Abstract:
Our chemistry education research group has two foci: (1) research on chemistry learning and instructional practices; and (2) equity and inclusiveness in chemistry professional training. In this seminar, I will highlight one narrative from each. First, we leverage a knowledge-in-pieces perspective to investigate student reasoning with models of chemical bonding. Using interview data collected as students explain, predict, and evaluate information pertaining to chemical bonding phenomena, we unpack the cognitive resources commonly activated in models constructed by first-year undergraduate chemistry students. In addition, we explore students’ epistemic resources pertaining to these bonding models, granting us insight into why certain cognitive resources are activated when engaging with chemical bonding phenomena. Second, while the number of women participating in both undergraduate and graduate education programs in chemistry have risen near to parity with men in recent years, a disproportionately low number of women still apply for faculty positions. In order to explore what factors contribute to this seemingly low interest in faculty positions in chemistry, we developed a survey based in Social Cognitive Career Theory. The survey, informed by interviews and existing literature, was distributed to women across the United States and Canada. Following dissemination, the results were analyzed through a QuantCrit lens to identify themes in women’s interests, expectations, experiences, and confidence, as well as which of those items had the largest correlations to interest in a faculty career. This seminar will describe the findings from each study and provide suggestions for (1) chemistry instructors to more holistically engage both cognitive and epistemic resources when discussing chemical bonding; and (2) departments to reduce the exclusion of women in their departments at both the graduate and faculty levels.