The Department of Chemistry

Course Description

CHEM 2770 is one of an intended series of courses that a student with an interest in the field of Chemical Education will take. This course thus provides an introduction to a variety of research topics in Chemical Education Research (CER). The course begins with an investigation into what exactly is research in Chemistry Education followed by an exploration of the chemical education literature in the following areas: chemistry problem-solving and the development of misconceptions among chemistry learners; the application of learning theories to the practice of chemistry teaching and learning; the use of non-traditional assessment methods in measuring chemistry learning and the impact of CER on college-level chemistry teaching and learning. The topics were chosen as they represent examples of on-going areas of research in the developing field of CER. Learning in this course will be facilitated in large part through interactive weekly discussion forums based on thorough reading of the course materials by all class participants. Students will also experience small-group learning activities during the weekly tutorial sessions. The course will be assessed via a series of exercises that will be conducted during the course of the semester, namely, preparation/participation in weekly discussions, review of journal articles, exploratory essays and a research paper. There will be no final examination in this course.

Assessment

Coursework     100%