Possibilities and Challenges of Using Educational Cheminformatics for STEM Education: A SWOT Analysis of a Molecular Visualization Engineering Project

Pernaa, Johannes

doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00683

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Despite this lack of consensus, teachers have managed to improve their teaching practices using various approaches and methodologies when designing learning experiences for STEM subjects at the school education level. Through project-based learning and extracurricular activities, they have managed to foster application skills in real contexts, collaborative work, scientific literacy, creative and critical thinking, attitudes toward science and technology, and contextualization of professional development in STEM areas (Pramujiyanti et al, 2021;Hallinen, 2022;Pernaa, 2022).…”

Section: Research Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of digital and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills in chemistry teacher training

Elías¹,

Pérez²,

Cassot³

et al. 2022

Front. Educ.

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Citizens of the twenty-first century use specific skills to solve real-life problem situations, propose interdisciplinary solutions, and sustainably solve their communities’ socio-scientific and technological problems, locally and globally. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is an integrated and interdisciplinary teaching-learning space. STEM careers are subject to gender gaps in terms of access to higher education, and only a quarter of female students follow a STEM career. Moreover, later in their professional careers, women often obtain lower salaries and income in the STEM professions. STEM education seeks to actively engage students by incorporating technologies into teaching-learning processes since, favoring searching, analysis, solution, and simulation of socio-scientific problems. The latter has become highly visible during the pandemic caused by COVID-19, particularly in emergency remote education measures. Information and communication technologies (ICT) plays a role in online education, either via the knowledge involved in school curricula or an understanding of how the pandemic has evolved. This is a triple task for professors since they must have the right skills to train citizens of the twenty-first century, build new stimulating learning spaces for their highly technologized students, and develop these skills in their students. This article reviews the concepts associated with digital and STEM skills by analyzing a case study, exploring the perception of students in terms of their development of these competencies, and the commitments required in the study plans made by a Professor of Chemistry in a Chilean state university. A mixed investigation was undertaken, considering three phases with different methodologies. The first phase consisted of a bibliographic study, comparing both the digital and STEM skills of several organizations in Chilean education (UNESCO, MINEDUC, and ISTE). ISTE was used as the basis of the applied questionnaire to establish coherence in the dimensions coming from different reference frames. A second phase refers to the analysis of the study plan programs associated with STEM, ICT, and chemistry teaching, through an Analysis Matrix of Aprioristic Categories. In a third phase, the development of digital skills in undergraduate Chemistry students and professors were evaluated through the Digital Competence Questionnaire of Higher Education Students. Based on UNESCO information, the STEM competencies address both the content and its application to problems related to STEM careers in a manner consistent with the training model for science and chemistry teachers. In the case of digital skills, UNESCO integrates international reference frameworks respecting each country’s laws, enabling them to adapt them. In Chile, MINEDUC focuses on teachers’ use of digital tools to improve the teaching-learning processes of students; and ISTE is focused on the skills of higher education. The analysis of the study programs shows that students’ digital skills do not meet the requirements of the Chilean Ministry of Education (MINEDUC). However, the programs enhance more complex cognitive levels when the curricula advance, promoting STEM skills. The digital competence questionnaire for higher education students (CDAES) survey showed a development proportional to the curricular pursuit of the students where, in the first year of the degree, the students declare positive answers in 60.5% of the items consulted. This trend increases in the second and third years (90.7% of positive answers) and the fourth and fifth years (93.0 and 95.4% of positive answers). It remains a challenge to develop skills to design, create or modify technological educational media that promote the use of digital and STEM skills. In conclusion, this research proposes digital and STEM skills for teacher training, discussing the relevance of their integration in STEM teaching and learning. The teacher training curriculum does not have an explicit association with digital and STEM skills, although it addresses the skills required by national and international benchmarks. However, the students indicate positive attitudes toward the digital skills developed progressively during their training as teachers. As future Chemistry teachers, they value the development of digital teaching skills that allow them to address the challenges that arise in the classroom and thus promote the appreciation of STEM careers, which helps form citizens with more sustainable intentions.

