CHEMISTRY EDUCATION COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE DISCIPLINE DAY WORKSHOP

Gwendolyn Lawrie, representing the RACI Chemical Education Division Committee ZOOM WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES This workshop will include 3 sessions to catalyse conversations. Activities will be facilitated by members of the RACI Chemical Education Division Committee and the wider chemistry education community. Zoom will be used to facilitate activities including breakout rooms for ‘round table’ discussions, polling and collaborative creation of content. 1. A landscape view of chemistry educators’ experiences: ‘successes’ and ‘unsuccesses’ The recent transition to emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in adoption, adaptation and creation of chemistry pedagogies, practices and assessment in online learning environments. The opportunities and challenges in teaching will be distilled to inform the next session. 2. Defining, curating and disseminating exemplars of TPACK in practice In this session, participants will be encouraged to contribute to a co-constructed repository of shared resources for teaching and learning of chemistry online. The first step will be to re-establish shared understanding of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) to assist in collation of resources. 3. Ensuring and widening access and participation in learning chemistry online The transition of learning into online environments has amplified potential barriers that students face in accessing learning. In this session, inclusive practices will be identified to develop recommendations for practice. ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES • Strengthening networks and communities of practice in chemistry education • An open access resource bank of online teaching and assessment exemplars for the community to share • Recommendations for inclusive learning and teaching practices Submissions for this workshop session by community members have been invited through the ChemNet June newsletter. The repository will be hosted at http://chemnet.edu.au/node/37

INVESTIGATING STUDENT CONCEPTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC MODELLING, ATOMIC STRUCTURE, AND BONDING MODELS

BACKGROUND Particles studied in chemistry are not directly observable, and thus can only be expressed using models. Models have been recommended as powerful teaching tools; however, when a student fails to understand the intentions and limitations of pedagogical models, they may create alternative conceptions or fail to learn anything. Hence, student learning with models has been a topic of significant interest, and modelling has become a core concept of chemistry education. This study investigated students’ modelling conceptions in the university context, with focus on atomic structure and bonding as vital concepts taught in foundational chemistry using multiple models. AIMS This study aimed to investigate students’ conceptions of the nature and use of models in science and of Valence Bond and Molecular Orbital theory, to explore links between modelling conceptions and learning of scientific models. Additionally, the extent of links between status of students’ conceptions of atomic structure and bonding models have been investigated. METHODS This study utilised quantitative (QuPRI concept diagnostic; Roche Allred & Bretz, 2019) and qualitative (open-ended questions and problem-solving interview) to probe students’ modelling, atom, and bonding conceptions. Evaluation of conceptions and extent of relationships will be presented, with recommendations for teaching of the atom and bonding with models. REFERENCE Roche Allred, Z. D. & Bretz, S. L. (2019). Development of the Quantization and Probability Representations Inventory as a Measure of Students’ Understandings of Particulate and Symbolic Representations of Electron Structure. Journal of Chemical Education, 96(8), 1558-1570

Chemistry education community of practice discipline day workshop

Workshop Activities This session, facilitated by members of the RACI Chemical Education Division Committee, aims to engage members of our community in a range of networking activities including: Dissemination snapshots of recently completed project findings Members of the community are invited to share a brief snapshot of a project completed in the past 12 months including key findings. Networking for chemistry education research Participants will be actively engaged in discussions around contemporary education challenges in chemistry education. Submissions for both activities will be sought through the ChemNet community newsletter prior to the meeting

UNDERSTANDING AND SCAFFOLDING STUDENT KNOWLEDGE OF DISPERSION FORCES THROUGH MULTIPLE REPRESENTATIONS

The role of multiple representations in exploring and addressing student conceptions related to dispersion force theory, which is an integral concept in undergraduate chemistry education, have been investigated. Stimulus-response think-aloud interviews were completed with nine first-year (FY) and two second-year university students to assess their range of thinking around this topic. Specifically, interviewees were asked to provide descriptions of dispersion forces, their mental models of the atom, and explain the basis of interactions between two butane molecules. In parallel, students were shown various representations and asked to provide their understanding of what they depicted. Also, an animation, created by the researcher, was piloted with FY students. It was further improved based on student feedback and shown to the second-year students to further consider its effectiveness as a learning tool. Findings from qualitative data analysis include that most of the FY students who had sound understandings of dispersion forces, did not have a mental model of the atom that correlated theoretically. Also, most of the FY students failed to give complete descriptions of how dispersion forces arise. As a result of the study, the tool and several recommendations were made available to instructors to improve teaching of dispersion forces

