Tools of Chemistry Education Research In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. 1166 ACS SYMPOSIUM SERIES Tools of Chemistry Education Research Diane M. Bunce, Editor The Catholic University of America Washington, DC Renéé́ S. Cole, Editor University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa Sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Education AmericanChemicalSociety,Washington,DC DistributedinprintbyOxfordUniversityPress In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Toolsofchemistryeducationresearch/DianeM.Bunce,editor,TheCatholicUniversity ofAmerica,Washington,DC,RenéeS.Cole,editor,UniversityofIowa,IowaCity,Iowa; sponsoredbytheACSDivisionofChemicalEducation. pagescm.-- (ACSsymposiumseries;1166) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-8412-2940-2(alk.paper) 1. Chemistry--Studyandteaching.2. Academicachievement.3. Curriculumenrichment. I.Bunce,DianeM.II.Cole,RenéeS.III.AmericanChemicalSociety.DivisionofChemical Education. QD40.T642014 540.71--dc23 2014027945 ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmericanNational Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSIZ39.48n1984. Copyright©2014AmericanChemicalSociety DistributedinprintbyOxfordUniversityPress AllRightsReserved. ReprographiccopyingbeyondthatpermittedbySections107or108 oftheU.S.CopyrightActisallowedforinternaluseonly,providedthataper-chapterfeeof $40.25plus$0.75perpageispaidtotheCopyrightClearanceCenter,Inc.,222Rosewood Drive,Danvers,MA01923,USA.Republicationorreproductionforsaleofpagesinthis bookispermittedonlyunderlicensefromACS.Directtheseandotherpermissionrequests toACSCopyrightOffice,PublicationsDivision,115516thStreet,N.W.,Washington,DC 20036. Thecitationoftradenamesand/ornamesofmanufacturersinthispublicationisnottobe construedasanendorsementorasapprovalbyACSofthecommercialproductsorservices referenced herein; nor should the mere reference herein to any drawing, specification, chemicalprocess, orotherdataberegardedasalicenseorasaconveyanceofanyright or permission to the holder, reader, or any other person or corporation, to manufacture, reproduce,use,orsellanypatentedinventionorcopyrightedworkthatmayinanywaybe relatedthereto. Registerednames,trademarks,etc.,usedinthispublication,evenwithout specificindicationthereof,arenottobeconsideredunprotectedbylaw. PRINTEDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. Foreword The ACS Symposium Series was first published in 1974 to provide a mechanism for publishing symposia quickly in book form. The purpose of the series is to publish timely, comprehensive books developed from the ACS sponsoredsymposiabasedoncurrentscientificresearch. Occasionally,booksare developed from symposia sponsored by other organizations when the topic is of keeninteresttothechemistryaudience. Beforeagreeingtopublishabook,theproposedtableofcontentsisreviewed forappropriateandcomprehensivecoverageandforinteresttotheaudience. Some papersmaybeexcludedtobetterfocusthebook;othersmaybeaddedtoprovide comprehensiveness. When appropriate, overview or introductory chapters are added. Draftsofchaptersarepeer-reviewedpriortofinalacceptanceorrejection, andmanuscriptsarepreparedincamera-readyformat. As a rule, only original research papers and original review papers are included in the volumes. Verbatim reproductions of previous published papers arenotaccepted. ACSBooksDepartment In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. Editors’ Biographies Diane M. Bunce Diane M. Bunce (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Chemistry at The Catholic University of America. She received her B.S. degree in chemistry from Le MoyneCollege,M.A.T.degreeinscienceeducationfromCornellUniversityand Ph.D. in chemical education from the University of Maryland—College Park. Herresearchdealswithhowstudentslearnchemistryandthemismatchbetween thewayweteachchemistryandwhatweknowabouthowstudentslearn. Diane received the ACS 2011 Pimentel Award for Chemical Education and the 2001 Helen Free Award for Public Outreach. She has served as editor or co-editor of twootherACSSymposiumSeriesbooks. Renée S. Cole RenéeS.Cole(Ph.D.)isanAssociateProfessorofChemistryattheUniversity of Iowa. Dr. Cole earned a B.A. in chemistry from Hendrix College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on issues related to how students learn chemistry and how that guides the design of instructional materials and teaching strategies as well on efforts related to faculty development and the connection between chemistry education research and the practice of teaching. Dr. Cole is also an associate editorfortheJournalofChemicalEducation. ©2014AmericanChemicalSociety In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. Preface TheoriginsoftheToolsofChemistryEducationResearchreallybeganwith thecreationoftheNutsandBoltsofChemicalEducationResearch(DOI:10.1021/ bk-2008-0976). Botheditors(DianeandRenée)hadheardfromreadersoftheNuts andBoltsbookthattherewasaneedforinformationonmorein-depthresources for those interested in doing chemistry education research. Thus, we turned our attentiontodevelopingtheToolsbookasacontinuationofthedialoguestartedin theNutsandBoltsbook. WiththisToolsbookasacompanionvolumetotheNuts and Bolts book, we believe that both new and experienced researchers will now haveaplacetostartastheyconsidernewresearchprojectsinchemistryeducation The creation of both books was a great way to bring together a group of talented researchers to share their insights and expertise with the broader community. We intentionally included both early career and more established chemistryeducationresearchersasauthors. Thiswasdonetopromotethegrowth andexpansionofchemistryeducationbydrawingontheexpertiseandinsightsof bothjuniorfacultyandmoreexperiencedresearchers, eachofwhomhasunique insightstoofferotherpractitionersinchemistryeducationresearch. The reader should also note that we changed all references in this book from “chemical education” to chemistry education”. These terms were used interchangeably in the Nuts and Bolts book but as our field has matured, it has become obvious that the research we are engaged in deals with chemistry education just as physics education research deals with physics