Project Description
The student project is part of a larger research project (IRB approved), which is the collaborative design and implementation of a chemistry literacy course as support for students in introductory chemistry. The course has been designed by chemical education and reading researchers at UWM and is currently taught as a one-credit course by two instructors, one of each discipline. The objective of the project is to investigate how students experience the course, if they find the literacy instruction helpful for their success in introductory chemistry and how they are applying the strategies the support course teaches. The student researcher will gather student experience data through lecture exit tickets and student interviews. Exit ticket data will be collected and transcribed in the Spring semester and is expected to provide inside in student perception of the usefulness and application of literacy content and strategies. Student interviews will start approximately in week 5 of the semester. The student will design the interview protocol based on specific research questions, conduct, and transcribe the interviews. Based on all collected qualitative data, the students will look for emerging patterns and design a code book. Following, the student researcher will assist with coding the interview responses.
Tasks and Responsibilites
The student researcher will engage in the following tasks:
1) Familiarize with recent literature on the topic (provided by the faculty mentor)
2) Complete Online Human Subject Training (CITI)
3) Design interview protocol
4) Practice interview skills
5) Conduct student interviews
6) Transcribe interviews
7) Design coding book, finding patterns in student responses
8) Code interviews (NVivo)
9) Transcribe exit tickets (supporting data)