Writing is a high impact practice for guiding student conceptual understanding, disciplinary thinking, and writing skills. Despite these benefits, the use of writing in chemistry classrooms is primarily limited to lab reports and short answer exam questions. The limited use is in part due to faculty conceptions of writing as a pedagogical tool and their ability to incorporate writing into existing class structures. Efforts to disseminate evidence-based writing practices into chemistry classrooms may be limited by faculty conceptions of writing, so improved understanding of these conceptions can inform instructional change efforts. This research is focused on the development of a survey instrument that categorizes chemistry faculty based on their conceptions. The instrument is based off of previous published results from a faculty interview study and administered to chemistry faculty nationwide. Clustering techniques were used to verify faculty grouping into categories representative of their conceptions of writing. Hypothesized categories sort faculty on two dimensions:  faculty use of writing in their classrooms and the goals faculty have when assigning writing. Using this survey, the association between faculty conceptions of writing can be compared across appointment type, tenure-status, and course level.<br/>

Development of an instrument to characterize faculty conceptions of writing in the classroom

2019 Spring National Meeting

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