium concepts. In conclusion, conventional methods and formative assessment alone were shown to be less successful for students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge in learning chemical equilibrium concepts than technology-supported formative assessment strategies. These results led the authors of this research to recommend that TSFA be used by chemistry teachers to enhance their students’ conceptual and procedural understanding of chemical equilibrium concepts.

Navigating the observational, symbolic, and theoretical knowledge domains of chemistry is crucial for chemistry sensemaking. However, this has been shown to be particularly challenging for students of chemistry. In order to reach government standards for sensemaking in the chemistry subject, it is important to investigate how chemistry teachers can sustain sensemaking practices in their classrooms. In this study, conversation analysis was used to study videotaped teacher–student dialogues at upper secondary school practical lessons in chemical equilibrium. Common patterns in how sensemaking was produced in interaction were found in four experienced chemistry teachers’ sensemaking dialogues with students. The data show how the teachers use coordinated actions in conversations to create a balance between (1) managing sensemaking dialogues in the laboratory classroom on a moment-to-moment basis through connecting theory and experience, and (2) managing the tension between exposing students’ knowledge gaps and presenting the students as competent as part of the interaction. The results of the study indicate that resolving tension in interaction is an important part of teacher–student sensemaking in chemistry, and also identify the chemical equation as a possible tool for sensemaking progression. The detailed examples of teacher–student sensemaking can be used as models for chemistry teachers interested in how sensemaking can be achieved practically.

Chemish – the scientific language of chemistry – is crucial for learning chemistry. To help students acquire the competencies to understand and use Chemish, chemistry teachers need to have a sound knowledge of teaching and learning Chemish: Pedagogical Scientific Language Knowledge (PSLK). But still, despite the importance of this knowledge, the question remains what exactly it is. Based on a model for science teachers’ PSLK developed through a systematic review, this study seeks to validate the developed model by interviewing experienced chemistry teachers, filling the model with more detail, and examining further and systematising chemistry teachers’ PSLK. Therefore, semi-structured interviews with 19 German secondary chemistry teachers are conducted. The interviews are analyzed both deductively using the results of the systematic review and inductively following the approach of Grounded Theory. Finally, the elements of PSLK resulting from the systematic review, as they are knowledge of (i) scientific language role models, (ii) the development of the concept before the development of the scientific language, (iii) making scientific terms and language explicit, (iv) providing a discursive classroom, (v) providing multiple resources and representations, (vi) providing scaffolds for scientific language development, (vii) communicating expectations clearly, and (viii) specific methods and tools for teaching and learning the scientific language, could be validated and described in more detail, and even new elements, as they are the knowledge of (ix) the motivation when learning scientific language as well as (x) the knowledge of lesson preparation and follow-up, could be identified and described through the interviews. Furthermore, elements influencing the development of and PSLK itself are characterized. Implications to foster Pedagogical Scientific Language Knowledge during teacher preparation will be given.

This study focuses on examining senior high-school students’ conceptual understanding and difficulties concerning electrochemistry and comparing patterns of thinking across Turkish and Indonesian contexts. The Electrochemistry Concept Questionnaire (ECQ) was applied to 516 Indonesian and 516 Turkish high school students right after the teaching of the electrochemistry topics. The ECQ contains 18 multiple-choice questions and these questions belong to five different categories: reactions occurring during electrolysis, differences between electrolytic and voltaic cells, movement of ions in voltaic cells, poles in voltaic cells, and voltaic cell reactions. At the end of the study, it was determined that both Indonesian and Turkish senior high-school students’ understanding of electrochemistry concepts was relatively weak and they shared common difficulties concerning electrochemical concepts. While there was no significant difference between the average scores of the students from both countries on the test, it was determined that there were some significant differences on the basis of questions. It has been concluded that students from both countries have alternative conceptions similar to those determined in previous studies such as “during electrolysis, the electric current produces ions” and “electrons migrate through the solution from one electrode to the other”. At the end of the study, the reasons for the similar results and the significantly different results for the students of the two countries to comprehend electro-concepts were discussed.