Exploring ocean acidification in undergraduate chemistry workshops

BACKGROUND Ocean acidification (OA) has profound impacts on marine ecosystems, particularly the Great Barrier Reef. While many studies investigate students’ understanding of climate change, there is a paucity of research on OA (Aubrecht, 2018; Danielson & Tanner, 2015). Literature suggests effective climate change education is affect-driven and personally relevant (Rousell & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, 2020; Monroe et al., 2019). AIMS This study aims to investigate how to develop students’ understanding of and concern about OA. DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION Three first-year undergraduate chemistry workshops were designed with different pedagogical approaches. The Community of Inquiry workshop engaged students in philosophical discussion about the scientific, ethical, and social complexities of OA. In the Socioscientific Issues workshop students debated how we should respond to OA. The control workshop aligned with current practices and involved students solving chemistry problems within the context of OA. DESIGN AND METHODS The interventions were implemented in Semester 1 2022. A quasi-experimental design was used, students self-selected their workshop. Mixed-methods evaluation involved collection of pre- and post-test data and audio recording students’ group discussions during workshops. These data are undergoing statistical and thematic analysis, informed by literature. CONCLUSIONS Insights from this project will inform development of an OA inquiry-based learning opportunity that builds students’ knowledge and fosters care for the environment. REFERENCES Aubrecht, K. B. (2018). Teaching relevant climate change topics in undergraduate chemistry courses: Motivations, student misconceptions, and resources. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 13, 44-49. Danielson, K. I., & Tanner, K. D. (2015). Investigating undergraduate science students’ conceptions and misconceptions of ocean acidification. CBE–Life Sciences 14(3), ar29. Monroe, M. C., Plate, R. R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A. & Chaves, W. A. (2019). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: A systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791-812. Rousell, D. & Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A. (2020). A systematic review of climate change education: Giving children and young people a ‘voice’ and a ‘hand’ in redressing climate change. Children's Geographies, 18(2), 191-208

COMBINING MULTIMODAL REPRESENTATIONS TO SCAFFOLD STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF DISPERSION FORCES

BACKGROUND As part of instructional design for hybrid learning environments, teachers have opportunity to combine multiple modes of representations aiming to support their students’ learning. The discipline of chemistry relies on representations to visualise molecular level phenomena that cannot be seen by the eye and these involve sub-micro representations of atoms and bonds. The interaction between molecules in the form of London dispersion forces are particularly challenging to portray as these involve the dynamic properties of electrons around atom nuclei. Representations typically involve the ‘electron cloud’ model which is fairly abstract and enables students to consider the unequal distribution of electrons that result in dipole-dipole and hydrogen-bonding interactions. METHOD AND OUTCOMES Individual students’ visual and connectional understanding of combinations of representations have been explored using the 3P-SIT interview methodology (Schönborn & Anderson, 2009). Representations include 2D graphics, dynamic simulations and 3D tactile models. The range of student perceptions captured have been used to inform an instructional intervention, an online module. Evaluation of student engagement with the module will be presented. REFERENCE Schönborn, K. J. & T. R. Anderson (2009). A Model of Factors Determining Students’ Ability to Interpret External Representations in Biochemistry. International Journal of Science Education 31(2), 193-232

Developing and resourcing academics to help students conduct and communicate undergraduate research on a large scale. Final Report 2016.

This report describes\ua0a\ua0significant national-level educational initiative that involved 39 academic colleagues. The project has changed the face of laboratory education for thousands of Australian students

Examining links between students’ mental imagistic abilities and their perceptions of chemical representations

It is a long-held pervasive belief that for a student to gain expertise in chemistry, they must be able to mentally visualise molecular phenomena (Zare, 2002; Kozma & Russell, 2005; Gkitzia et al., 2020). In recent years however the term “aphantasia” has been popularised to describe individuals lacking visual mental imagery and is believed to characterise 2-5% of the population (Zeman et al., 2015). Furthermore, research has been conducted to explore and understand the distinction between ‘visual’ and ‘spatial’ imagery (Blazhenkova, 2016; Pounder et al., 2021). Those who can visualise images typically associate visual mental imagery with spatial mental manipulations, yet paradoxically aphantasia has been found to be overrepresented in math and science occupations (Zeman, 2021). As part of a research higher degree project, several research questions are under consideration: Do students with and without visual imagery perform differently in chemistry related tasks? How do students without visual imagery solve problems that are ‘normally’ achieved using it? Is a bias towards teaching methods that utilise visual imagery detrimental to students that lack it? Should instructors move away from the notion that it is essential for students to be able to create visual mental models? Or instead, would it be necessary to provide additional support for those who cannot? In this presentation the findings from a pilot study addressing several of the above questions will be discussed. I will examine some specific outcomes from the performance of 18 first-year chemistry students who possessed a range of visualisation abilities as they completed eight tasks related to chemistry and visualisation. I will also discuss how my findings intend to guide the future of the project. REFERENCES Blazhenkova, O. (2016). Vividness of object and spatial imagery. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 122 (2), 490-508. Kozma, R. & Russell, J. (2005). Students Becoming Chemists: Developing Representationl Competence. In: Gilbert, J.K. (eds) Visualization in Science Education. Models and Modeling in Science Education, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3613-2_8 Gkitzia, V.,  Salta, K., & Tzougraki, C. (2020). Students’ competence in translating between different types of chemical representations. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 21(1), 307-330. Pounder, Z., Jacob, J., Evans, S., Loveday, C., Eardley, A., & Silvanto, J. (2021). Individuals with congenital aphantasia show no significant neuropsychological deficits on imagery-related memory tasks. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/gqayt Zare, R. N. (2002). Visualizing chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 79(11), 1290. Zeman, A. Z.,  Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery-Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378-380. Zeman, A. (2021). Blind Mind's Eye. American Scientist Magazine, 109(2), 110-117

