A rubric to characterize inquiry in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory

CHED 836

Michael E. Fay, fayme@muohio.edu1, Marcy Towns2, and Stacey Lowery Bretz, bretzsl@muohio.edu1. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, (2) Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2084
Consensus does not exist among chemists as to the essential characteristics of inquiry in the undergraduate laboratory. A rubric developed for K-12 science classrooms to distinguish among degrees of inquiry was modified for the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Both peer-reviewed experiments in the literature and commercially available experiments were evaluated using the rubric, revealing a diversity of uses for the word inquiry. The modified rubric, which provides a valid and reliable metric for chemists to examine their laboratory curriculum, will be presented.
 

Research in Chemical Education
1:30 PM-4:05 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 McCormick Place North -- Room N227A, Level 2, Oral

Division of Chemical Education

The 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007