Chemistry Instructors' Intentions toward Developing, Teaching, and Assessing Student Representational Competence Skills

Autor/inn/en	Popova, Maia; Jones, Tamera
Titel	Chemistry Instructors' Intentions toward Developing, Teaching, and Assessing Student Representational Competence Skills
Quelle	In: Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 22 (2021) 3, S.733-748 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Popova, Maia) ORCID (Jones, Tamera)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1756-1108
DOI	10.1039/d0rp00329h
Schlagwörter	Science Teachers; Chemistry; Intention; Teaching Methods; Skill Development; Science Process Skills; College Faculty; Student Evaluation; Competence; Science Instruction; Instructional Effectiveness; Scientific Concepts; Faculty Development; Evidence Based Practice; Learning Theories; Student Educational Objectives + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Chemie; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Kompetenzentwicklung; Qualifikationsentwicklung; Fakultät; Schulnote; Studentische Bewertung; Kompetenz; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Unterrichtserfolg; Learning theory; Lerntheorie
Abstract	Representational competence is one's ability to use disciplinary representations for learning, communicating, and problem-solving. These skills are at the heart of engagement in scientific practices and were recognized by the ACS Examinations Institute as one of ten anchoring concepts. Despite the important role that representational competence plays in student success in chemistry and the considerable number of investigations into students' ability to reason with representations, very few studies have examined chemistry instructors' approaches toward developing student representational competence. This study interviewed thirteen chemistry instructors from eleven different universities across the US about their intentions to develop, teach, and assess student representational competence skills. We found that most instructors do not aim to help students develop any representational competence skills. At the same time, participants' descriptions of their instructional and assessment practices revealed that, without realizing it, most are likely to teach and assess several representational competence skills in their courses. A closer examination of these skills revealed a focus on lower-level representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to interpret and generate representations) and a lack of a focus on higher-level meta-representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to describe affordances and limitations of representations). Finally, some instructors reported self-awareness about their lack of knowledge about effective teaching about representations and the majority expressed a desire for professional development opportunities to learn about differences in how experts and novices conceptualize representations, about evidence-based practices for teaching about representations, and about how to assess student mastery of representational competence skills. This study holds clear implications for informing chemistry instructors' professional development initiatives. Such training needs to help instructors take cognizance of relevant theories of learning (e.g., constructivism, dual-coding theory, information processing model, Johnstone's triangle), and the key factors affecting students' ability to reason with representations, as well as foster awareness of representational competence skills and how to support students in learning with representations. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Royal Society of Chemistry. Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF, UK. Tel: +44-1223 420066; Fax: +44-1223 423623; e-mail: cerp@rsc.org; Web site: http://www.rsc.org/cerp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01