Those involved in chemistry education research (CER) met at our inaugural department-wide CER group meeting Monday Sept. 10th, 2018.
Anka Lekhi presented some of her work investigating the relationship between first-year international students’ personal epistemologies and problem solving approaches. She found that students’ successful completion of a conceptual problem in chemistry is positively linked to the student view that conceptual understanding as more important than pattern-matching approach. The results of her work suggest that chemistry educators should be explicit about the benefits of conceptual understanding and the purpose of learning activities in developing personal epistemologies. For example, it is worthwhile to foster students’ beliefs that their peers are a source of knowledge, as this will help them in their studies.
I wish everyone a great term!
Jackie
