Tools of Chemistry Education Research

335 Pages·2014·12.057 MB·English

by  Diane M. Bunce, Renée S. Cole

Tools of Chemistry
Education Research

In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
1166
ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES
Tools of Chemistry
Education Research
Diane M. Bunce, Editor
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC
Renéé́ S. Cole, Editor
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Sponsored by the
ACS Division of Chemical Education

AmericanChemicalSociety,Washington,DC
DistributedinprintbyOxfordUniversityPress
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Toolsofchemistryeducationresearch/DianeM.Bunce,editor,TheCatholicUniversity
ofAmerica,Washington,DC,RenéeS.Cole,editor,UniversityofIowa,IowaCity,Iowa;
sponsoredbytheACSDivisionofChemicalEducation.
pagescm.-- (ACSsymposiumseries;1166)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8412-2940-2(alk.paper)
1. Chemistry--Studyandteaching.2. Academicachievement.3. Curriculumenrichment.
I.Bunce,DianeM.II.Cole,RenéeS.III.AmericanChemicalSociety.DivisionofChemical
Education.
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2014027945
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In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
Foreword
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mechanism for publishing symposia quickly in book form. The purpose of
the series is to publish timely, comprehensive books developed from the ACS
sponsoredsymposiabasedoncurrentscientificresearch. Occasionally,booksare
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Beforeagreeingtopublishabook,theproposedtableofcontentsisreviewed
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In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
Editors’ Biographies
Diane M. Bunce
Diane M. Bunce (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Chemistry at The Catholic
University of America. She received her B.S. degree in chemistry from Le
MoyneCollege,M.A.T.degreeinscienceeducationfromCornellUniversityand
Ph.D. in chemical education from the University of Maryland—College Park.
Herresearchdealswithhowstudentslearnchemistryandthemismatchbetween
thewayweteachchemistryandwhatweknowabouthowstudentslearn. Diane
received the ACS 2011 Pimentel Award for Chemical Education and the 2001
Helen Free Award for Public Outreach. She has served as editor or co-editor of
twootherACSSymposiumSeriesbooks.
Renée S. Cole
RenéeS.Cole(Ph.D.)isanAssociateProfessorofChemistryattheUniversity
of Iowa. Dr. Cole earned a B.A. in chemistry from Hendrix College, and M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. Her
research focuses on issues related to how students learn chemistry and how that
guides the design of instructional materials and teaching strategies as well on
efforts related to faculty development and the connection between chemistry
education research and the practice of teaching. Dr. Cole is also an associate
editorfortheJournalofChemicalEducation.

©2014AmericanChemicalSociety
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
Preface
TheoriginsoftheToolsofChemistryEducationResearchreallybeganwith
thecreationoftheNutsandBoltsofChemicalEducationResearch(DOI:10.1021/
bk-2008-0976). Botheditors(DianeandRenée)hadheardfromreadersoftheNuts
andBoltsbookthattherewasaneedforinformationonmorein-depthresources
for those interested in doing chemistry education research. Thus, we turned our
attentiontodevelopingtheToolsbookasacontinuationofthedialoguestartedin
theNutsandBoltsbook. WiththisToolsbookasacompanionvolumetotheNuts
and Bolts book, we believe that both new and experienced researchers will now
haveaplacetostartastheyconsidernewresearchprojectsinchemistryeducation
The creation of both books was a great way to bring together a group
of talented researchers to share their insights and expertise with the broader
community. We intentionally included both early career and more established
chemistryeducationresearchersasauthors. Thiswasdonetopromotethegrowth
andexpansionofchemistryeducationbydrawingontheexpertiseandinsightsof
bothjuniorfacultyandmoreexperiencedresearchers, eachofwhomhasunique
insightstoofferotherpractitionersinchemistryeducationresearch.
The reader should also note that we changed all references in this book
from “chemical education” to chemistry education”. These terms were used
interchangeably in the Nuts and Bolts book but as our field has matured, it
has become obvious that the research we are engaged in deals with chemistry

education just as physics education research deals with physics and biology
educationresearchdealswithbiologyeducation. Although"chemical"hasbeen
used historically, it makes sense that if we are dealing with the teaching and
learning of chemistry, rather than with chemicals per se, the switch is a logical
one.
Thejourneytocreatethisbookhashadafewtwistsandturns,butalongthe
waywehavehadtheopportunitytoworkwithverytalentedanddedicatedpeople,
includingtheauthorsandACSstaff. Itwillbeinterestingtoseewherethefuture
takesthefieldofchemistryeducationresearchandoureffortsinit. Wewelcome
yourthoughtsandopinionsonthebookaswellasyoursuggestionsonwhatshould
come next.
ix
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
Thanks
Renée and Diane sincerely thank the authors of these chapters for their
diligence in reporting and generosity in sharing their talents and expertise with
the readers of this book. We thank Bob Hauserman and Tim Marney of ACS
Publications for their encouragement and support of our efforts to both develop
and bring this book to fruition. We thank Jasmine Suarez of ACS Publications
for her relentless devotion to the completion of this project and her seemingly
unending patience with us as we worked on the book. And last but definitely
notleast,ourthankstoMackenzieColeforhertalentandgenerosityinspending
countlesshourscopyeditingeachandeverychapterofthisbook.

