Development and Validation of Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale for College Students

This study described the process of developing and validating the College Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSS) that can be used to assess college students’ beliefs in their ability to perform essential tasks in chemistry. In the first phase, data collected from 363 college students provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the new scale. Three dimensions emerged: self-efficacy for cognitive skills, self-efficacy for psychomotor skills, and self-efficacy for everyday applications. In the second phase, data collected from an independent sample of 353 college students confirmed the factorial structure of the 21-item CCSS. The Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from 0.82 to 0.92. In addition, each dimension of the CCSS had moderate and significant correlations with student chemistry achievement and differentiated between major and non-major students. Followed by the additional validation studies, the CCSS will serve as a valuable tool for both instructors and researchers in science education to assess college students’ chemistry self-efficacy beliefs.     

A Multilevel Analysis of Learning Environments and Student Attitudes

An investigation of relationships between students’ attitudes towards chemistry and their perceived laboratory environments was carried out using a sample of 1592 final year secondary school students in 56 chemistry classes in 28 randomly selected co‐educational government schools. This study is distinctive in that it marks the beginning of science classroom environment research in Singapore and because it pioneers the use of the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) in learning environment research. The Chemistry Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI), a modified version of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory, was used to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment in chemistry laboratory classes. Students’ chemistry‐related attitudes were assessed using the Questionnaire on Chemistry‐related Attitudes (QOCRA), which is based on the Test of Science‐related Attitudes. Environment‐attitude relationships were examined using conventional multiple regression analysis and the more rigorous HLM. Positive associations emerged between the nature of the chemistry laboratory classroom environment and the students’ attitudinal outcomes     

The Impact of Internet Virtual Physics Laboratory Instruction on the Achievement in Physics, Science Process Skills and Computer Attitudes of 10th-Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the impact of Internet Virtual Physics Laboratory (IVPL) instruction with traditional laboratory instruction in physics academic achievement, performance of science process skills, and computer attitudes of tenth grade students. One-hundred and fifty students from four classes at one private senior high school in Taoyuan Country, Taiwan, R.O.C. were sampled. All four classes contained 75 students who were equally divided into an experimental group and a control group. The pre-test results indicated that the students’ entry-level physics academic achievement, science process skills, and computer attitudes were equal for both groups. On the post-test, the experimental group achieved significantly higher mean scores in physics academic achievement and science process skills. There was no significant difference in computer attitudes between the groups. We concluded that the IVPL had potential to help tenth graders improve their physics academic achievement and science process skills.     

Chemical understanding and graphing skills in an honors case‐based computerized chemistry laboratory environment: The value of bidirectional visual and textual representations

The case‐based computerized laboratory (CCL) is a chemistry learning environment that integrates computerized experiments with emphasis on scientific inquiry and comprehension of case studies. The research objective was to investigate chemical understanding and graphing skills of high school honors students via bidirectional visual and textual representations in the CCL learning environment. The research population of our 3‐year study consisted of 857 chemistry 12th grade honors students from a variety of high schools in Israel. Pre‐ and postcase‐based questionnaires were used to assess students' graphing and chemical understanding–retention skills. We found that students in the CCL learning environment significantly improved their graphing skills and chemical understanding–retention in the post‐ with respect to the prequestionnaires. Comparing the experimental students to their non‐CCL control peers has shown that CCL students had an advantage in graphing skills. The CCL contribution was most noticeable for experimental students of relatively low academic level who benefit the most from the combination of visual and textual representations. Our findings emphasize the educational value of combining the case‐based method with computerized laboratories for enhancing students' chemistry understanding and graphing skills, and for developing their ability to bidirectionally transfer between textual and visual representations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 219–250, 2008.     

Effects of integrated video media on student achievement and attitudes in high school chemistry

This study explored the effects of an integrated video media curriculum enhancement on students' achievement and attitudes in a first-year general high school chemistry course within a multiculturally diverse metropolitan school district. Through the use of a treatment-control experimental design, approximately 450 students in Grades 9–12 were sampled on measures of chemistry achievement and attitude over the period of 1 academic year. The results revealed significantly higher achievement scores on standardized measures of achievement as well as on microunit researcher-designed, criterion-referenced quizzes for the treatment students who experienced a general chemistry course enhanced with an integrated use of a structured chemistry video series. Correlation of student achievement with logical thinking ability revealed that students with high levels of logical thinking ability benefited most from the video-enhanced curriculum. Treatment students also scored significantly higher than control students on the chemistry attitude instrument. These results along with qualitative supportive evidence suggest that this integrated video media curriculum intervention can positively affect student chemistry achievement and attitude across ability levels and across a diverse multicultural population. Furthermore, the data suggest that educational science video media in general, and the World of Chemistry video series in particular, are instructional tools that can be used effectively to bring the often abstract, distant worlds of science into close focus and within the personal meaningful realm of each individual student. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 617–631, 1997.     

