| 1. |
- Broman, Karolina, 1969-
(författare)
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Chemistry: content, context and choices : towards students' higher order problem solving in upper secondary school
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Chemistry is often claimed to be difficult, irrelevant, and uninteresting to school students. Even students who enjoy doing science often have problems seeing themselves as being scientists. This thesis explores and challenges the negative perception of chemistry by investigating upper secondary students’ views on the subject. Based on students’ ideas for improving chemistry education to make the subject more interesting and meaningful, new learning approaches rooted in context-based learning (CBL) are presented. CBL approaches are applied in several countries to enhance interest, de-emphasise rote learning, and improve students’ higher order thinking.Students’ views on upper secondary school chemistry classes in combination with their problem- solving strategies and application of chemistry content knowledge when solving context-based chemistry tasks were investigated using a mixed methods approach. Questionnaire responses, written solutions to chemistry problems, classroom observations, and think-aloud interviews with upper secondary students at the Natural Science Programme and with experts working on context- based chemistry tasks were analysed to obtain a general overview and explore specific issues in detail.Several students were identified who had positive feelings about chemistry, found it interesting, and chose to continue with it beyond the compulsory level, mainly with the aim of future university studies or simply because they enjoyed it. Their suggestions for improving school chemistry by connecting it to everyday life prompted an exploration of CBL approaches. Studies on the cognitive learning outcomes arising from the students’ work on context-based tasks revealed that school chemistry heavily emphasises the recall of memorised facts. However, there is evidence of higher order thinking when students’ problem-solving processes are scaffolded using hints based on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity in Chemistry (MHC-C). In addition, the contextualisation of problems is identified as something that supports learning rather than distracting students.To conclude, the students in this thesis are interested in chemistry and enjoy chemistry education, and their motives for choosing to study chemistry at the post-compulsory level are related to their aspirations; students’ identity formation is important for their choices. Because students are accustomed to recalling facts and solving chemistry problems that have “one single correct answer”, they find more open problems that demand higher order thinking (e.g. knowledge transfer) unfamiliar and complex, suggesting that such processes should be practiced more often in school chemistry.
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| 2. |
- Broman, Karolina, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Chemistry in crisis? : Perspectives on teaching and learning chemistry in Swedish upper secondary schools
- 2011
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Ingår i: NorDiNa. - Oslo : Naturfagsentret. - 1504-4556 .- 1894-1257. ; 7:1, s. 43-60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Explanations for a decline in the number of students studying chemistry at advanced level all over the world have been sought for quite some time. Many students do not find chemistry relevant and meaningful and there have been difficulties in developing school chemistry courses that engage students sufficiently and tempt them to further studies in the field. In this study, Swedish upper secondary school students (Ns=372) and their teachers (Nt=18) answered a questionnaire on their experiences of the content and the working methods of their chemistry course. They were also given the opportunity to express ideas on how to make chemistry courses more interesting and meaningful. The results point out some subject areas as both easy and interesting, e.g. atomic structure; while other areas are hard to understand but still interesting, e.g. biochemistry. The students find chemistry lessons teacher-centred, something they appreciate. When teachers and students gave suggestions on how to improve the relevance of chemistry education at upper secondary level, more laboratory work and connections to everyday life were the most common proposals. But on the whole, these students seem quite satisfied with their chemistry courses.
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| 3. |
- Broman, Karolina, Universitetslektor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Engineering students going “flipped” : a new teaching approach in organic chemistry to increase students’ interest and value
- 2019
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Ingår i: 7:e utvecklingskonferensen för Sveriges ingenjörsutbildningar. - : Luleå tekniska universitet.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper presents a longitudinal design-based research study where a university organic chemistry course has changed teaching and learning focus, from more conventional teaching into flipped teaching. Engineering students have been followed with surveys, observations, interviews and analysis of how the teaching material was used; results on students’ perceived interest and value are discussed. The project shows that flipped learning with peer instruction is an applicable way to increase students’ interest in organic chemistry and perceived value of the problem-solving process and peer instruction when learning chemistry. Moreover, the paper also discusses the design-based aspect, and how researchers and practitioners can collaborate to develop university teaching with an aim to enhance students’ higher-order thinking and deep learning.