This editorial coincides with my start as Editor for Chemistry Education Research and Practice (CERP). Since the purpose of CERP is to serve the chemistry education community of authors and readers, this editorial describes my reflection on how CERP serves the chemistry education community. CERP provides a ready venue for authors to share chemistry education research (CER) and for researchers and educators to learn from this research. By focusing exclusively on CER, it has served to differentiate CER from more general education research and scholarship in teaching and learning products. As a result, CERP provides clear recognition of CER including to those outside the field of chemistry education. A particular strength of CERP is the number of reviewers who provide constructive feedback within their reviews. This feedback supports authors in advancing their work and serves the readers by improving the quality and relevance of the work that appears in CERP. In closing, possibilities for how CERP may better serve the chemistry education community are raised as an ongoing discussion with the community.

The importance of introducing students to mechanistic reasoning (MR) early in their schooling is emphasised in research. The goal of this case study was to contribute with knowledge on how early primary students’ (9–10 year-olds) MR in chemistry is expressed and developed in a classroom practice framed by model-based inquiry. The study focuses on the first lesson in a sequence of six that was developed as part of a design study. The teaching was designed to ensure student agency and create conditions for the students to develop, test, and evaluate simple particle models in interaction with observations cooperatively and under teacher guidance. During the lesson, students were encouraged to express their tentative explanatory models in drawing and writing, and to act as molecules to dramatize the expansion of air. A mechanistic reasoning framework based on the characterisation of system components (entities, properties, activities, organisation) was developed and used to analyse children's mechanistic reasoning. The framework included multimodal analysis of communication (speech, gestures, writing, drawing, bodily motion) and evaluation of student reasoning based on e.g., the presence of gaps in terms of explanatory black boxes or missing pieces. The results show that: (1) In model-based inquiry, young children can navigate across different representational levels in their reasoning and engage in MR; (2) children's black-boxing can be seen as an indication of epistemic work in the process of model-based inquiry; and (3) asking students to engage in multiple modes of representations support the development of student MR in model-based inquiry.

For the past decade, the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley has iteratively redesigned general chemistry laboratory courses to introduce students to green chemistry concepts, while simultaneously using green chemistry as a relevant context to learn chemistry. To investigate the effectiveness of this curriculum we developed approaches to investigate student understanding of green chemistry. We adapted a constructivist educational framework to iteratively design fixed and free response items appropriate for large enrollment courses that probe student knowledge of green chemistry concepts and practices. Two free response items were designed to probe students’ ability to define green chemistry and make green chemistry decisions in the context of a case study. A set of fixed response items were designed to probe particular aspects of green chemistry knowledge that were included in the course. Together, we used these items to characterize (1) changes in student understanding of green chemistry and (2) how prior “green” knowledge impacts student learning of new green chemistry principles in the general chemistry laboratory course. Analysis of student responses indicated that, on average, students demonstrated increased green chemistry understanding after completing this green chemistry aligned laboratory course. Students were able to integrate more normative green chemistry principles in their answers and began to indicate awareness of complex interconnected systems. Because the items focused on assessing student knowledge of green chemistry, rather than their self-assessment of knowledge, they provided valuable insight regarding students’ prior green chemistry knowledge that will be used to develop future versions of the curriculum.

The Beer–Lambert law is a fundamental relationship in chemistry that helps connect macroscopic experimental observations (i.e., the amount of light exiting a solution sample) to a symbolic model composed of system-level parameters (e.g., concentration values). Despite the wide use of the Beer–Lambert law in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum and its applicability to analytical techniques, students’ use of the model is not commonly investigated. Specifically, no previous work has explored how students connect the Beer–Lambert law to absorption phenomena using submicroscopic-level reasoning, which is important for understanding light absorption at the particle level. The incorporation of visual-conceptual tools (such as animations and simulations) into instruction has been shown to be effective in conveying key points about particle-level reasoning and facilitating connections among the macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic domains. This study evaluates the extent to which a previously reported simulation-based virtual laboratory activity (BLSim) is associated with students’ use of particle-level models when explaining absorption phenomena. Two groups of analytical chemistry students completed a series of tasks that prompted them to construct explanations of absorption phenomena, with one group having completed the simulation-based activity prior to the assessment tasks. Student responses were coded using Johnstone's triad. When comparing work from the two student groups, chi-square tests revealed statistically significant associations (with approximately medium to large effect sizes) between students using the simulation and employing particle-level reasoning. That said, submicroscopic-level reasoning did not always provide more explanatory power to students’ answers. Additionally, we observed the productive use of a variety of submicroscopic light–matter interaction models. We conjecture that engaging with BLSim provided new submicroscopic-level resources for students to leverage in explanations and predictions of absorption phenomena.

