One approach to finding evidence for the effectiveness of scientific visualisations in high school physics and chemistry education

Enormous amounts of money and energy are being devoted to the development, use and organisation of computer-based scientific visualisations (e.g. animations and simulations) in science education. It seems plausible that visualisations that enable students to gain visual access to scientific phenomena that are too large, too small or occur too quickly or too slowly to be seen by the naked eye, or to scientific concepts and models, would yield enhanced conceptual learning. When the literature is searched, however, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a dearth of quantitative evidence for the effectiveness of scientific visualisations in enhancing students’ learning of science concepts. This paper outlines an Australian project that is using innovative research methodology to gather evidence on this question in physics and chemistry classrooms.

New perspectives on context-based chemistry education : using a dialectical sociocultural approach to view teaching and learning

Context-based chemistry education aims to improve student interest and motivation in chemistry by connecting canonical chemistry concepts with real-world contexts. Implementation of context-based chemistry programmes began 20 years ago in an attempt to make the learning of chemistry meaningful for students. This paper reviews such programmes through empirical studies on six international courses, ChemCom (USA), Salters (UK), Industrial Science (Israel), Chemie im Kontext (Germany), Chemistry in Practice (The Netherlands) and PLON (The Netherlands). These studies are categorised through emergent characteristics of: relevance, interest/attitudes motivation and deeper understanding. These characteristics can be found to an extent in a number of other curricular initiatives, such as science-technology-society approaches and problem-based learning or project based science, the latter of which often incorporates an inquiry-based approach to science education. These initiatives in science education are also considered with a focus on the characteristics of these approaches that are emphasised in context-based education. While such curricular studies provide a starting point for discussing context-based approaches in chemistry, to advance our understanding of how students connect canonical science concepts with the real-world context, a new theoretical framework is required. A dialectical sociocultural framework originating in the work of Vygotsky is used as a referent for analysing the complex human interactions that occur in context-based classrooms, providing teachers with recent information about the pedagogical structures and resources that afford students the agency to learn.

Variety in Chemistry Education / Physics Higher Education Conference 2016 abstract submission.

Abstract submission form. More information available on conference website.

Use of spreadsheet simulations in university chemistry education

Students who are strong in logical-mathematical intelligence have a natural advantage in learning and understanding chemistry, which is full of abstractions that are remote from the material world. Simulations provide more-inclusive learning activities for students who are weak in logical-mathematical intelligence.

A second advantage of using simulations is that they are not limited by (for example) the quantised energies, integral masses and discrete expectation values of real atoms and molecules. Numerical experiments can be used to investigate the effect of continuously varying atomic mass, bond distance or any other property, from one value to another.

Finally, students are more familiar with spreadsheets than more advanced mathematical packages such as MathCAD, MAPLE, Mathematica and other symbolic algebra software. Use of these advanced packages presents additional learning hurdles for students and should be used only for advanced classes. Furthermore, spreadsheets are capable of a level of sophistication that is greater than commonly expected. This can be achieved without the use of MACROs.

Examples from the author's teaching are used to discuss the advantages of spreadsheet simulations for learning chemistry.

The underlying assumption in chemistry education

The underlying assumption in chemistry education is that chemistry is real, distinct discipline, clearly differentiable from other sciences. Chemistry is the study of matter and its interactions with other matter and with energy, but the aspects which distinguish chemistry are: macroscopic observations and descriptions of properties and change; understanding in terms of atoms and molecules; abstract representations to describe and communicate chemical concepts; and occupational health and safety. These aspects are not unique to chemistry, but their combination make chemistry unique. Over the last three years, there have been major reviews of school science education through the formulation of the Australian National Curriculum and of undergraduate education through the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Project. In both cases, individual RACI members and chemistry professionals, including school teachers, and RACI working party and workshop, have articulated the unique nature of chemistry and the need for chemistry education as a separate subject.

The signature pedagogy in chemistry education

Laboratories are the signature pedagogy in chemistry education. The chemical sciences are based in investigations that are reproducible, and objectively testable. Some investigations might involve testing a hypothesis – does a carbonate produce carbon dioxide gas when reacted with acid? Other activities may not have an obvious hypothesis – how much salt is in this detergent package? Nevertheless, laboratory work is a distinctive part of science generally, and of chemistry in particular.

Laboratory work is a significant part of working in the chemistry profession. The best way for students to learn what scientists do, is to do what scientists do. The only way to conduct a laboratory investigation is to get into a laboratory and to do it!

Learning and doing chemistry in a laboratory is an important and irreplaceable part of a chemistry education.

Chemistry Education around the World: The First-Year Experience

En este trabajo se analizan y discuten las similitudes en el primer año de enseñanza de la química a nivel universitario en diferentes países. Este aspecto es una base fundamental que deben considerar, tanto profesores como alumnos, en programas de intercambio.