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| 4. |
- Broman, Karolina, Universitetslektor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Flipped Learning as a New Approach for University Organic Chemistry
- 2018
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Ingår i: 14th European Conference on Research in Chemical Education. ; , s. 20-20
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Flipped learning approaches have emerged since the beginning of the 21st century to make students’ learning environments more active and thereby improve learning outcomes as well as student engagement [1]. In the US, several flipped projects have focused on university chemistry courses, normally the student groups are large, from hundreds up to thousands of students [2], while some research also is found on smaller groups [3]. Here we study an organic chemistry university course both quantitatively and qualitatively during two years when changing from a more traditional teaching method to a new pedagogical approach (i.e., flipped learning), for empirical data see Table 1. In Sweden, flipped learning approaches are uncommon compared to the US and a Swedish university chemistry department had intentions improve students’ learning outcomes and increase students’ engagement in chemistry. The organic course has been perceived difficult and, according to previous course evaluations, also been ascribed as having bad quality in general. Therefore, a change was requested both from students and teachers.From the empirical data we will elaborate on students’ opinions when meeting a new teaching and learning approach. Students’ challenges with the organic chemistry course are discussed relating to their opinions about chemistry in general and flipped learning in specific. How students used the different learning material and how they made use of each other through peer interaction when solving problems in class will be discussed according to both constructivist and socio-cultural perspectives. Furthermore, students’ own perception of how they used the course material related to an exact analysis of how the material actually was adapted will be presented together to explore how flipped learning have been applied within the course.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Broman, Karolina, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Flipping the class : university chemistry students' experiences from a new teaching approach
- 2017
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Ingår i: Universitetspedagogiska konferensen 2017. - Umeå : Universitetspedagogik och lärandestöd (UPL), Umeå universitet. ; , s. 14-18
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- University chemistry courses have for a long time had a similar approach to teaching, with chemistry professors lecturing in a traditional manner. Today, flipped learning approaches have found their ways into higher education and positive results from for example the US have been spread and made Swedish university chemistry teachers interested and curious to develop their courses. The rationale of flipped learning is to incorporate an active learning approach in the lecture halls and thereby hopefully both increase student engagement and learning outcomes. In this study, an implementation project where an organic chemistry course has changed focus from traditional teaching to flipped learning will be presented. The focus will be on students’ experiences when meeting a new teaching and learning approach.
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| 7. |
- Broman, Karolina, Universitetslektor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Flipping the class : University chemistry students' experiences from a new teaching and learning approach
- 2019
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Ingår i: Chemistry Teacher International. - : De Gruyter Open. - 2569-3263. ; 1:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- University chemistry courses have for a long time had a similar conventional approach to teaching, with chem- istry professors lecturing in a traditional manner. Today, flipped learning approaches have found their ways into higher education with positive results. In particular, US innovations in this area have made positive im- pressions on Swedish university chemistry educators, resulting in an interest and curiosity in integrating a flipped model into the course curricula. The rationale behind flipped learning is to incorporate an active learn- ing approach into lecture, thereby increasing both student engagement and learning outcomes. In this paper, an implementation project where an organic chemistry course has changed focus from traditional teaching to flipped learning, will be presented. The focus in this mixed-methods study will be on students’ cognitive and affective responses when meeting a new teaching and learning approach. Through following a project where a conventional approach to an organic chemistry course is changed into a more student-active focus, we elaborate on implications for course development of chemistry curricula.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Broman, Karolina, Universitetslektor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Spatial Ability in Organic Chemistry : Can Virtual and Augmented Reality be Valuable?
- 2019
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Ingår i: 7:e Utvecklingskonferensen för Sveriges ingenjörsutbildningar. - : Luleå tekniska universitet.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper, the roles of digital technologies as Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR), are discussed to explore how biotechnology engineering students develop their spatial ability in organic chemistry. We have, through stereochemistry workshops, followed how students, in specific, visualise and rotate molecular representations and how the use of digital tools influences the students’ interest.
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