Demystifying the Chemistry Literature: Building Information Literacy in First-Year Chemistry Students through Student-Centered Learning and Experiment Design

This paper describes curriculum modules developed for first-year general chemistry laboratory courses that use scientific literature and creative experiment design to build information literacy in a student-centered learning environment. Two curriculum units are discussed: Exploring Scientific Literature and Design Your Own General Chemistry Laboratory Experiment. The modules sequentially develop and expand upon students’ chemical literacy, including the use of scientific literature to support experiment design. Student success is dependent on developing and using information literacy in service to critical thinking and practical analytical problem solving. A longitudinal study of students participating in this project surveyed self-assessed attitudes and beliefs. Initial findings suggest that introducing the scientific literature and building information literacy skills in first-year chemistry courses provide immediate and long-term benefits to student performance and engagement in the sciences. Course m...

[1]  M. Walton,et al.  ROMANO-EGYPTIAN RED LEAD PIGMENT: A SUBSIDIARY COMMODITY OF SPANISH SILVER MINING AND REFINEMENT* , 2009 .

[3]  Denise Pan,et al.  Library Value in the Classroom: Assessing Student Learning Outcomes from Instruction and Collections , 2014 .

[4]  Ian J. Rosenstein.  A Literature Exercise Using SciFinder Scholar for the Sophomore-Level Organic Chemistry Course , 2005 .

[6]  Dell Jensen,et al.  Beyond Chemical Literature: Developing Skills for Chemical Research Literacy , 2010 .

[7]  E. Gawalt,et al.  A Chemical Information Literacy Program for First-Year Students , 2011 .

[8]  Gary Wiggins,et al.  Alternative methods for teaching chemical information to undergraduates , 1998 .

[9]  Andrea B. Twiss-Brooks,et al.  Chemical Information Instruction in Academe: Who Is Leading the Charge?. , 2010 .

[10]  Sally G Hoskins,et al.  Selective Use of the Primary Literature Transforms the Classroom Into a Virtual Laboratory , 2007, Genetics.

[11]  S. Rayne,et al.  Incorporating Primary Literature Summary Projects into a First-Year Chemistry Curriculum. , 2009 .

[12]  T. Pappenfus,et al.  Teaching Research: A Curriculum Model That Works , 2009 .

[13]  Donald R. Sadoway,et al.  Integration of Information Literacy Components into a Large First-Year Lecture-Based Chemistry Course , 2012 .

[14]  Alan J. Gottesman,et al.  CREATE Cornerstone: Introduction to Scientific Thinking, a New Course for STEM-Interested Freshmen, Demystifies Scientific Thinking through Analysis of Scientific Literature , 2013, CBE life sciences education.

[15]  Arleen N. Somerville,et al.  An Integrated Chemical Information Program , 2003 .