Academic Experience and Personal Abilities in Analytical Chemistry Education

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2016

Nature of chemistry in the national frame curricula for upper secondary education in Finland, Norway and Sweden

The aim of this study was to discover how current chemistry syllabi in the frame curricula for up- per secondary education in three Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, and Sweden) take into account topics related to the nature of chemistry. By qualitative content analysis, the statements related to the nature of chemistry were divided into categories. Conclusions and implications for improving the frame curricula under study were made by comparing results with research into the nature of science. Chemistry syllabi from the Nordic frame curricula analyzed take into account the aims related to the nature of chemistry in a very similar manner. The ideas that should be made more explicit in all of the analyzed curricula are: i) the limits of the chemical models and theories, ii) the relationship between chemistry and other natural sciences, iii) the importance of creativity in chemical research, iv) the concepts of evidence in science texts, v) the social nature of chemical research, and vi) chemistry as a technological practice.

Teaching and learning in a context-based chemistry classroom

Many current chemistry programs privilege de-contextualised conceptual learning, often limited by a narrow selection of pedagogies that too often ignore the realities of studentse own lives and interests (e.g., Tytler, 2007). One new approach that offers hope for improving studentse engagement in learning chemistry and perceived relevance of chemistry is the context-based approach. This study investigated how teaching and learning occurred in one year 11 context-based chemistry classroom. Through an interpretive methodology using a case study design, the teaching and learning that occurred during one term (ten weeks) of a unit on Water Quality are described. The researcher was a participant observer in the study who co-designed the unit of work with the teacher. The research questions explored the structure and implementation of the context-based approach, the circumstances by which students connected concepts and context in the context-based classroom and the outcome of the approach for the students and the teacher. A dialectical sociocultural theoretical framework using the dialectics of structure | agency and agency | passivity was used as a lens to explore the interactions between learners in different fields, such as the field of the classroom and the field of the local community. The findings of this study highlight the difficulties teachers face when implementing a new pedagogical approach. Time constraints and opportunities for students to demonstrate a level of conceptual understanding that satisfied the teacher, hindered a full implementation of the approach. The study found that for high (above average) and sound (average) achieving students, connections between sanctioned science content of school curriculum and the studentse out-of-school worlds were realised when students actively engaged in fields that contextualised inquiry and gave them purpose for learning. Fluid transitions or the toing and froing between concepts and contexts occurred when structures in the classroom afforded students the agency to connect concepts and contexts. The implications for teaching by a context-based approach suggest that keeping the context central, by teaching content on a "need-to-know" basis, contextualises the chemistry for students. Also, if teachers provide opportunities for student-student interactions and written work student learning can improve.

Measuring the effectiveness of computer-based scientific visualisations for conceptual development in Australian chemistry classrooms

Visual modes of representation have always been very important in science and science education. Interactive computer-based animations and simulations offer new visual resources for chemistry education. Many studies have shown that students enjoy learning with visualisations but few have explored how learning outcomes compare when teaching with or without visualisations. This study employs a quasi-experimental crossover research design and quantitative methods to measure the educational effectiveness - defined as level of conceptual development on the part of students - of using computer-based scientific visualisations versus teaching without visualisations in teaching chemistry. In addition to finding that teaching with visualisations offered outcomes that were not significantly different from teaching without visualisations, the study also explored differences in outcomes for male and female students, students with different learning styles (visual, aural, kinesthetic) and students of differing levels of academic ability.

Implementing a systematic process for rapidly embedding sustainability within chemical engineering education: a case study of James Cook University, Australia

Sustainability has emerged as a primary context for engineering education in the 21st Century, particularly the sub-discipline of chemical engineering. However, there is confusion over how to go about integrating sustainability knowledge and skills systemically within bachelor degrees. This paper addresses this challenge, using a case study of an Australian chemical engineering degree to highlight important practical considerations for embedding sustainability at the core of the curriculum. The paper begins with context for considering a systematic process for rapid curriculum renewal. The authors then summarise a 2-year federally funded project, which comprised piloting a model for rapid curriculum renewal led by the chemical engineering staff. Model elements contributing to the renewal of this engineering degree and described in this paper include: industry outreach; staff professional development; attribute identification and alignment; program mapping; and curriculum and teaching resource development. Personal reflections on the progress and process of rapid curriculum renewal in sustainability by the authors and participating engineering staff will be presented as a means to discuss and identify methodological improvements, as well as highlight barriers to project implementation. It is hoped that this paper will provide an example of a formalised methodology on which program reform and curriculum renewal for sustainability can be built upon in other higher education institutions.

Historical highlights in organoarsenic chemistry

Organoarsenic compounds have given insight into important theoretical topics in chemistry and proved to have beneficial pharmacological effects