This study explored how continuous diverse reflective exercises embedded in a Community Service Learning chemistry lab support science students' meaningful learning. The findings of this study are intended for those involved in teaching natural science in higher education, as well as those interested in Community Service Learning, self-directed learning, and reflective strategies. Fourteen students in a second-year Analytical Chemistry II lab participated in this study. Reflective exercises representing multiple modes of reflection were purposefully designed and embedded across the lab curriculum. Qualitative content analysis of data from reflective writings, scrapbook reflections, and reflective discussions demonstrates that students were able to articulate their self-directed learning from the perspective of academic enhancement, personal growth, and civic engagement in the different reflective exercises. Students indicated a high level of satisfaction, agreed that the integration of diverse continuous reflective strategies can enhance their transformative learning practice in an engaging way, and would like to continue this practice for other science laboratory courses.

Teaching is a complex activity that demands paying attention to diverse components and relationships that affect the learning process, and acting with intentionality to build and nurture those connections. In this qualitative research study, we proposed and used an intentional–relational framework to explore differences in the relationships that four general chemistry instructors sought and acted to build with intention in their classes. Our goal was not to evaluate the quality of instruction but rather to characterize instructors’ practices to gain insight into educational relationships that may affect student performance. All instructors in our sample manifested a strong interest in helping students succeed in their studies and relied on a variety of resources designed and integrated into their courses to support student learning. They mostly differed in the extent to which they attended and responded to contextual issues, intentionally seeking to make content relevant to students, helping them build connections between their interests and the discipline, and adapting resources to create more inclusive learning environments. These differences seem to affect student performance in common exams. Our study highlights the importance of analyzing the relationships that instructors build with intention to support professional development and teacher reflection, and better understand the impact of instructors’ decisions on student performance.

Chemistry graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) have substantial facetime with undergraduate students at large research institutions where they lead discussion and lab sessions. Emerging research describes GTAs’ content and teaching knowledge for introductory chemistry classes, but we need to know more about how GTAs manage their classes in the moment and how they assess student learning during class time. We conducted classroom observations and post-observation interviews with six chemistry GTAs with various years of teaching experience and who were teaching a variety of classes (e.g., general chemistry discussion, biochemistry discussion, organic chemistry lab, computational chemistry lab, and more). These GTAs were each observed and interviewed multiple times over the course of a semester. Through qualitative analysis guided by the teacher noticing framework, we describe what chemistry GTAs notice, or pay attention to, regarding student learning in their teaching sessions and how they interpret what they notice. We found that chemistry GTAs often paid attention to the types of questions that students asked but relied on their students to take initiative to ask questions in order to assess their learning. Also, GTAs often focused on superficial features of their class sessions to assess learning, like whether students finished their tasks and left their session early. However, some GTAs noticed more sophisticated evidence of student understanding, such as when students connected content covered across multiple class sessions. The results from this study contribute to our understanding of how chemistry GTAs lead their sessions and evaluate student learning during their sessions. Results serve to inform potential training designs that can support chemistry GTAs’ teacher learning through learning to notice—and to create opportunities to notice—significant features of their classrooms.

