Development and Analysis of Active-Learning Techniques in Entry-level Chemistry Laboratory and Classroom
Authors:   , Xian Junyang , King Daniel B. 
Published: July 2021

Chemistry is one of the fundamental science courses which explains the properties and interactions of substances. Many students struggle with understanding chemical concepts due in part to the misconnection between the three levels of chemical representations and the large cognitive load required to process the information. Educators developed active learning based on the theory that students build their understanding on their own to help them learn chemistry. It has been shown that active learning can help the students to improve their processing skills and their performance in STEM courses. This dissertation focuses on the implementation and analysis of active-learning strategies in entry-level ungraduate chemistry laboratories and classrooms. The first research topic in this dissertation is to determine whether attending general chemistry labs and completing lab reports help the students to answer exam questions that correspond to the lab content. Overall, the data collected from different lab topics indicate mixed results. Students performed better on lab-related questions for some topics, such as kinetics and electrochemistry. The results show that biological science students and female students tend to get more benefit from the graphing component of the kinetics experiment than engineering majors and male students. The results also show that biological science students and female students tend to perform better on conceptual questions related to acid-base titrations, and electrochemistry. Two LEGO-based hands-on activities were developed for use in the classroom to help students understand chemical kinetics and equilibrium concepts. The kinetics activity simulates a pseudo-first order reaction by using different numbers of colored bricks. The equilibrium activity models the relationship between the rates of the forward and reverse reactions and equilibrium amounts by using different combinations of assemblers and disassemblers. Also, the equilibrium activity illustrates Le Chatelier's principle by changing the number of reactant bricks or product bricks after equilibrium has been reached and letting the reaction shift back towards equilibrium. Overall, it was found that student understanding was improved on topics that were directly related to the LEGO activities. Muddiest point cards are index cards that were used as a technique to collect student reflections in an entry-level chemistry class. At the end of each lecture, students were asked to write down something they were not clear about, or something they had learned, if they did not have a question. The student reponses on the muddiest point cards were categorized into two types: questions that were related to the lecture content and something that was learned. The association between the student response type and their performance was studied. Students with higher in-class performance tended to ask more questions that were related to the lecture content, while students with lower in-class performance tended to write down something they had learned in the class. Students who did not give a response frequently tended to have a lower in-class performance and a lower course performance. Gender difference on the preference of response type was also studied, but no consistent result was found.