and biology educationresearchdealswithbiologyeducation. Although"chemical"hasbeen used historically, it makes sense that if we are dealing with the teaching and learning of chemistry, rather than with chemicals per se, the switch is a logical one. Thejourneytocreatethisbookhashadafewtwistsandturns,butalongthe waywehavehadtheopportunitytoworkwithverytalentedanddedicatedpeople, includingtheauthorsandACSstaff. Itwillbeinterestingtoseewherethefuture takesthefieldofchemistryeducationresearchandoureffortsinit. Wewelcome yourthoughtsandopinionsonthebookaswellasyoursuggestionsonwhatshould come next. ix In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. Thanks Renée and Diane sincerely thank the authors of these chapters for their diligence in reporting and generosity in sharing their talents and expertise with the readers of this book. We thank Bob Hauserman and Tim Marney of ACS Publications for their encouragement and support of our efforts to both develop and bring this book to fruition. We thank Jasmine Suarez of ACS Publications for her relentless devotion to the completion of this project and her seemingly unending patience with us as we worked on the book. And last but definitely notleast,ourthankstoMackenzieColeforhertalentandgenerosityinspending countlesshourscopyeditingeachandeverychapterofthisbook. x In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. Chapter 1 An Introduction to the Tools of Chemistry Education Research Renée S. Cole*,1 and Diane M. Bunce2 1DepartmentofChemistry,UniversityofIowa, IowaCity,Iowa52242,UnitedStates 2DepartmentofChemistry,TheCatholicUniversityofAmerica, Washington,DC20064,UnitedStates *E-mail: [email protected] This chapter provides an overview of the issues and tools associated with chemistry education research projects and introduces the different chapters. The intent is to highlight the information available that may prove useful to individuals engaged in chemistry education research projects. To facilitate use by readers, the material has been organized into four sections: strategies for qualitative research; analyzing quantitative research data; cognitive-based tools for chemistry education research; and practical issues for planning, conducting,andpublishingchemistryeducationresearch. Introduction As the field of chemistry education research matures, more researchers are using more tools to answer a greater range of questions. In the Nuts and BoltsofChemicalEducationResearch(1),weprovidedanoverviewofthefield and discussed how chemistry education research questions could be addressed. The intended audience for that book was quite diverse, including those who wantedtolearnaboutaspectsofchemistryeducationresearch(CER)frommany perspectives: novice researchers, scholarly teachers who wanted to improve assessmentofpractice,grantwriters,andchemistswhowanttobemoreinformed aboutchemistryeducationresearch. Inthisvolume,theaudiencehasbeenmore narrowlydefinedasthosewhowishtolearnmoreaboutspecifictechniquesused ©2014AmericanChemicalSociety In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014. inchemistryeducationresearch,althoughmanyaspectsmaystillbeusefulfora broaderaudience. Many active areas of research in chemistry education were described in the 2013NationalResearchCouncilreportonDiscipline-BasedEducationResearch (2), hereafter referred to as the DBER report. These areas included student conceptual understanding, the use of technology to support student learning, analysisofstudentdiscourseandargumentationpatterns,theuseofheuristicsin student reasoning, and the development of assessment tools to measure student thinking about chemistry. More detail into many of these studies is provided in a review of the peer-reviewed literature conducted by Towns and Kraft (3). The review includes research with many different areas of focus and that use a variety of research designs (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods). The reviewalsosummarizesseveralinstrumentsthathavebeenusedbythechemistry educationresearchcommunity. TheDBERreport(2)alsoincludesaseriesofrecommendationstoadvance DBER,whichincludesCER,asafieldofinquiry. Theserecommendationsinclude a research agenda that emphasizes the following: exploring the similarities and differencesamongdifferentgroupsofstudents,researchinawidevarietyofcourse settings,researchthatmeasuresawiderrangeofoutcomesandthatexploresthe relationshipsamongthoseoutcomes,researchthatincludesmorenuancedaspects ofinstructionalstrategiesandtheirimplementation,andlongitudinalstudies. Theareasofresearchandspecifictoolsselectedforthisbookrepresentarange ofapproaches(includingqualitativeandquantitative). Theselectionoftopicsto beincludedinthisvolumewasbasedoninteractionswithmembersoftheaudience forthisbook. WereceivedseveralrequestsfromreadersoftheNutsandBoltsbook for more information on some topics, while other topics were chosen based on newdirectionsandopportunitiesforgrowthinchemistryeducation. Forexample, weselectedRforparticularattentionduetoitsgrowinguseinmanydisciplines. It is an open-source program that is more easily available to many researchers and has capabilities to address data analysis for some areas of research (such as eye-tracking) in ways that are not yet easily available in other programs. The bookisnotintendedtopresentanexhaustivelistoftoolsandstrategiesthatcanbe usedininvestigatingchemistryeducationresearchquestions,butshouldpresenta startingpointandencouragebroaderperspectivesofwhatcanbedone. Strategies for Qualitative Research Qualitative research methods are necessary to address “how” and “why” questions. Bretz (4) broadly described qualitative research methods in the Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research, including issues related to data collectionandquality, theoreticalperspectives, dataanalysis, andotherpractical considerations. Towns (5) also addressed qualitative research methods in her chapter on mixed methods research designs. In this volume, the emphasis is on highlighting particular qualitative research methods that can be used to answer chemistryeducationresearchquestions. 2 In Tools of Chemistry Education Research; Bunce, D., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2014.