Research projects span qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches and often engage graduate and undergraduate students as collaborators. Our work is interdisciplinary, connecting chemistry with education research and the learning sciences. More details about projects led by individual faculty members can be found below, along with links to their research group websites.
Faculty Research
Our current research centers on the design, implementation, and assessment of learning support (instructional materials, teaching and learning strategies) for all students transitioning into college-level chemistry courses. Within this framework, our focus is on chemistry-specific literacy (CSL) as an important predictor of student success in first-year chemistry courses. It involves the comprehension of complex discipline-specific texts and interpreting representations used to effectively communicate chemical concepts and data. The development of CSL requires skills and strategies that are often not taught in high school but are important for critical thinking and problem-solving in chemistry.
- Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
- Chair, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Our chemical education research group is focused on investigating methods of content delivery, student cognition in problem-solving strategies and assessment in preparatory and introductory college chemistry courses. More specifically these goals have centered on three main projects: measuring and enhancing students’ scale literacy, examining multiple-choice assessments for differential item functioning, and combining measures of students’ affect with performance to examine persistence in a STEM major. In addition, I lead various projects in my role as the Director of the Examinations Institute of the American Chemical Society, Division of Chemical Education.
Jon-Marc Rodriguez’s research focuses on chemistry education with an emphasis on theory-based qualitative methods. He focuses on chemistry as a community of practice, which involves multiple intersecting communities of bench-top chemists, chemistry education researchers, and instructors. He aims to advance and support the chemistry education community, especially individuals at the periphery such as emerging researchers, instructors, and undergraduates interested in participating in science.