Distilling tertiary pedagogical content knowledge to support a new generation of academics

Novice tertiary teachers rarely receive professional development in discipline-specific teaching practices. Instead they rely on a mixture of their own learning experiences, advice or mentoring provided by their colleagues and learning from their own mistakes as they gain teaching experience. This process is in stark contrast to secondary chemistry teacher training, where awareness of how students learn is linked to disciplinary context to help teachers develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Ask a chemistry academic about their PhD background and they will typically identify a specific chemistry sub-discipline such as inorganic, organic or physical chemistry. For the vast majority, this is not chemical education (Barthelemy, Henderson & Grunert, 2013). As tertiary teachers, their background influences their epistemological perspectives and informs their understanding and explanations of basic chemical concepts. As part of a study into the development and transfer of PCK to support the development of early career academics, we have collected a range of qualitative data. Participants in workshops and interviews were diverse in their experience and research alignment. Their explanations of their teaching strategies have been analysed inductively according to their background and the sub-disciplinary context of the teaching example that they provided. Several key elements of tertiary chemistry PCK have emerged from analysis of the qualitative data. Tertiary teachers integrated their PCK strategies in a manner parallel to that used by secondary teachers, including the use of analogies and metaphors, awareness of problematic concepts and use of representations (such as carefully selected demonstrations) (Loughran, Mulhall, & Berry, 2004). Findings indicate that the tertiary teachers’ beliefs, goals and practices align with PCK frameworks deriving from the secondary context (Fraser, 2015). A significant outcome was that experienced tertiary teachers expressed awareness of supporting students to progress to a deeper understanding of complex concepts. This presentation will identify and explore the ways that sub-discipline culture informs teaching practice Barthelemy, R. S., Henderson, C. & Grunert, M. L. (2013). How do they get here?: Paths into physics education research. Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 9, 020107(14). Fraser, S (2015). Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): Exploring its usefulness for science lecturers in higher education. Research in Science Education. Published online 22 March 2015. DOI 10.1007/s11165-014-9459-1 Loughran, J., Mulhall, P., & Berry, A. (2004). In Search of Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Science: Developing Ways of Articulating and Documenting Professional Practice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 370-391. DOI: 10.1002/tea.2000

Weaving webs: Creating instructional interdependency in blended, active learning environments

BACKGROUND Engaging students in independent active-learning within blended learning environments requires a careful integration of instructional scaffolding strategies. These include using multiple modalities of representations, provision of formative feedback and explicit connections between concepts. It is difficult to monitor and AIMS Instructional scaffolding was strategically applied to guide students between online and face-to-face learning environments. The aim was to engage students in deeper thinking regarding their chemistry conceptions. DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION As part of a new institutional blended learning strategy, a large first year, first semester chemistry course has been transformed into a hybrid format. Online learning modules were designed for the EdX Edge platform to engage students in lecture preparation, connecting to in-class activities and complemented by a sequence of online assessment tasks (digital whiteboard and group-based critical discourse). DESIGN AND METHODS Evaluation of student learning outcomes in different learning environments across a semester is challenging. In this study, several data sources have been integrated to gain insights into the effectiveness of the scaffolding. Student engagement and their submissions within several dimensions of the course have been analysed for 148 consenting participants (UQ ethics approval). RESULTS Students were grouped according to their navigation of the different elements of the course. Patterns in behavior in response to the different forms of scaffolding were observed that align with previous findings. Students became increasingly strategic in their completion of digital assessment tasks at the expense of engaging in deeper conceptual thinking. CONCLUSIONS It is important to provide students with flexibility in their approaches to learning however students transitioning from high school require additional scaffolding in how to navigate available resources