Research has shown that students tend to isolate their knowledge within a course instead of connecting their knowledge in a useful and assessable framework. This highlights the increasing importance of chemistry core ideas, which act as an organizational structure for gaining new knowledge as they are explanatory, predictive, and generative of new ideas. Ideally, students’ chemistry knowledge should grow in depth as they progress through their degree. This study was conducted to investigate students’ understanding concerning four core ideas (atomic/molecular structure-property relationships, electrostatic and bonding interactions, energy and change, and stability in chemical systems) using a survey containing nine multiple-choice questions situated in phenomena such as reactions, solutions, and equilibrium. The students included in this study ranged from being enrolled in their second semester of general chemistry to their last semester before the completion of their undergraduate degree. The data from this study were analyzed to identify trends in terms of the students’ chemistry knowledge across their undergraduate chemistry degree program. The findings from this study will be presented.

Investigating undergraduate students’ understanding of chemistry core ideas

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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