Analysis of inquiry materials to explain complexity of chemical reasoning in physical chemistry students’ argumentation

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (10) ◽  
pp. 1322-1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena Moon ◽  
Courtney Stanford ◽  
Renee Cole ◽  
Marcy Towns
Keyword(s):  
Physical Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Chemical Reasoning

The nature of students' chemical reasoning employed in scientific argumentation in physical chemistry

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Moon ◽  
C. Stanford ◽  
R. Cole ◽  
M. Towns
Keyword(s):  
Physical Chemistry ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Science Education Reform ◽  
Relational Reasoning ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Chemical Reasoning

Recent science education reform efforts have emphasized scientific practices in addition to scientific knowledge. Less work has been done at the tertiary level to consider students' engagement in scientific practices. In this work, we consider physical chemistry students' engagement in argumentation and construction of causal explanations. Students in two POGIL physical chemistry classrooms were videotaped as they engaged in discourse while solving thermodynamics problems. Videos were transcribed and transcripts were analyzed using the Toulmin Argument Pattern (TAP). Arguments were then characterized using the modes of reasoning in a learning progression on chemical thinking (CTLP) (Sevian and Talanquer, 2014). Results showed that students used primarily relational reasoning, in which no causal explanation is generated, rather a single relationship between variables was used to justify a claim. We discuss all types of reasoning present in students' arguments.

Physical chemistry students discover the computer

1971 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Peterson ◽  
Maton E. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Physical Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Students

Learning quantum chemistry via a visual-conceptual approach: students' bidirectional textual and visual understanding

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Dangur ◽  
Shirly Avargil ◽  
Uri Peskin ◽  
Yehudit Judy Dori
Keyword(s):  
Physical Chemistry ◽  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Quantum Chemistry ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Undergraduate Chemistry ◽  
Visual Understanding

Most undergraduate chemistry courses and a few high school honors courses, which focus on physical chemistry and quantum mechanics, are highly mathematically-oriented. At the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, we developed a new module for high school students, titledChemistry – From “the Hole” to “the Whole”: From the Nanoscale to Microelectronics. The module is based on a qualitative approach to teaching quantum chemistry, emphasizing interdisciplinary real-life applications and integration of visualization. While aimed at honors high school chemistry students, the module was also partially implemented and assessed in an undergraduate chemistry course. The research objective was to investigate the effect of the module on the visual and textual understanding of quantum mechanical concepts among 122 honors and 65 volunteer undergraduate chemistry students. The research tools included students' pre- and post-questionnaires. High school honors and undergraduate students, who were exposed to the module, significantly improved their textual and visual understanding of quantum mechanical concepts and their ability to move across illustrations and explanations. Honors and undergraduate students minimized the gap that had existed between them in terms of integrating micro and quantum levels into their post-questionnaire answers. Our findings augment the current set of the four chemistry understanding levels – macro, micro, symbol and process – by adding the quantum mechanical level as a fifth level of chemistry understanding. The study contributes to teaching physical chemistry by providing a tool for learning, assessment, and research of chemistry understandingviaboth visual and textual modes.

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