College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Visualizing chemistry

New teaching method improves student learning and comprehension in chemistry.
Results have been promising in a new science, language and computer simulation research project focused on freshman chemistry courses at Iowa State.

The project, "Technology Enhanced Guided Inquiry Workbook for General Chemistry," combines computer-simulated science experiments created by Thomas Greenbowe, professor of chemistry, and the science-writing-heuristic (using writing to learn strategies linked to inquiry) teaching curriculum developed by Brian Hand, professor of curriculum and instruction.

Once the two are combined, student achievement on chemistry exams is significantly higher, regardless of the student’s initial knowledge of the material. While high achieving students will learn better by using the heuristic and simulations, low achieving students gained even more benefit in the course.

"Students have visual learning styles," Greenbowe says. "Students have told us this technique helps them get a foothold - that once they can visualize an experiment or principle they begin to understand it better."

Initial results from the Iowa State study also indicate that women who score lower on a chemistry pre-test than men, on the average can score similar to the average men’s score if they are taught using this method.

The project was funded in 2001 with a $480,000 National Science Foundation grant. The pair developed the materials the first year with a pilot study. The technique was instituted partway in the second year before full implementation in the third year.

Greenbowe uses the combined teaching method in Chemistry 177 and its spring follow-up course, Chemistry 178. Typically 28 sections are offered in the fall with another 18-19 in the spring with enrollments topping 700 students.

The courses are taught by teaching assistants trained by Greenbowe, Hand and their chemical education graduate students in the new teaching technique.

"Kathy Burke and Jason Poock (two chemical education graduate students) made detailed observations of the TAs throughout the course," Greenbowe said.

The simulations allow students to work on classroom material through several interactive lab, lecture, tutorial and animation programs. A variety of topics are covered including electrochemistry, thermochemistry, acid-base equilibria, and kinetics. Han-Chin Liu and Rohini Vanchiswaran wrote the computer programs under the direction of Greenbowe.

The science-writing heuristic teaching strategy engages students in inquiry, reasoning and constructing logical arguments from investigations. The format is used as the basis for the chemistry laboratory notebook and teaches students how to communicate their findings to others.

Not only have Greenbowe, Hand and co-workers found out that the technique works at Iowa State, but also that it works at other colleges and at the high school level as well.

"This technique is being used by chemistry professors at other universities and they have had the same type of results that we have achieved," Greenbowe said. "What we have all found out is that you can have a good science laboratory activity because it is written in the inquiry style. There is no benefit if the instructor doesn’t ask the students to do the activities in the inquiry style."

Greenbowe says he has been in touch with other professors who are interested in implementing the teaching strategy.

"For the past five months we average an e-mail message a day from a chemistry teacher who is asking permission to use our simulations," he said. "I've lost track of all the countries that the inquiries have come from.

"The word is getting out. At least eight other universities have asked for permission to use the simulations."

Greenbowe says the teaching method goes over well with most students.

"When the students that have been exposed to this technique enroll in other chemistry courses here at Iowa State they want to continue the same approach," he said. "They will form small groups and utilize some of the same techniques on their own."

Greenbowe and Hand hope to expand the use of the teaching method even further. The two are collaborating with colleagues from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University on a proposed NSF grant to hold workshops throughout the country on the teaching method.