Correct Interpretation of Chemical Diagrams Requires Transforming from One Level of Representation to Another

Volunteer non-major chemistry students taking an introductory university chemistry course (n = 17) were interviewed about their understanding of a variety of chemical diagrams. All the students’ interviewed appreciated that diagrams of laboratory equipment were useful to show how to set up laboratory equipment. However students’ ability to explain specific diagrams at either the macroscopic or sub-microscopic level varied greatly. The results highlighted the poor level of understanding that some students had even after completing both exercises and experiments using the diagrams. The connection between the diagrams of the macroscopic level (equipment, chemicals), the sub-microscopic level (molecular) and the symbolic level (equations) was not always considered explicitly by students. The results indicate a need for chemical diagrams to be used carefully and more explicitly to ensure learner understanding. Correspondingly, students need to interpret visual chemical diagrams using meta-visualization skills linking the various levels of representation, and appreciating the role of the diagrams in explanations need to be developed.     

The emerging role of CD-ROMs in teaching chemistry

Learning chemistry requires students to relate chemical equations and other symbolic notation both to molecular or atomic events and to macroscopic laboratory observations and data. Traditionally, textbooks have provided symbolic notation with minimal pictures of either microscopic events or macroscopic events leaving the teacher and student to conjure these pictures from words. This paper describes the design of several CD-ROMs with very different strategies and focus for teaching general chemistry with large databases of visual information. Teacher tools for preparation facilitate the planning of more hands-on laboratory experiences and live demonstrations to develop laboratory observation skills. Presentation materials provide animations of abstract microscopic events and concepts to help teachers explain these molecular and atomic events. Students improve observation skills in laboratories with supplemental computer tutorials that mimic the decision making required for laboratory tasks in a virtual laboratory, but students reinforce the experience and learn techniques with practice in a real laboratory. New college textbooks on CD-ROM, that integrate the molecular animations and laboratory experiments with the introduction of new terms and symbolic representations, portend large changes in all textbooks.     

An Application of Context- and Problem-Based Learning (C-PBL) into Teaching Thermodynamics

This study aims to investigate the applicability of context- and problem-based learning (C-PBL) into teaching thermodynamics and to examine its influence on the students’ achievements in chemistry, retention of knowledge, students’ attitudes, motivation and interest towards chemistry. The embedded mixed method design was utilized with a group of 13 chemistry students in a 2-year program of “Medical Laboratory and Techniques” at a state university in an underdeveloped city at the southeastern region of Turkey. The research data were collected via questionnaires regarding the students’ attitudes, motivation and interest in chemistry, an achievement test on “thermodynamics” and interviews utilized to find out the applicability of C-PBL into thermodynamics. The findings demonstrated that C-PBL led a statistically significant increase in the students’ achievement in thermodynamics and their interest in chemistry, while no statistically significant difference was observed in the students’ attitudes and motivation towards chemistry before and after the intervention. The interviews revealed that C-PBL developed not only the students’ communication skills but also their skills in using time effectively, making presentations, reporting research results and using technology. It was also found to increase their self-confidence together with the positive attitudes towards C-PBL and being able to associate chemistry with daily life. In light of these findings, it could be stated that it will be beneficial to increase the use of C-PBL in teaching chemistry.     

Saudi arabian students' chemistry achievement and science attitudes stemming from lecture-demonstration and small group teaching methods

The study was designed to determine differences between two chemistry teaching methods on students' chemistry achievement and attitudes toward science. The two methods were the large lecture-demonstration and small-group laboratory approaches to teaching chemistry. The subjects were 74 eleventh-grade Saudi Arabian students randomly assigned to the two treatment groups. The findings revealed that the small-group laboratory students exhibited significantly greater chemistry achievement than students in the lecture-demonstration group on both immediate and delayed posttests. The results also indicated that students taught by the lab approach possessed more desirable attitudes toward science.     

