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Incrementally Approaching an Inquiry Lab Curriculum: Can Changing a Single Laboratory Experiment Improve Student Performance in General Chemistry?

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Kristen L. Cacciatore

Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts–Boston, Boston, MA 02125

Hannah Sevian

Departments of Chemistry and Curriculum and Instruction, University of Massachusetts–Boston, Boston, MA 02125

J. Chem. Educ., 2009, 86 (4), p 498

DOI: 10.1021/ed086p498

Publication Date (Web): April 1, 2009

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

Many institutions are responding to current research about how students learn science by transforming their general chemistry laboratory curricula to be inquiry-oriented. We present a comparison study of student performance after completing either a traditional or an inquiry stoichiometry experiment. This single laboratory experience was the only difference between two comparison groups enrolled in the same general chemistry course with otherwise traditional labs. Measures used to assess student performance included an open-response question, and ACS multiple-choice test items at various points in the course, as well as observations of students in the laboratory, and interviews. Statistical analysis of data used an ANOVA model, including a covariate to control for students' prior knowledge and skills. Students who completed the inquiry experiment significantly outperformed students who did the traditional experiment on stoichiometry content problems and experimental design tasks. No difference in performance between the groups was found on problems not directly related to the content of the experiment. These results provide evidence that student learning of chemistry content and skills is enhanced by a single inquiry laboratory experience, and suggest that increasing the number and variety of inquiry experiments may lead to greater improvements in performance. This study is part of a larger study examining the impact on student performance of incrementally shifting toward more inquiry experiments in the laboratory portion of general chemistry.

Keywords (Audience):

First-Year Undergraduate / General

Keywords (Domain):

Chemical Education Research

Keywords (Feature):

Chemical Education Research

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Inquiry-Based / Discovery Learning

Keywords (Subject):

Green Chemistry

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Teacher Beliefs about Implementing Guided-Inquiry Laboratory Experiments for Secondary School Chemistry
Derek Cheung
Journal of Chemical Education2011 88 (11), 1462-1468
- Teacher Beliefs about Implementing Guided-Inquiry Laboratory Experiments for Secondary School Chemistry
  Derek Cheung
  Journal of Chemical Education2011 88 (11), 1462-1468
  One of the characteristics of teaching chemistry through inquiry is that teachers need to encourage students to design their experimental procedures. Although the benefits of inquiry teaching are well documented in the literature, few teachers implement ...
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