The purpose of this study was to assess the extent of discovery learning opportunities in Arizona secondary chemistry classrooms and to determine their relationship to performance in selected areas of freshman college chemistry at the University of Arizona. For the purpose of this study two questionnaires were developed, one to gather data relating to students' participation in discovery learning activities in high school chemistry and the other to assess their use of learning resources at the University of Arizona. Interviews were conducted with 15 volunteers from the subjects of this study. The information provided by these volunteers concerning their high school chemistry background was consistent with information obtained from the questionnaires. Examination and laboratory scores were obtained from the records of the chemistry department, to assess student performance in lecture and laboratory. The students' responses on the Learning Activities Questionnaire were used to form a discovery index score, which was correlated with college chemistry examination scores, college laboratory scores, and student-reported use of learning resources. The lack of relationship between the discovery index scores and college chemistry examination scores was indicated by a partial correlation of -.10 which was not statistically significant at the .05 level. A statistically significant partial correlation of .20 indicated the discovery index scores were related to college laboratory scores. No significant relationship was found between discovery index scores and students' use of learning resources at the University as indicated by the Pearson correlation of .15, which was not significant at the .05 level.

The problem of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of the note-test system and the traditional lecture system of teaching basic college chemistry.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of a survey of the various integrated laboratory sequence programs at college and university chemistry departments. A preliminary questionnaire served to determine which chemistry departments had tried an ILS approach. Those departments which responded that they had tried an ILS approach and were willing to answer a questionnaire concerning it were sent copies of the main questionnaire. The returned copies of these two questionnaires form the source of data for the dissertation. The dissertation is organized into five chapters. The first chapter gives the background and significance, statement of the problem, the purposes and delimitations of the study, and a definition of terms. Chapter II is a review of the literature. Chapter III describes the collection of data. Construction, validation, administration, and analysis of the questionnaire are considered. The findings of the study are presented in Chapter IV. After an introduction, the occurrence of ILS programs and the reasons for trying or not trying an ILS approach are tabulated. The nature of the ILS programs which have been tried and the problems and changes that have occurred in the various programs are presented. The last part of Chapter IV is devoted to the perceived advantages and disadvantages of the ILS approach. Chapter V presents a summary of the findings. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made on the basis of the findings.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, Unjversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Science. March 1995 / This thesis reports on school teaching and learning problems in the area of chemical re&ctivity and on an attempt to overcome some of these problems with an in-service course for teachers. rhase 1 of this research was a study of the conceptions of aspects of reactivity, rates of reaction and chemical equilibrium held by secondary school students. The nature and origin of the conceptual di:Eficltlties, i.n the above areas were investigated. The concepts of ret,ctivity and reactivity se.rd.e s are formally introduced at a standard 8 level. These concepts form a springboard for the understanding of more formal quantitative worl< done i.n rates of reaction and chemical equilibrium at a standard 10 level. Two multiple-choice questionnaires, a reactivity qUestionnaire and a i'a'Ceand (.,quilibrium qUestionnaire, were designed to probe for the nature and ori9i.n of views held )y st<mdard 8 & 10 students respectively. The views of both the standard 8 & 10 students on aspects of react~vity and reactivity series Were investigated using the reactivity ql.ltlstionnaire.The views of a sample of 'Jtandard 8 students were also probed during interview sessions conducted at selected schools. standard 10 students views about concepts related to aspects of rates of reaction and chemical equilibrium, were also investigated

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of frequent versus conventional testing on Chemistry achievement test anxiety, and attitudes toward science of students enrolled in general chemistry classes at the University Technology of Malaysia. The subjects consisted of 278 students taking first year Chemistry at the University Technology of Malaysia. The students were given a pretest and posttest in achievement, test anxiety, and attitudes toward science. The instruments included an achievement test in chemistry made up of selected items from previous American Chemical Society Cooperative Examinations and translated versions of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and Science Attitude Questionnaire. Pretest scores were used to assign students randomly into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was subjected to frequent testing, while the control group was subjected to conventional testing. The data were analyzed using one-way and three-way analysis of covariance. The analysis revealed significant difference between the experimental and control groups in student (a) achievement in chemistry with the experimental group achieving at higher levels and (b) test anxiety with the experimental group having lower test anxiety than the control group. No significant difference was found in students attitudes toward science between the experimental and control groups. It was concluded that first year Chemistry students at the University Technology of Malaysia achieve significantly higher in chemistry when they are subjected to frequent rather than conventional testing. It was further concluded that frequent testing was significantly more effective than conventional testing in lowering student test anxiety. / Graduation date: 1989

Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences identifies linguistic, spatial and logical-mathematical intelligences as necessary for learning in the physical sciences. He has identified nine intelligences which all persons possess to varying degrees, and says that learning is most effective when learners receive information in formats that correspond to their intelligence strengths. This research investigated the importance of the multiple intelligences of students in first-year college chemistry to the learning of chemistry concepts. At three pre-selected intervals during the first-semester course each participant received a tutorial on a chemistry topic, each time in a format corresponding to a different one of the three intelligences, just before the concept was introduced by the class lecturer. At the end of the experiment all subjects had experienced each of the three topics once and each format once, after which they were administered a validated instrument to measure their relative strengths in these three intelligences. The difference between a pre- and post-tutorial quiz administered on each occasion was used as a measure of learning. Most subjects were found to have similar strengths in the three intelligences and to benefit from the tutorials regardless of format. Where a difference in the extent of benefit occurred the difference was related to the chemistry concept. Data which indicate that students' preferences support these findings are also included and recommendations for extending this research to other intelligences are made. / text

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It is the specific purpose of this investigation to determine the difference, if any, in the amount of practical, everyday chemistry learned by the science majors as opposed to the non-science majors enrolled in general chemistry at the North Texas State College during the school year 1950-1951.

This study uses the ACS first-term general chemistry exam to determine if one curriculum approach is more effective in increasing student success than the other based on their performance on the ACS exam. Two chemistry curriculum approaches were evaluated in this study; the traditional curriculum (TC) and the Atoms First (AF) approach. The sample population was first-semester general chemistry students at Collin College in Frisco, TX. An independent sample t-test was used to determine if there were differences in overall performance between the two curriculum approaches on two different versions of the ACS exam. The results from this study show that AF approach may be a better alternative to the TC approach as they performed statistically significantly better on the 2005 exam version. Factor analysis was used to determine if there were differences between the two curriculum approaches by topic on the ACS exam. Eight different topics were chosen based on topics listed on the ACS Examinations Institute Website. The AF students performed better at a statistically significant level than the TC students on the topics of descriptive chemistry and periodicity, molecular structure, and stoichiometry. Item response theory was used to determine the chemistry content misconceptions held by the students taught under both curriculum approaches. It was determined that for both curriculum groups the same misconceptions as determined by the Zcrit values persisted.

The science-major General Chemistry sequence offered at the University of Houston has been investigated with respect to the effectiveness of recent incorporation of various levels of computer technology. As part of this investigation, questionnaire responses, student evaluations and grade averages and distributions from up to the last ten years have been analyzed and compared. Increased use of web-based material is both popular and effective, particularly with respect to providing extra information and supplemental questions. Instructor contact via e-mail is also well-received. Both uses of technology should be encouraged. In contrast, electronic classroom presentation is less popular. While initial use may lead to improved grades and retention, these levels decrease quickly, possibly due to a reduction in instructor spontaneity.