Who’s Teaching Your Kids? A Look at
Prospective Elementary School Teachers’ Attitudes Toward and Understanding
of Chemistry
I’m looking at the
attitudes toward science and the conceptual understanding of chemistry held
by elementary education majors in a one-semester course in general chemistry
designed for them. The effectiveness of the course was assessed through a)
administration of the Chemistry Concepts Inventory (developed by Bill
Robinson) as a pre-test and post-test, b) administration of free response
surveys addressing student attitudes, and c) interviews with 8 students
about both attitudes and conceptual understanding. This course seeks to
improve both student appreciation for teaching science and student
understanding of fundamental chemistry concepts such as the molecular level
understanding of the phases of matter. I have used preliminary data from
this data as a guide for teaching the course this semester.
The Use of Advanced
Instrumentation in a General Chemistry Course for Chemistry Majors
This study looks at
an activity covering three three-hour lab periods in which students, in
groups of three or four, separate and identify two unknown organic compounds
from one unknown solution. In this experiment, students use flash column
chromatography, thin layer chromatography (TLC), infrared spectroscopy (IR),
and gas chromatography (GC). As most students in this class are utilizing
these techniques and instruments for the first time, this study investigates
the attitudes and conceptual understanding students have regard into these
techniques and instruments.
