Tools of Chemistry Education Research

Diane M. Bunce (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Chemistry at The Catholic University of America. She received her B.S. degree in chemistry from Le Moyne College, M.A.T. degree in science education from Cornell University and Ph.D. in chemical education from the University of Maryland-College Park. Her research deals with how students learn chemistry and the mismatch between the way we teach chemistry and what we know about how students learn. Diane received the ACS 2011Pimentel Award for Chemical Education and the 2001 Helen Free Award for Public Outreach. She has served as editor or co-editor of two other ACS Symposium Series books.Renée S. Cole (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Iowa. Dr. Cole earned a B.A. in chemistry from Hendrix College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on issues related to how students learn chemistry and how that guides the design of instructional materials and teaching strategies as well on efforts related to faculty development and the connection between chemistry education research and thepractice of teaching.

The first chapter that I read and instantly gave to all my graduate students was about how to prepare CER manuscripts for publication. This chapter alone — jointly written by authors from the UK, US and Australia who are all in leading editorial positions of major CER and science education journals — makes it worthwhile purchasing the book. However, the other chapters allow newcomers and graduate students in CER a very valuable introduction to better understandand to start conducting CER. For this reason I highly recommend the book.

• Preface ; 1. An Introduction to the Tools of Chemistry Education Research ; Strategies for Qualitative Research ; 2. Observation as a Tool for Investigating Chemistry Teaching and Learning ; 3. Using Interviews in CER Projects: Options, Considerations, and Limitations ; 4. Discourse Analysis as a Tool To Examine Teaching and Learning in the Classroom ; 5. Using Qualitative Analysis Software To Facilitate Qualitative Data Analysis ; Analyzing Quantitative Research Data ; 6. Introduction to the Use of Analysis of Variance in Chemistry Education Research ; 7. An Introduction to Nonparametric Statistics in Chemistry Education Research ; 8. Using the Statistical Program R Instead of SPSS To Analyze Data ; Cognitive-Based Tools for Chemistry Education Research ; 9. Designing Assessment Tools To Measure Students' Conceptual Knowledge of Chemistry ; 10. Measuring Knowledge: Tools To Measure Students' Mental Organization of Chemistry Information ; 11. Eye Tracking Methodology for Chemistry Education Research ; 12. A Short History of the Use of Technology To Model and Analyze Student Data for Teaching and Research ; Practical Issues for Planning, Conducting, and Publishing Chemistry Education Research ; 13. A Two-Pronged Approach to Dealing with Nonsignificant Results ; 14. Doing Chemistry Education Research in the Real World: Challenges of Multi-Classroom Collaborations ; 15. Ethical Treatment of the Human Participants in Chemistry Education Research ; 16. Preparing Chemistry Education Research Manuscripts for Publication ; APPLICATION ; 17. Using This Book To Get Started on Your Own Research ; Editors' Biographies ; Indexes ; Author Index ; Subject Index