Research
Exploring connections between instructional practice and inorganic chemistry student problem solving in the context of symmetry
Reasoning with the symmetry of chemical structures is a foundational skill in a university chemistry curriculum, as this skill is fundamental to understanding other important concepts, such as group theory, molecular orbital theory, and interpretation of spectroscopic data. Previous work suggests that symmetry’s putative demand on visualization and spatial reasoning skills may impede student mastery of this topic. Moreover, traditional symmetry instruction and assessment practices could impose the additional limitations related to representational competence. While a substantial body of work exists regarding approaches to teaching symmetry, little is known about how students learn to use symmetry when probing chemical structure, or how instructions affects student learning outcomes. The relationship between classroom practice and student learning is extremely complex—it is situated within a system of factors that not only contextualize this relationship but also potentially mediate it. How instruction influences learning is nonetheless critical to understand, but fine-grained comprehensive reports of how the learning environment affects student learning are extremely rare. This discipline-based education research project seeks to address this knowledge gap by adopting the Consensus Model of Teacher Professional Knowledge to holistically explore this relationship in the context of an inorganic chemistry topic: symmetry. Overall, very little is known about how instructors teach symmetry, how students learn to use symmetry when probing chemical structure, or how students apply this skill to solve problems. This project will provide insight into not only the relationship between instruction and learning, but also student understanding of symmetry.
The objectives of the project are:
- To characterize the landscape of instructional practice related to symmetry.
- To characterize student problem-solving and learning outcomes related to symmetry.
- To explore connections between the symmetry learning environment and student learning.
Featured image credit: Symmetry@Otterbein (https://symotter.org/)