x
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
Chapter 1
An Introduction to the Tools
of Chemistry Education Research
Renée S. Cole*,1 and Diane M. Bunce2
1DepartmentofChemistry,UniversityofIowa,
IowaCity,Iowa52242,UnitedStates
2DepartmentofChemistry,TheCatholicUniversityofAmerica,
Washington,DC20064,UnitedStates
*E-mail: [email protected]
This chapter provides an overview of the issues and tools
associated with chemistry education research projects and
introduces the different chapters. The intent is to highlight
the information available that may prove useful to individuals
engaged in chemistry education research projects. To
facilitate use by readers, the material has been organized into
four sections: strategies for qualitative research; analyzing
quantitative research data; cognitive-based tools for chemistry
education research; and practical issues for planning,
conducting,andpublishingchemistryeducationresearch.
Introduction
As the field of chemistry education research matures, more researchers
are using more tools to answer a greater range of questions. In the Nuts and
BoltsofChemicalEducationResearch(1),weprovidedanoverviewofthefield
and discussed how chemistry education research questions could be addressed.
The intended audience for that book was quite diverse, including those who
wantedtolearnaboutaspectsofchemistryeducationresearch(CER)frommany
perspectives: novice researchers, scholarly teachers who wanted to improve
assessmentofpractice,grantwriters,andchemistswhowanttobemoreinformed
aboutchemistryeducationresearch. Inthisvolume,theaudiencehasbeenmore
narrowlydefinedasthosewhowishtolearnmoreaboutspecifictechniquesused
©2014AmericanChemicalSociety
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.
inchemistryeducationresearch,althoughmanyaspectsmaystillbeusefulfora
broaderaudience.
Many active areas of research in chemistry education were described in the
2013NationalResearchCouncilreportonDiscipline-BasedEducationResearch
(2), hereafter referred to as the DBER report. These areas included student
conceptual understanding, the use of technology to support student learning,
analysisofstudentdiscourseandargumentationpatterns,theuseofheuristicsin
student reasoning, and the development of assessment tools to measure student
thinking about chemistry. More detail into many of these studies is provided
in a review of the peer-reviewed literature conducted by Towns and Kraft (3).
The review includes research with many different areas of focus and that use a
variety of research designs (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods). The
reviewalsosummarizesseveralinstrumentsthathavebeenusedbythechemistry
educationresearchcommunity.
TheDBERreport(2)alsoincludesaseriesofrecommendationstoadvance
DBER,whichincludesCER,asafieldofinquiry. Theserecommendationsinclude
a research agenda that emphasizes the following: exploring the similarities and
differencesamongdifferentgroupsofstudents,researchinawidevarietyofcourse
settings,researchthatmeasuresawiderrangeofoutcomesandthatexploresthe
relationshipsamongthoseoutcomes,researchthatincludesmorenuancedaspects
ofinstructionalstrategiesandtheirimplementation,andlongitudinalstudies.
Theareasofresearchandspecifictoolsselectedforthisbookrepresentarange
ofapproaches(includingqualitativeandquantitative). Theselectionoftopicsto
beincludedinthisvolumewasbasedoninteractionswithmembersoftheaudience
forthisbook. WereceivedseveralrequestsfromreadersoftheNutsandBoltsbook
for more information on some topics, while other topics were chosen based on
newdirectionsandopportunitiesforgrowthinchemistryeducation. Forexample,
weselectedRforparticularattentionduetoitsgrowinguseinmanydisciplines.
It is an open-source program that is more easily available to many researchers
and has capabilities to address data analysis for some areas of research (such as
eye-tracking) in ways that are not yet easily available in other programs. The
bookisnotintendedtopresentanexhaustivelistoftoolsandstrategiesthatcanbe
usedininvestigatingchemistryeducationresearchquestions,butshouldpresenta
startingpointandencouragebroaderperspectivesofwhatcanbedone.
Strategies for Qualitative Research
Qualitative research methods are necessary to address “how” and “why”
questions. Bretz (4) broadly described qualitative research methods in the Nuts
and Bolts of Chemical Education Research, including issues related to data
collectionandquality, theoreticalperspectives, dataanalysis, andotherpractical
considerations. Towns (5) also addressed qualitative research methods in her
chapter on mixed methods research designs. In this volume, the emphasis is on
highlighting particular qualitative research methods that can be used to answer
chemistryeducationresearchquestions.
2
In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.;
ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.