ProblemThe course explored in this study sought to contextualize chemistry learning for non-traditional, non-majors in scientific epistemology in an effort to facilitate learning. This meant prioritizing student understanding of the development, and resulting characteristics, of scientific knowledge related to the food chemistry subject matter. The following research questions guided the methodology used to explore the influence of that shift on student learning.What is the influence of course activities on students' conceptions of science and nature of scientific knowledge (NOS)?Similarly, what is the influence of investigation practices?MethodThis exploratory study (LeCompte & Priessle, 1993) utilized the VNOS D+ (Lederman & Lederman, 2009) to assess participants' NOS conceptions before and after completion of an accelerated food chemistry course for non-majors. The course utilized readings and a series of investigations reflective of the scientific practices in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Achieve, 2013) to teach both content and NOS conceptions.FindingsParticipants demonstrated improved understanding of scientific knowledge as: creative; theory-laden/subjective; socio-culturally embedded; and empirically based. They also demonstrated an improved understanding of the distinction between observations and inferences. Two thirds of the participants used the practices from the course activities to explain their views of NOS suggesting a positive shift in scientific literacy. Further, one third of participants identified religious sources for scientific knowledge on the pre-test suggesting a lack of distinction between scientific and religious ways of knowing. No instances of this conflation emerged on the post-test.SignificanceRecent years have witnessed a shift in the U.S. from adult learners as a minority in college classrooms to a greater than one-third proportion of enrollees (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2012). There is little research in science education specifically aimed at this group, however, and research to explore and improve their scientific literacy is needed.

Food chemistry course for non-traditional, non majors: Framing chemistry education for adult learners through a lens of science epistemology

247th National Meeting (2014)

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