Students’ decisions to enter or persist in STEM courses is linked with their affective domain. The influence of factors impacting students’ affective domain in introductory college chemistry classes, such as attitude, is often overlooked by instructors, who instead focus on students’ mathematical abilities as sole predictors of academic achievement. The current academic barrier to enrollment in introductory college chemistry classes is typically a passing grade in a mathematics prerequisite class. However, mathematical ability is only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to predicting preparedness for college chemistry. Herein, students’ attitudes towards the subject of chemistry were measured using the original Attitudes toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory (ASCI) and the shortened version 2 (ASCIv2). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for the first time (to our knowledge) to chart and monitor the development of students’ attitudes towards the subject of chemistry during an introductory college chemistry course. Results from PLS-SEM support a 3-factor (intellectual accessibility, emotional satisfaction, and interest and utility) structure, which could signal the distinct cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of attitude, according to its theoretical tripartite framework. This study provides a pathway for instructors to identify at-risk students, exhibiting low affective characteristics, early in a course so that academic interventions are feasible. This study also answers the call in the literature for further use and validation of the ASCI instruments. The results presented here have implications for the design and implementation of teaching strategies geared towards optimizing student achievement in introductory college chemistry.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling of chemistry attitudes in introductory college chemistry

255th National Meeting (2018)

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