Structuring Materials to Support Student Learning: Analysis of Instructional Materials from a Professional Development Workshop

Andrew Kreps; Ian Brown; Thomas J. Wenzel; Renée Cole

doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00783

Back

Structuring Materials to Support Student Learning: Analysis of Instructional Materials from a Professional Development Workshop

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Structuring Materials to Support Student Learning: Analysis of Instructional Materials from a Professional Development Workshop

Andrew Kreps, Ian Brown, Thomas J. Wenzel and Renée Cole

Journal of chemical education, Vol.101(11), pp.4603-4613

09/30/2024

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00783

Appears in UI Libraries Support Open Access

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00783View

Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Faculty development programs play a crucial role in enhancing learning by equipping educators with the necessary skills, knowledge, and pedagogical strategies to teach more effectively. One such program is the Promoting Active Learning in Analytical Chemistry (PALAC) workshop, which aimed to educate faculty on methods to create and use active learning course materials to support students during the process of learning. This research aimed to assess the design of classroom instructional materials generated by faculty that attended the PALAC workshops. The theories of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and scaffolding were used as lenses to characterize the materials because they describe the benefits of providing support through the process of developing knowledge. The active learning materials were analyzed by assigning the cognitive levels of processing, as described by Marzano’s taxonomy, to all questions asked across 134 in-class activities. The use of the cognitive levels of processing allowed the researchers to gauge the presence of scaffolding by tracking how the cognitive levels of processing changed from question to question across each in-class activity. The results from this study indicate that the majority of materials provide opportunities for students to engage with higher-order questions, but there is less evidence for the effective and consistent structuring of the materials. These results have implications for future faculty development programs, suggesting the need to allot more time for faculty to practice developing effective classroom materials. In conjunction, this work demonstrates the effective use of Marzano’s taxonomy in assessing the cognitive structure of in-class activities.

Professional Development

Chemical Education Research

Scaffolding

Active-Learning Activities

UIOWA OA Agreement

Details

Title: Subtitle: Structuring Materials to Support Student Learning: Analysis of Instructional Materials from a Professional Development Workshop
Creators: Andrew Kreps - University of Iowa
Ian Brown - University of Iowa
Thomas J. Wenzel - Bates College
Renée Cole - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of chemical education, Vol.101(11), pp.4603-4613
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00783
ISSN: 0021-9584
eISSN: 1938-1328
Publisher: American Chemical Society
Grant note: National Science Foundation: 1624898, 1624956
We thank the participants for their dedication to attending workshops, improving their teaching methods, and for their willingness to consent to the study. We also acknowledge the Cole group members for their invaluable support, specifically Andrea Van Wyk for her crucial insight and involvement in the reliability process. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant Nos. 1624898 and 1624956.
Language: English
Date published: 09/30/2024
Academic Unit: Chemistry
Record Identifier: 9984720460002771

Metrics

4 Record Views

2 Times Cited - Web of Science