User experience and motivation with engineering design challenges in general chemistry laboratory

Our career-forward approach to general chemistry laboratory for engineers involves the use of design challenges (DCs), an innovation that employs authentic professional context and practice to transform traditional tasks into developmentally appropriate career experiences. These challenges are scaled-down engineering problems related to the US National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges that engage students in collaborative problem solving via the modeling process. With task features aligned with professional engineering practice, DCs are hypothesized to support student motivation for the task as well as for the profession. As an evaluation of our curriculum design process, we use expectancy–value theory to test our hypotheses by investigating the association between students’ task value beliefs and self-confidence with their user experience, gender and URM status. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, the results reveal that students find value in completing a DC (F(5,2430) = 534.96, p < .001) and are self-confident (F(8,2427) = 154.86, p < .001) when they feel like an engineer, are satisfied, perceive collaboration, are provided help from a teaching assistant, and the tasks are not too difficult. We highlight that although female and URM students felt less self-confidence in completing a DC, these feelings were moderated by their perceptions of feeling like an engineer and collaboration in the learning process (F(10,2425) = 127.06, p < .001). When female students felt like they were engineers (gender x feel like an engineer), their self-confidence increased (β = .288) and when URM students perceived tasks as collaborative (URM status x collaboration), their self-confidence increased (β = .302). Given the lack of representation for certain groups in engineering, this study suggests that providing an opportunity for collaboration and promoting a sense of professional identity afford a more inclusive learning experience.

Measuring the effectiveness of online preparation videos and questions in the second semester general chemistry laboratory

Chemistry laboratory experiences provide students the opportunity to engage all three domains of learning: psychomotor, cognitive and affective. However, they are often stressful environments where students are expected to quickly learn new laboratory techniques, and collect data in a short amount of time. In principle, providing additional preparation activities should help students be better prepared to successfully complete the lab. These activities should lead to more meaningful interactions with the lab instructor and better performance on lab outcomes. In this study, we report the usefulness and effectiveness of online preparation activities for students that include video lectures demonstrating the labs that the students will participate in, and preparation questions that mimic data analysis for the lab. These online prelab activities were implemented in the second semester general chemistry laboratory at a large Hispanic serving institution in the southwestern United States. Over three semesters, students enrolled in this course were surveyed using the Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) to assess their lab expectations as well as author generated post-lab surveys to assess the usefulness of the prelab activities. Additionally, lab instructors were surveyed on their perception of the efficacy of the additional preparation activities. Findings suggest that both students and instructors agree that having access to these materials as a part of a portfolio of resources, including the lab manual, help them better prepare for the lab. Although students’ expectations on the cognitive domain decreased after a semester of instruction, questions related to comfort with lab equipment show improvements in the affective domain for students with access to the additional preparation activities. Lastly we found that both students and instructors see a lot of value and benefits in having these types of prelab activities available as a way to help prepare students for the upcoming laboratory sessions. In general, the potential benefits that prelab activities had on students outweigh the modest effort to create these materials.

Qualifying domains of student struggle in undergraduate general chemistry laboratory

Learning and learning goals in undergraduate chemistry laboratory have been a popular research topic for the past three decades due to calls for curriculum reform, cost justification, and overall efficacy...

Examining students’ quality and perceptions of argumentative and summary writing within a knowledge generation approach to learning in an analytical chemistry course

This study investigated the perceptions and quality of argumentative and summary writing of the Pre-service Science Teachers (PSTs) who participated in a knowledge generation approach to learning, which is known as the SWH approach, and who had had experience with it across different time periods. A total of 41 PSTs were divided into three groups based on their experience with the SWH approach in the courses entitled General Chemistry Laboratory I and II. An embedded single-case study design was employed for this study. The data sources included the PSTs’ argumentative writings, summary writings and semi-structured interviews. The results were analyzed using both statistical and content analysis. The findings showed that the argumentative and summary writing activities were positively correlated with each other and the PSTs in the three groups benefited from these writing activities when implemented in analytical chemistry. However, the quality of the PSTs’ argumentative and summary writings was affected by time. The PSTs who had a shorter time between writing experiences in their chemistry lab and analytical chemistry courses were more successful in both argumentative and summary writing activities in analytical chemistry than the other PSTs. The PSTs in the groups realized that writing tasks were epistemological and reasoning tools that enabled them to understand the topic better and indicated that the writing process was a learning process through which they were able to construct new knowledge. They were aware of the cognitive demands involved in the writing, and realized how this would enhance their future teaching careers and their overall conceptual understanding of analytical chemistry. This study suggests that PSTs should be engaged in argumentative and summary writing activities in knowledge generation environments for both their own learning and future teaching career.