Numerous studies have proven the learning benefits of concept maps in science subjects, particularly for students with low prior knowledge. There is a scarcity of research dedicated to the examination of chemistry courses at the university level, and the findings pertaining to academic performance in that subject exhibit a lack of consistency. This study examined the impact of concept maps on students of a General Chemistry course who had low prior knowledge. The study applied a quasi-experimental design to collect data on two topics: uncertainties of measurements (Topic 1) and acid–base (Topic 2). Fill-in-the-nodes concept maps were developed and served as learning materials. ANCOVA and Johnson–Neyman techniques were used to analyze the scores of concept tests of Topic 1 and Topic 2, respectively. In both Topics 1 and 2, the results showed that the treatment group outperformed the control group. However, the aforementioned finding was limited to the subset of students whose pre-test scores were below 30.7 out of a total of 47. From the analysis of the attitude questionnaire, the authors concluded that the students appreciated the usefulness of concept maps. However, they might hesitate to engage in using this new learning tool. The study's findings strengthen the evidence of the learning benefits of concept mapping. Moreover, using concept maps in teaching is feasible because of their low cost and minimally invasive modification to instructional design. The practices for implication of concept mapping are also discussed.

A national survey on chemistry instructional laboratories was administered to faculty members at four-year postsecondary institutions in the United States for the purpose of exploring levels of inquiry-based instruction implemented in laboratory courses. Respondents were asked to rate the level of choice their students had in deciding six key characteristics of the experiments used in their course (e.g., what research questions to explore); the more choices students get to make, the more inquiry-based instructional experience. MANOVA and post hoc analyses suggest that there are differences in the level of inquiry across chemistry course levels; lower-level courses (i.e., general chemistry and organic chemistry) implement lower levels of inquiry-based laboratory instruction compared to upper-level courses (i.e. more chemistry major-focused courses). We found no evidence of association between the level of inquiry courses and institutions’ highest chemistry degree awarded, American Chemical Society approval to award certified bachelors degrees, or external funding to transform postsecondary chemistry courses. Our study contributes to the chemical education community's growing understanding of the state of postsecondary chemistry laboratory instruction. Results further suggest that there is an opportunity for faculty members and department leaders to reflect on their instructional laboratory courses and implement more inquiry-based instructional laboratory experiences across the entirety of the postsecondary chemistry curriculum.

An investigation was carried out into laboratory practical skills development and students’ specific challenges in transition from laboratory chemistry at Chinese High School (HS) to a fully English style university laboratory course. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study of its type investigating practical laboratory skills for a TransNational Education (TNE) Chemistry BSc (3 + 1) degree programme between the United Kingdom (UK) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Internationalization of such courses have become popular in recent years. The two universities in this study are Nanjing Tech University (NJTech) and the University of Sheffield (UoS). Our study is exploratory with the aim to determine the level of practical laboratory skills the NJTech students gained from High School and the challenges they encountered as they joined a UK degree laboratory programme delivered in English. For this international study, a mixed-methods approach was followed using qualitative inductive and deductive methodologies. Using open-ended questions it was found that particular challenges in the transition were around the lack of prior laboratory experience and the development of many new skills, laboratory notebook documentation, laboratory safety, and studying laboratory chemistry in a second language. Students welcomed these challenges and felt they were developing into professional chemists. Specific recommendations are made for international TNE degrees with laboratory programmes, particularly for those students who progress from Chinese High School through the Chinese GaoKao system into a western university chemistry laboratory programme. The scaffolded/structured curriculum design allowed for total and successful integration of the NJTech with the Sheffield home students during the final year of their BSc in Chemistry. After graduation, having gained high class degrees and becoming fluent in English many of the students progressed into Industry, and onto Masters or PhD programmes in the UK and throughout the world, suggesting internationalisation of students on our TNE programme was successful.

Team-based learning (TBL) is an instructional strategy where students participate in a set of activities including, applying course concepts to real-life case studies in instructor-selected teams. Here, we describe how TBL has been incorporated into a 3rd year, large, environmental chemistry course and investigate the benefits of using this strategy. A combination of pre/post survey and coursework data were analyzed to understand: (1) What were student perceptions of TBL? (2) How did using TBL to deliver content influence student learning, measured by exam performance? (3) How did students’ team skills evolve? Post-survey results indicate that students perceived TBL as enhancing their interest in course content, creating real-world connections, and most helpful for achieving practical critical thinking skills. Student performance on TBL-related final exam items was significantly better (Mean = 73%, SD = 21%) than non TBL-related final exam items, (Mean = 65%, SD = 21%), despite the level of complexity being similar between the two categories. The pre/post survey results indicate that, as compared to the start of term, students reported being significantly more comfortable expressing opinions in group meetings (t(78) = 4.25, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.48), and leading group discussions (t(78) = 3.11, p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.35), by the end of the term. The one-minute reflections (completed following the first and fifth TBL activities) indicated that there was a 14% increase (77% vs. 91%) in the number of students reporting on collective team decision making. This study demonstrates the wide-ranging positive impacts of TBL to student learning in a large Environmental Chemistry course all while enhancing active learning and applying chemistry concepts to relevant and real-life case studies.

