CIC Research Projects
|
|
CIC Research Projects |
|
Research in the Cognition in Chemistry (CIC) Research Group exists at the
intersection of science education, cognitive science, and the knowledge and
reasoning in the discipline of chemistry. The two major lines of research are
associated with graduate students learning of empirical and pedagogical chemical
knowledge and are funded from NSF.
The study for grounded theory of scientific inquiry looks at empirical chemical
knowledge (EChK) gained as a result of graduate research in organic synthesis.
The significance of this research is (a) to document on an everyday basis
activities and tasks student researchers perform and about which they reason to
solve synthetic problems; (b) to apply the means of graduate researchers’
learning to inquiry curricula for science students 6-16. The first phase of this
work is completed. The interrelated phenomena have been extensively described
and relationships explained in “empirical studies of scientists at work.”
A second line of research, on pedagogical chemical knowledge (PChK), also
touches on my teaching interests, i.e., facilitating constructivist teaching and
learning. This work is based on design research with graduate TAs in which the
catalytic process was implemented and refined over 5 fall semesters and 83
graduate students. We used learning goals, a
synthesis of previous literature, a developmental path, and two instruments to
measure teaching interactions, resulting
in a “Laboratory Teaching Apprenticeship” model. Qualitative audio-video data
supplemented statistical data about
performance evolution. This design is described and evaluated in “The science of
design research used to catalyze graduate TA performance.” We have found three
kinds of pedagogical chemical knowledge.