Examining the effectiveness of guided inquiry with problem-solving process and cognitive function training in a high school chemistry course

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of traditional versus guided inquiry (with problem-solving process and cognitive function training) on high school chemistry knowledge, science process skills, scientific attitudes, and problem-solving competency. Two classes of students were recruited from three classes of Grade 11 students at one school in North-eastern Thailand. Using a split-plot design, students were assigned to an experimental (N = 34) and a control group (N = 31), and were administered (a) learning achievement tests (chemistry knowledge, science process skills, and scientific attitude), (b) a problem-solving competency test, and c) tests of cognitive functioning. The findings showed that students’ learning achievement and problem-solving competency in the guided inquiry group were significantly higher than in the traditional group. The effect of the new teaching method does not seem to stem solely from improvement in cognitive functioning. We attributed the improvement to greater flexibility in the amount of information provided by the teachers, more effortful processing by the students, and greater collaboration amongst the students.     

Students' cognitive focus during a chemistry laboratory exercise: Effects of a computer‐simulated prelab

To enhance the learning outcomes achieved by students, learners undertook a computer‐simulated activity based on an acid–base titration prior to a university‐level chemistry laboratory activity. Students were categorized with respect to their attitudes toward learning. During the laboratory exercise, questions that students asked their assistant teachers were used as indicators of cognitive focus. During the interviews, students' frequency and level of “spontaneous” use of chemical knowledge served as an indicator of knowledge usability. Results suggest that the simulation influenced students toward posing more theoretical questions during their laboratory work and, regardless of attitudes, exhibiting a more complex, correct use of chemistry knowledge in their interviews. A more relativistic student attitude toward learning was positively correlated with interview performance in both the control and treatment groups. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1108–1133, 2007     

Inquiry-Based Laboratory Activities in Electrochemistry: High School Students’ Achievements and Attitudes

This study aimed to investigate the effects of inquiry-based laboratory activities on high school students’ understanding of electrochemistry and attitudes towards chemistry and laboratory work. The participants were 62 high school students (average age 17 years) in an urban public high school in Turkey. Students were assigned to experimental (N?=?30) and control groups (N?=?32). The experimental group was taught using inquiry-based laboratory activities developed by the researchers and the control group was instructed using traditional laboratory activities. The results of the study indicated that instruction based on inquiry-based laboratory activities caused a significantly better acquisition of scientific concepts related to electrochemistry, and produced significantly higher positive attitudes towards chemistry and laboratory. In the light of the findings, it is suggested that inquiry-based laboratory activities should be developed and applied to promote students’ understanding in chemistry subjects and to improve their positive attitudes.     

Effectiveness of Using Computer-Assisted Supplementary Instruction for Teaching the Mole Concept

This study examined the effect of computer-assisted instruction (CAI), used as a problem-solving supplement to classroom instruction, on students' understanding of chemical formulas and mole concept, their attitudes toward chemistry subjects, and CAI. The objective was to assess the effectiveness of CAI over recitation hours when both teaching methods were used as a supplement to the traditional chemistry instruction. We randomly selected two classes in a secondary school. Each teaching strategy was randomly assigned to one class. The experimental group received supplementary instruction delivered via CAI, while the control group received similar instruction through recitation hours. The data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance and t-test. It was found that the students who used the CAI accompanied with lectures scored significantly higher than those who attended recitation hours, in terms of school subject achievement in chemistry and attitudes toward chemistry subjects. In addition, there was a significant improvement in the attitudes of students in the experimental group toward the use of computers in a chemistry course. There was no significant difference between the performances of females versus males in each treatment group.     

Assessment and investigation of science laboratory skills among year 5 students

In line with the current interest in alternative and authentic assessment, this study focused on the evaluation of students' performance on science laboratory process skills. A sample of 147 year 5 students from six schools responded to laboratory process skills tests which assess investigating, performing and reasoning in the content areas of biology, chemistry and physics. The data were analysed to provide information about students' overall practical performance and to identify specific preinstructional conceptions and erros. An investigation of predictors of laboratory performance revealed significant associations between performance and amount of homework done and students' perceptions of several aspects of the classroom environment (personalisation, investigation and organisation). The gender differences commonly found in science achievement were absent when laboratory performance was used as the criterion.     

