Gaining meaningful access to a discipline requires engaging multiple literacies; it is critical that students not only grasp disciplinary ideas, but also understand how they are represented, coordinated and translated between multiple kinds of resources, such as graphs, gestures, or experimental tools. Limited work has addressed instruction or assessment of visual, information, or experimental literacy in science education. Importantly, none of the work identifies or aligns relevant competencies with content or grade level, nor mapped a trajectory across multiple grade levels. This reliance on conceptual knowledge in science curricula while critical, needs to be balanced with other literacies, and may account for industry reports stating problem-solving, capacity for adapting, and critical thinking skills as abilities needing further development during a student’s education experience. <br/>This poster will specifically discuss the implementation of information literacy into an upper division inorganic chemistry lab and the strategies employed to improve students’ information literacy in the laboratory courses. Strategies adopted include creating dedicated information literacy learning modules with our library partners, making information literacy an explicit learning outcome of the course and embedding assignments that align scientist lab practices with literacy activities. The intent of this strategy is to equip undergraduate students in chemistry with life long transferable skills that will be applicable as they continue their academic and professional careers.

Making information literacy explicit: Training students with information literacy in inorganic chemistry teaching labs

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.