Dr. Vicente Talanquer, University of Arizona
Seminar Title: "Reimagining chemistry education: Insights from research to practice"
Host: Josie Nardo, nardo.11@osu.edu
Zoom Link: https://osu.zoom.us/j/9303326442?pwd=UncwWmlxMkU4bzV5OThmYWU0NHJiZz09
ABSTRACT:
Reimagining chemistry education: Insights from research to practice
Research in science and chemistry education over the past 30 years has demonstrated that traditional approaches to teaching chemistry often fail to help students develop meaningful understanding or the ability to engage in mechanistic reasoning using chemical models. Our own educational research has revealed that many students completing college-level chemistry courses still rely on intuitive assumptions and fast, frugal heuristics to construct explanations and make decisions in chemistry-related contexts.
This presentation will summarize key findings from our research on student reasoning and illustrate how these insights have informed the development of an alternative approach to conceptualizing the chemistry curriculum. This new approach shifts the focus from learning chemistry as a body of knowledge to understanding chemistry as a way of thinking. Over the past ten years, this revised curriculum and teaching method have been implemented across all General Chemistry sections at our university. Analysis of student performance using various metrics indicates a significant positive impact on both student understanding and achievement.
Vicente Talanquer is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the UA. His research focuses on undergraduate chemistry education. He has published over 150 peer reviewed and invited papers where he has explored the conceptual difficulties that students face when learning chemistry and the effect of different teaching strategies on student understanding. He has also investigated prospective science teachers’ reasoning and practices. Dr. Talanquer has applied the results of his educational research to the development of innovative curricula for undergraduate chemistry education. He has received various awards during his academic career, including the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry by American Chemical Society, and the Educational Research Award by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents. In 2015, he was named Arizona Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation. In 2019, Dr. Talanquer received the Education Research Award from the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, and he was awarded the 2021 ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching & Learning of Chemistry.
