Design-based research has gained popularity in educational research communities as a method to develop and refine theories of learning by designing, implementing, and studying educational artifacts. Studying the iterative process of design and implementation provides a unique opportunity to understand aspects of learning in situ, which ensures a high degree of ecological validity. We present the design of a physical chemistry course based on a pedagogical approach called Writing-to-Teach. Writing-to-Teach activities engage students in peer learning and explanatory writing, through which they create learning resources for their peers. In this study, students in a peer-led honors studio work in collaborative groups to develop a wiki-formatted textbook for the general course. The textbook is compiled from student-generated explorations of general course topics. Findings from initial design iterations highlighted limitations in the peer review process that students used to critique each other's wiki entries, as well as the need to closely align the honors and general courses. These findings led to systematic changes to the design, such as altering the peer review process to include comments from graduate student facilitators and developing exploration topics in the honors section that synthesize fundamental concepts discussed in the general course (e.g., Comparing Quantum Models, or Thermodynamic Potentials). The process of implementation, analysis of implementation data, and refinement of the design itself has continued for five iterations to date. The details of this research and the implications related to using writing-to-teach techniques to help students learn chemistry will be discussed.

Using writing-to-teach pedagogy in an introductory physical chemistry course: A design-based research approach

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.