Problem solving in chemical kinetics poses substantial challenges for university students since it often involves significant use of mathematics as a tool and language, with challenging translations and transitions between chemical phenomena and mathematical representations. In this paper, we present key findings from a study investigating chemistry students solving tasks centred around the steady-state approximation. Building upon the mathematical modelling cycle (MMC), qualitative analysis of the data collected using a think-aloud protocol led to the development of the extended MMC. This empirically derived extended MMC offers a more detailed account of the processes involved in mathematical modelling of chemical phenomena, highlighting aspects such as the occurrence of deliberation and evaluation throughout the modelling cycle, as well as the varying characteristics, points of activation and roles of extra-mathematical resources during problem solving. We further introduce and use problem-solving trajectories as a tool for visualising and analysing the complex and diverse approaches used by students in their attempts at reaching a solution. Overall, the extended MMC provides a finer-grained model of the cognitive and metacognitive activities that students engage in, offering further insights for research and practice.

The laboratory is a complex environment where the three levels of the chemistry triplet coincide. As the laboratory environment places a large demand on the working memory of students, cognitive load theory can address overload which causes barriers to learning. Breaking down barriers requires iterative phases of analysis/exploration, design/construction and evaluation/reflection over multiple cycles which are the hallmarks of design-based research. In a complex setting, managing change and redressing teaching approaches can be difficult to navigate. Design-based research incorporates iterative phases in which theory informs decision making. This paper uses the context of a laboratory exercise of emission spectra to illustrate how the cognitive load theory can be used in tandem with design-based research to support student learning in the exercise. Using this approach, it was possible to show how barriers to student understanding, including task demands and conceptual demands were supported through proposed approaches focusing on extraneous, intrinsic and ultimately germane cognitive load.

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The paper presents the design and evaluation of a voluntary online introductory stoichiometry (VOIS) course aimed at facilitating the transition from secondary to higher education. The course utilized simple analogies and adaptive feedback through a formative scaffolding assessment. The study assessed the effectiveness of the VOIS course through pre- and post-knowledge tests, analysis of students' performance in general chemistry, and course evaluation surveys conducted at a Latin American University between 2019 and 2021. A total of 3995 first-year STEM students enrolled in the course voluntarily, and 358 students successfully completed it. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in stoichiometry-related knowledge, with the pre–post test scores increasing from 4.61 to 6.55 out of 10. The matched sample analysis, which only included students with 100% participation, demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in stoichiometry and related knowledge from 5.31 to 6.61. Furthermore, an analysis comparing the performance of students who completed the VOIS course with those who didn't reveal that the former group outperformed the latter by an average of 10.6 points in the general chemistry course. This statistically significant difference exhibited a large effect size (d = 0.8). In addition, a matching technique was employed to construct a synthetic control group in order to reduce bias in the quasi-experimental design. A successful propensity score analysis was conducted, controlling for variables such as gender, grade in high school, scores in the national test, and student ranking in their high school. The results of this analysis showed a statistically significant improvement of 8.6 points in the general chemistry performance for students who completed the VOIS course compared to those who did not enroll in the course. Furthermore, the feedback from 129 respondents indicated that 80% of the students either liked the VOIS course or liked it very much, with an overall satisfaction rating of 3.1 on a four-point scale. In conclusion, the VOIS course demonstrated positive outcomes in terms of enhanced stoichiometry knowledge, academic performance, and student satisfaction. These findings highlight the potential of online courses like VOIS in facilitating the transition to higher education.