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…

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…

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…

Education in organic chemistry is highly reliant on molecular representations. Students abstract information from representations to make sense of submicroscopic interactions. This study investigates relationships between differing representations: bond-line structures, ball-and-stick, or electrostatic potential maps (EPMs), and predicting partial…

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,…

When teaching STEM courses, it is important to introduce state-of-the-art techniques. Students need to learn how to conduct experiments, analyse data and choose the most effective approaches to address meaningful situations. Here we present the assessment of the implementation of a structured inquiry-based activity aimed at teaching students about…

This study aims to determine the cognitive structures of students at different educational levels (8th grade and 12th grade) related to acid-base chemistry. The research was designed as a case study and structured in two stages. The first stage analyzed concepts related to acid-base chemistry and their direction and strength in students' knowledge…

Resonance is a fundamental chemistry concept first introduced to students in General Chemistry I (GCI), reintroduced in Organic Chemistry I (OCI), and then utilized throughout other higher-level chemistry courses. Student difficulties with resonance are well documented. Instruction is one potential source of student difficulties. What instructors…

The purpose of this study is to "meta"-analytically evaluate research that used chemical bonding-based interventions to improve academic performance. Through "meta"-analysis, the present study used several keyword patterns (e.g., chemical bonding, experimental, chemistry education, science education) via relevant databases…

Teaching with analogies is an important pedagogy that helps learners construct abstract conceptions through reasoning with something familiar. Heat concepts were chosen for this study because they have an intangible nature and involve complex mechanisms that often challenge school-aged learners. Learning this kind of complex concept with analogies…

Reaction mechanisms are a core component of organic chemistry. Being able to handle these mechanisms is a central skill for students in this discipline. Diagnosing and fostering mechanistic reasoning is hence an important branch of chemistry education research. When it comes to reasoning about mechanisms, students often experience difficulties…

Recent studies have reported a growing trend of using student-generated diagrams for assessment in science teaching and research. However, many educators tend to use diagrams to explore students' perceptions of scientists and their work rather than explore conceptual understanding of abstract concepts. In this study, we used diagrams to…

In recent years, chemistry educators are increasingly adopting immersive virtual reality (IVR) technology to help learners visualise molecular interactions. However, educational studies on IVR mostly investigated its usability and user perceptions leaving out its impact on improving conceptual understanding. If they evaluated students' knowledge…

This study investigated students' meaning-making of polymeric concepts during modelling and discuss students' creation of visible representations in chemistry. The analysis combines a phenomenographic and social semiotic approach and leads to the finding and description of 21 different meaning-making processes. We refer to meaning-making as the…

The unit factor method, a generic strategy for solving any proportion-related problem, is known to be effective at reducing cognitive load through unit-cancellation providing step-by-step guidance. However, concerns have been raised that it can be applied mindlessly. This primarily quantitative prepost study investigates the efficacy of…