Our goal was to understand how students’ chemistry learning environments changed and how students responded to the wholesale transition to online learning. We deployed surveys to students enrolled in nine undergraduate chemistry courses at all levels. Survey 1 was deployed 2 weeks post-transition (N = 208); Survey 2, a week before semester’s end (N = 124, 1/3 new responders). Survey 1 asked students to describe pre/post-transition class and laboratory; to report extra-class resource use; and to write about their engagement, emotions, and motivation for learning online. Survey 2 asked students to estimate pre/post-transition verbal exchanges on a typical day; to respond to Likert-style questions constructed from Survey 1 comments; and to describe challenges of learning chemistry online including what they missed about laboratory. Results show classes changed little from a traditional lecture while laboratories changed dramatically from decision-rich first-person experiences to suboptimal passive observation. Students were sorted into profiles, according to described challenges and their adaptive behaviors. Written comments and verbal exchange data show students lost rich peer communication networks which was deleterious to understanding and motivation to engage and persist. Unexpectedly, this study pointed out more clearly the importance of cognitive processing limitations, social dynamics, peer interaction, real-time discourse, and hands-on manipulation in any educational setting (in-person or online).

We conducted a qualitative analysis of how four experts conducting research involving protein folding and dynamics explain their work in the context of their research goals and methods. Results reveal similarities and differences in explanation construction and purpose and multiple ways of explaining theoretical thermodynamic/kinetic concepts.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play an essential role in the teaching of introductory chemistry courses at many higher education institutions. On the basis of best practices suggested by the literature, we developed our GTA training course to focus on modeling best practices in the classroom, providing opportunities for incoming GTAs to try new teaching methodologies and reflect on their teaching, and observing and giving feedback on their teaching throughout the course. Here we describe the structure of a GTA training course, provide our course evaluation methods, and present end-of-semester survey data from trainee GTAs (t-GTAs) and experienced GTA (e-GTA) volunteers that helped with the course. The findings indicate that the majority of t-GTAs appreciated the course structure and topics. In particular, t-GTAs found discussions helped them learn the material and greatly appreciated the opportunity to observe someone teaching and be observed during their teaching. Several areas for improvement were also identified, including more opportunities to observe peers, additional topics such as classroom management, and greater support in applying course topics to individual teaching environments. e-GTAs on the other hand reported positively on how the course impacted their own professional development through honing their observational skills and their ability to provide constructive feedback, as well as adding to their own knowledge on teaching methodologies through observing t-GTAs. Intending to provide insight on how course evaluation data can be used to inform change, we discuss our findings in terms of the specific changes that will be made at Purdue Chemistry in future course iterations, as well as in terms of implementing or revising GTA training at other institutions. We hope that the course structure, evaluation approach, and data described here provide insight into other institutions interested in changing their own GTA programs.

This article describes the use of a comprehensive demonstration suitable for a high school or first-year undergraduate introductory chemistry class. The demonstration involves placing a burning candle in a container adjacent to a beaker containing a basic solution with indicator. After adding a lid, the candle will extinguish and the produced carbon dioxide will react with the water to yield enough carbonic acid to neutralize the basic solution resulting in a change to the indicator. This demonstration includes aspects of most of the topics discussed in a typical general chemistry course. Two different methods are described to use this demonstration in a class: as a recurrent demonstration revisited regularly or as the basis for a cumulative oral final exam.

Biochemistry textbooks often provide a disconnected, highly mathematical, and decontextualized treatment of thermodynamic and kinetic principles, which renders topics like protein folding difficult to teach. This is concerning given that graduates entering careers, like the pharmaceutical industry, must be able to apply such knowledge and related research methods to solve biochemistry research problems. Thus, it is essential that instructors have strategies to incorporate research methods and representations to help students understand the source of such scientific knowledge. Therefore, the goal of our work is to examine expert practice and use the findings to identify instructional strategies to incorporate more cutting-edge research and authentic ways of knowing into science classrooms and textbooks.Toward this goal, we examined how four scientists explain protein folding and dynamics research, focusing on the interaction of spoken language and representations, including gesture. Our analysis indicates that experts employ multiple representations and research methods to communicate how evidence can be used to understand phenomena. In contrast, textbooks explain what is known but seldom use representations to explain how it is known. Based on our findings, we suggest implications for instruction, including the design of textbooks, as well as potential instructional strategies to incorporate discussion of experimental methods and interpretation of representations during classroom activities.