Exploring Student Focus in General Chemistry through Annotations of Classwork
Seiham Alansary, Angela Ricarda Rodas Diaz
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Faculty Supervisor: Michelle Sinapuelas
Chemistry often proves challenging for students due to the abstract and theoretical nature of the learning material. One of the difficulties in learning chemistry, is that chemistry requires students to develop ‘multilevel thought.’ This ‘triplet’ nature of chemical knowledge means students must be able to simultaneously connect macroscopic phenomena, submicroscopic behaviors, and symbolic representations (Johnstone, 1991). This project characterized what aspects students select to prioritize when prompted to highlight key points, or make annotations to themselves, during classroom activities in general chemistry. Based on our learning from these characterizations, guided reflection assignments were implemented to promote students to engage in multilevel thought, connecting the symbolic representations and measured results in class to what is happening at the subatomic level. Guided reflection activities attempt to create opportunities for students to articulate their reasoning, make connections between experimental observations and theoretical concepts, and evaluate their own understanding. Our results will include description of what students focused on when annotating their work and analysis of student performance on selected exam questions after the introduction of these reflection activities. The overarching goal of this work is to support students to improve students’ ability to connect multiple representations of chemical knowledge.