Routes to research for novice undergraduate neuroscientists

Undergraduate students may be attracted to science and retained in science by engaging in laboratory research. Experience as an apprentice in a scientist's laboratory can be effective in this regard, but the pool of willing scientists is sometimes limited and sustained contact between students and faculty is sometimes minimal. We report outcomes from two different models of a summer neuroscience research program: an Apprenticeship Model (AM) in which individual students joined established research laboratories, and a Collaborative Learning Model (CLM) in which teams of students worked through a guided curriculum and then conducted independent experimentation. Assessed outcomes included attitudes toward science, attitudes toward neuroscience, confidence with neuroscience concepts, and confidence with science skills, measured via pre-, mid-, and postprogram surveys. Both models elevated attitudes toward neuroscience, confidence with neuroscience concepts, and confidence with science skills, but neither model altered attitudes toward science. Consistent with the CLM design emphasizing independent experimentation, only CLM participants reported elevated ability to design experiments. The present data comprise the first of five yearly analyses on this cohort of participants; long-term follow-up will determine whether the two program models are equally effective routes to research or other science-related careers for novice undergraduate neuroscientists.     

Developing a Scale to Measure Students’ Attitudes toward Chemistry Lessons

Students’ attitudes toward chemistry lessons in school are important dependent variables in curriculum evaluation. Although a variety of instruments have been developed by researchers to evaluate student attitudes, they are plagued with problems such as the lack of theoretical rationale and of empirical evidence to support the construct validity of data. This paper describes a study of students’ attitudes toward chemistry lessons in Hong Kong secondary schools. One of the scales in the Test of Science‐Related Attitudes developed by Fraser was modified to form an Attitude Toward Chemistry Lessons Scale (ATCLS). The construction of the ATCLS was based on a theoretical model with four dimensions: liking for chemistry theory lessons, liking for chemistry laboratory work, evaluative beliefs about school chemistry, and behavioural tendencies to learn chemistry. The arguments for inclusion of these four dimensions are presented. The final version of ATCLS was administered to 954 students. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that there was a good fit between the hypothesised model and the observed data.     

Cooperative,competitive, and individualistic science laboratory interaction patterns—effects on students' achievement and acquisition of practical skills

Using 1025 junior secondary class three (ninth grade) students and twelve science teachers, this study investigated the effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic science laboratory interaction patterns on students' achievement in science and the level of acquisition of practical skills. A 3 × 3 (interaction pattern by ability) factorial model was employed for data gathering. Significant main and interaction effects were found for both dependent measures. The cooperative group was found to be superior on the achievement measure with no difference between the competitive and individualistic groups. The competitive group, however, outperformed the others in practical skills. Additional data indicated that the mixed ability cooperative group did significantly better than the mixed ability competitive group in achievement but not in practical skills. In sum these data are supportive of the differential effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures on cognitive and psychomotor tasks. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for more productive science laboratory work.     

Noncognitive predictors of achievement in introductory college chemistry

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive relationship between initial student attitudes, admissions test scores, years of high school math taken, and subsequent achievement in introductory college chemistry. Included in this study was a sample of 179 students who began as new freshmen during the same fall semester and took an introductory chemistry course during their first year of college. The results of this study indicated that noncognitive variables were significant predictors of student performance. These findings also indicated that, for some types of academic outcomes, noncognitive variables may be better predictors of achievement than traditional measures such as admissions test scores.     

Teacher interpersonal behaviour and secondary students’ cognitive, affective and moral outcomes in Hong Kong

This study validated the Chinese version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) in the Hong Kong context as well as examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of interpersonal teacher behaviour and their cognitive, affective and moral learning outcomes. Data were collected with the QTI and four other measures of student learning outcomes including a modified enjoyment scale of the Test of Science Related Attitudes, academic achievement, attitudes towards the teacher, and learning of values and attitudes. A total of 612 grade 9 students from 16 Mathematics, Chinese and English classes in six schools participated in the study. The Chinese version of the QTI was found to be a valid and reliable measure. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students’ perceptions of their teachers’ interpersonal behaviour were significantly related to their cognitive, affective, and moral learning outcomes.