In the United States with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)'s emphasis on learning science while doing science, laboratory activities in the secondary school chemistry continues to be an important component of a strong curriculum. Laboratory equipment and consumable materials create a unique expense which chemistry teachers and schools must deal with if laboratory activities are part of the chemistry curriculum. While other barriers impacting teachers' use of laboratory activities have been researched, the impact of expense on teachers' choices is not as clear. This study sought to understand secondary school chemistry teachers' current laboratory practices and the impact expense has on their use of laboratory activities in their classroom. Using an online survey and follow-up interviews, the study found that a majority of secondary chemistry teachers surveyed use laboratory activities, though not always including scientific practices advocated by NGSS. The frequency of laboratory activities used by teachers was not statistically impacted by school type, available funds for materials, or processes to obtain funds, but was impacted by teachers' personal ideas. Interviews provided more information about the teachers using laboratory activities regularly and those not. While most teachers are using laboratory activities regularly at the current funding levels, expense, in terms of monetary and time expenses, was shown to impact the specific choice of laboratory activity. Implications for chemistry curriculum reform including the usage of laboratory activities in chemistry courses are discussed along with implications for chemistry teacher professional development.
Effective professional development that influences teachers’ classroom practices starts with what teachers know, understand, and do in their classroom. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) challenge teachers to make changes to their classroom; to help teachers make these changes, it is necessary to know what they are doing in their classrooms just prior to NGSS adoption. An online survey was distributed to high school chemistry teachers to understand their teaching practices before NGSS was adopted as state standards. This article presents the findings of the survey in terms of the chemistry content, science and engineering practices, and engineering content currently taught in chemistry. Gaps in the current teaching practices as they relate to the standards at the time of the study and NGSS are discussed, which show a challenge for the transformation of science education, which the implementation of NGSS hopes to achieve. Implications for professional development are included.
Many students associate grades with
the completion of course work
rather than learning the course content. While research has heavily
focused on teaching strategies and instructional tools to improve
students’ learning in general chemistry, less focus has been
given to assessments as a learning tool to improve students learning.
Standards-based grading (SBG) is a nontraditional assessment method
that explicitly connects the learning course objectives with assessments
and student grades. Provided with more than one opportunity to demonstrate
their knowledge of course objectives, students are evaluated on their
level of achievement of these objectives. This article describes the
implementation, outcomes, and challenges of SBG in a large enrollment
nonmajors’ general chemistry course. Evidence is presented
regarding the use of SBG in chemistry from the evaluation of two semesters
of students’ assessment scores and a student opinion survey.
Students appeared to use the structure of the SBG to pass the course
at higher rates than previous semesters, demonstrated some metacognitive
skills, and generally appreciated SBG as the assessment method in
the course.
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