Investigating General Chemistry Students’ Ideas of the Role of Scientific Instruments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiwoo An ◽  
Thomas A. Holme
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Chemistry Students

Using animations in identifying general chemistry students' misconceptions and evaluating their knowledge transfer relating to particle position in physical changes

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Christopher Smith ◽  
Savannah Villarreal
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Solvent Evaporation ◽  
Phase Changes ◽  
Physical Change ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Particle Position ◽  
Melting Cycle ◽  
Freezing Cycle ◽  
Physical Changes

This article reports on the types of views and misconceptions uncovered after assessing 155 freshman general chemistry students on the concept of particle position during the reversible physical change of melting, using the Melting Cycle Instrument, which illustrates particulate-level representations of a melting–freezing cycle. Animations involving particulate-level representations of phase changes including melting and freezing were viewed and discussed, and the students were assessed a second time, on the concept of particle position during the reversible physical change of dissolving, using the Dissolving Cycle Instrument, which illustrates particulate-level representations of a dissolving-solvent evaporation cycle. Overall, the results of the assessments showed that some misconceptions did remain after viewing and discussing the animations, and that the use of the animations had no effect on the students' views on the movement of particles within the liquid.

scholarly journals Integrating Course Material and Application: A Progressive Writing Assignment Applied to an Astrochemistry Tutorial

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia H Wilkins ◽  
Camillus F Buzard
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Chemistry Curriculum ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Course Material ◽  
Writing Assignment ◽  
The Subject

A major challenge in teaching is helping students integrate course concepts to understand the big picture of a field and apply those concepts in new situations. To address this challenge in a tutorial course about astrochemistry (taught by graduate students to chemistry undergraduates), we implemented a progressive writing assignment that culminated in a final presentation. In the progressive writing assignment, students chose an astrochemistry topic they found interesting to be the subject of three sequential papers, which became the basis for their presentations. The purpose of this assignment was to gradually introduce chemistry students to research areas in astronomy, which is by nature outside the general chemistry curriculum, while also providing students with regular feedback. Over the course of the assignment, students applied key themes in the course—significance of astrochemistry research, research methods, and chemistry in astronomical environments—separately to their chosen topics before explaining in the final presentation how these different aspects of astrochemistry work together. By incorporating stories and anaologies, rather than just facts, students gave presentations that were accessible to a novice audience. As a result, students explained broader impacts of astrochemistry research, rather than just focusing on results, and they entertained questions with answers that went beyond clarification of the material discussed.

Encoded Perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-196
Author(s):  
Helena Shaskevich
Keyword(s):  
Computer Art ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Early Computer ◽  
Asset Class

Despite her status as an unpaid “resident visitor” for most of her nearly two-decade tenure there, Lillian Schwartz created some of the most important works of early computer art at Bell Labs. This essay unravels the conceptual frameworks of “vision” as they manifest in Schwartz’s early computer films made between 1970 and 1972, with a specific emphasis on vision as “information” and “data.” It argues that these specific films in Schwartz’s oeuvre explored a newly emerging model of vision based on the rendering practices of computers and scientific instruments, while navigating the fraught question of the role of the embodied viewer. Resisting this rationalized order of vision, which would ultimately result in the emergence of information as both a commodity and an asset class, Schwartz’s films instead explore the contingencies of rendering information with the newly developing medium of the computer.

Science for Everyone

2010 ◽  
pp. 344-354
Author(s):  
Charles A. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Data Streams ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Culture Of Learning ◽  
Directed Learning

Recent and emerging technologies offer many opportunities for exploration and learning. These technologies allow learners (of any age) to work with real data, use authentic scientific instruments, explore immersive simulations and act as scientists. The capabilities soon to be available raise questions about the role of schools and do rely on directed learning traditionally supplied by teachers. The prevalence of new tools and data streams can transform society, not just kids, into a culture of learning.

I realized what I was doing was not working: the influence of explicit teaching of metacognition on students’ study strategies in a general chemistry I course

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Z. Muteti ◽  
Carolina Zarraga ◽  
Brooke I. Jacob ◽  
Tuli M. Mwarumba ◽  
Dorothy B. Nkhata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Strategies ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Metacognitive Strategies ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Explicit Teaching ◽  
The Impact

Many students transitioning from high school to college are faced with challenges of getting acclimated to college life and managing their time and heavy course load that is cognitively demanding. Students planning to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs in the United States are mostly required to enroll in general chemistry courses as prerequisites. Unfortunately, these courses are among the STEM gateway courses in which many first-year students struggle to get through, or are weeded out. This is partly due to the use of ineffective study strategies that require more than rote memorization, a common learning approach in high schools. One way to prepare first-year college students for STEM trajectories is by teaching them metacognitive strategies early in their study programs to enable early adoption and sustainability of metacognition knowledge and metacognition regulation skills as they progress to the advanced courses. While a handful of studies have investigated study strategies among students in the general chemistry courses as well as the impact of metacognitive activities on student performance in chemistry, very few in-depth qualitative studies investigating the influence of explicit teaching of metacognition on students’ study strategies have been reported. Using open-ended questionnaires, this unique study investigated general chemistry students’ study strategies that they employed prior to a 50 minute metacognition lesson; strategies they reported to have gained from the instruction; and the influence of the metacognition instruction on students’ study strategies and performance in the final exam. Findings indicated more reported use of rote memorization over higher-order study strategies prior to the metacognition instruction, but more reported gains on higher-order study strategies and fewer strategies related to rote memorization immediately after the metacognition instruction. Furthermore, 67% reported a positive influence of the metacognition instruction on study strategies, with 7% lower DFs in the final exam compared to those who reported ‘no influence’. Findings revealed that most general chemistry students were unaware of effective study strategies; thus, there is a critical need to explicitly teach students in general chemistry courses metacognitive strategies.

Learning and studying strategies used by general chemistry students with different affective characteristics

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Y. K. Chan ◽  
Christopher F. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Study Strategies ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
High Group ◽  
Home Study ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Affective Characteristics ◽  
Exam Preparation

Students in general chemistry were partitioned into three groups by cluster analysis of six affective characteristics (emotional satisfaction, intellectual accessibility, chemistry self-concept, math self-concept, self-efficacy, and test anxiety). The at-home study strategies for exam preparation and in-class learning strategies differed among the three groups. Students in the high group (strongly positive affective characteristics) were more autonomous learners, reporting they understood the notes they took in lecture more frequently than the group with low (more negative) affective characteristics. The high group also relied less on tutors and teaching assistants for help when preparing for exams. Participating in explanatory behavior (with self or other students) was correlated positively with stronger exam performance, whereas rapt attention or assiduous note-taking in lecture was negatively correlated. The high and low affective groups were indistinct in their reports of amount of quality time spent studying, but did differ in their approach to using a practice exam as a resource.

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