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Section: Research Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of digital and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills in chemistry teacher training

Elías¹,

Pérez²,

Cassot³

et al. 2022

Front. Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This concept is frequently represented with a triangle (Johnstone’s triangle) with the three apexes labeled with the macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic terms. The model is also known as the chemistry triplet and has been widely used as the conceptual foundation for countless investigations in the field of chemical education. − The holistic Johnstone’s model shows its utility as a framework that allows students to establish relationships between the different components of its triangle. This continuous switch between the three levels is a sort of “mental gymnastics” which gives the student an overall view of the complex nature of chemistry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student-Generated Videos to Promote Understanding of Chemical Reactions

et al. 2023

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Students were tasked with the creation of videos of ordinary reactions to promote significant learning of complex concepts underlying chemical transformations. Interactive infographics were used to deliver instructions. Afterward, students planned the experimental setup for the reaction execution and video recording using their mobile phones. The videos and an online questionnaire, also created by the students, were shared with other class members using the visual platform Padlet. The reasoning required to elaborate the questions contributed to a better understanding of the principles underpinning the chemical equation. An exit survey showed that planning and performing the activity were not time-consuming for the students. Marks attained by the students in questions related to chemical reactions improved after completing the activity.

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“…The multidisciplinary nature of chemoinformatics calls for a robust curriculum that combines scientific domain knowledge, data science, and computing skills, which is difficult for students to fit into an already strained course load and for an instructor to gain mastery in all components. 7 Due to the comprehensive scope of materials informatics (MI), it has been advised that MI curricula be structured as small modules to facilitate its integration with existing courses and to help alleviate some of the aforementioned problems; 8,9 however, this integration presents its own challenges that must be carefully considered during instructional design. For example, it may not be obvious how a research-based tool can fit within the scope of the existing curriculum and whether additional software-specific training is necessary.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scientists have leveraged ML/AI technologies to design new materials with the ultimate goal to achieve lower cost, accelerated time to market, and greater sustainability. Now, the maturation of these technologies in research presents exciting opportunities to transfer them into the classroom, where educators can design new informatics curricula to train the next generation of informatics-skilled scientists. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With such pedagogical aspirations serving as crucial motivators, it is also important to identify the key challenges that could impede a successful implementation. The multidisciplinary nature of chemoinformatics calls for a robust curriculum that combines scientific domain knowledge, data science, and computing skills, which is difficult for students to fit into an already strained course load and for an instructor to gain mastery in all components . Due to the comprehensive scope of materials informatics (MI), it has been advised that MI curricula be structured as small modules to facilitate its integration with existing courses and to help alleviate some of the aforementioned problems; , however, this integration presents its own challenges that must be carefully considered during instructional design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Using Jupyter Tools to Design an Interactive Textbook to Guide Undergraduate Research in Materials Informatics

Chen

Asta

2022

J. Chem. Educ.

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With the growing desire to incorporate data science and informatics into STEM curricula, there is an opportunity to integrate research-based software and tools (e.g., Python) within existing pedagogical methods to craft new, accessible learning experiences. We show how the open-source Jupyter Book software can achieve this goal by creating a digital, interactive textbook compiled from Jupyter notebooks, which are already commonplace in research. Using Jupyter Book, we design an open-source, introductory materials informatics research curriculum where the Python programming exercises are supplemented with prose, graphics, slides, and discussion questions, all of which are embedded into a uniform web interface for streamlined access. Interactive programming capabilities, enabled through the JupyterHub cloud infrastructure, provide opportunities in these digital spaces for students to interrogate the code, test their own hypotheses, and deepen their comprehension. These authentic learning experiences demonstrate the broad utility of the Jupyter ecosystem in sustaining the growth of materials informatics education.

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Possibilities and Challenges of Using Educational Cheminformatics for STEM Education: A SWOT Analysis of a Molecular Visualization Engineering Project

Cited by 12 publications

References 92 publications

Development of digital and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills in chemistry teacher training

Development of digital and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills in chemistry teacher training

Student-Generated Videos to Promote Understanding of Chemical Reactions

Using Jupyter Tools to Design an Interactive Textbook to Guide Undergraduate Research in Materials Informatics

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