Project Investigator(s): Robin Stoodley, Senior Instructor, Chemistry
Project Description
Do students and instructors share the same view of which cognitive tasks are present in chemistry laboratory experiments? Anecdotal evidence suggests they do not, but to what extent do they differ? Are there patterns to the differences? Why do they differ? The instructors’ views have already been established. I propose to collect analogous data from a representative subset of students using surveys or in-person questioning. A minimum of two rounds of student input are likely required, one to document the differences and one to explore the causes.
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
The work is sustainable; it should stand on its own upon project completion. Changes to teaching practices made once our findings are known are expected to be sustainable as they will likely be one-time (perhaps plus tweaks shortly thereafter) in nature. The work is scalable. Our findings are expected to be relevant to other laboratory courses in chemistry and across the sciences. If we find chemistry-specific differences or causes, this could stimulate comparative studies with other units.