The impact of Diane Bunce on chemical education research (CER) is undeniable. She has improved the quality of CER by encouraging so many to include all the components of research in our work (literature background, theoretical frameworks, research questions, analysis and conclusions that did not over-reach the data). Additionally Diane has promoted collaboration among researchers. This talk will highlight advances in research and analysis methods due to collaborations with learning scientists, traditional chemists, software developers and other CER faculty. The main focus will be a large research study looking at the relationship between math fluency and success in general chemistry from multiple institutions (n=1073). The study did show a link between the score on a math fluency or numeracy ability instrument and first-semester, general chemistry course averages. While a standard regression analysis gave some results for this relationship, the addition of a collaboration with a statistician produced more accurate, complex statistical modeling that included both the numeric and categorical data. This led to a better predication tool to help identify successful and unsuccessful students, using the math fluency score, along with demographic data. Instructors could easily use this model to predict course averages after administering the 15-minute, math fluency instrument or to assess the effectiveness of a treatment to improve numeracy ability. Without meaningful collaboration, this would not have been possible. <br/>

The relationship of mathematics fluency and success in general chemisty: How collaborations lead to better research

2019 Spring National Meeting

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