Imparting Scientific Literacy through an Online Materials Chemistry General Education Course

Abstract

This study details the design and implementation of an online materials chemistry general education (GE) course during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many pedagogical techniques involving active learning have been established in STEM major courses, their use within STEM general education courses for non-majors are not as well-established. The recently developed GE course at UCLA (termed Chemistry 3: Material World) utilized high-impact practices to introduce students to the scientific process and impart skills of critical thinking and scientific communication through its flexible activities and assignments. Emphasis was placed on collaborative learning, problem-solving, and interpreting scientific information from published reports. Additionally, content focused on social justice and community engagement was introduced throughout several topics (e.g., underrepresentation in science, war on drugs, nuclear proliferation, pollution, and global climate change) to showcase that chemistry is intricately related to bigger societal challenges. This article details our efforts in achieving the course learning outcomes and shares tangible results regarding the assessment of our teaching strategies from student feedback and reflections. We envision that this work will assist faculty in designing inclusive chemistry GE courses that focus on process versus content and adopting our teaching strategies in both in-person and online classrooms.

Investigating the Use of an Artificial Intelligence Chatbot with General Chemistry Exam Questions

“…42 Information literacy skills are valued in the chemical education community and have been introduced in different courses, including general chemistry lab, 43 Honors general chemistry, 44 a materials chemistry General Education course, 45 across multiple courses, 46 and studied longitudinally. 47 Courses connecting chemistry to important current topics, like sustainability, 48 social justice, 45 and climate change, 49 have emphasized information literacy and have utilized current sources of information like Wikipedia. 50 The potential of chatbots to replace Internet search engines 24 makes it imperative to include them in efforts to improve information literacy, especially because incorrect or misleading generated responses can be persuasive and lack supporting context or references that might inform the reader.…”

“…Developing content knowledge and scientific literacy skills to critically evaluate scientific claims has been the aim of science curricula for decades . Information literacy skills are valued in the chemical education community and have been introduced in different courses, including general chemistry lab, Honors general chemistry, a materials chemistry General Education course, across multiple courses, and studied longitudinally . Courses connecting chemistry to important current topics, like sustainability, social justice, and climate change, have emphasized information literacy and have utilized current sources of information like Wikipedia .…”

Emerging Digital Practices Supporting Student-Centered Learning Environments in Higher Education: A Review of Literature and Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…During the transition to fully online environments, collaboration and communication between students was commonly encouraged through the use of tools supporting both synchronous and asynchronous communication, file sharing, and learning management systems (LMSs), as well as video conferencing (used in 16 out of 18 studies in the review). In one study, breakout rooms, polling, and annotation features were emphasized to create an inclusive setting in which isolated students could work collaboratively (Ramachandran et al, 2021). Online collaboration tools were used to build a sense of togetherness and co-presence, and to compensate for the lack of in-person interactions (Logemann et al, 2022;Jaiswal et al, 2021).…”

A Web-Based Metallographic Atlas for Teaching Materials Science

“…6,7 The former tools help students to interact with the teacher and stay cognitively connected to the course, whereas asynchronous learning is more flexible, allowing students to access the material at their own pace. Examples of their use in an online materials chemistry course were recently described by Ramachandran et al 8 It is important to note that many of these tools are increasingly being produced as open educational resources, offering many advantages for students and teachers. 9 Experiments play a pivotal role in teaching, 10 and virtual laboratory sessions have been demonstrated to be effective during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the use of synchronous and asynchronous online learning tools. , The former tools help students to interact with the teacher and stay cognitively connected to the course, whereas asynchronous learning is more flexible, allowing students to access the material at their own pace. Examples of their use in an online materials chemistry course were recently described by Ramachandran et al It is important to note that many of these tools are increasingly being produced as open educational resources, offering many advantages for students and teachers …”