This project is developing and evaluating the Connected Chemistry Curriculum (CCC), which incorporates software that employs visual representations embedded in a modeling environment as the core component of undergraduate learning activities in general chemistry. Students participating in the curriculum visualize and manipulate individual molecules in a chemical system and visualize the result of their experimental manipulations. The software makes the information embedded in two-dimensional representations explicit, and provides visual displays of molecular interactions for students to observe, as well as multiple representations to foster conceptual understanding and emphasize connections between symbolic representations. The goals of the project are to 1) design ten self-contained learning modules and supporting materials that include CCC simulations as a core component to address student difficulties in learning general chemistry concepts, 2) optimize the modules using embedded assessments and field observations of classroom practice, and 3) evaluate the efficacy the modules for improving chemistry achievement via a quasi-experimental study that compares the achievement of students learning with CCC modules to students learning from traditional lecture and laboratory methods alone. The project is expected to strengthen the knowledge base regarding student interpretation and manipulation of scientific representations and the affordances of visualization tools for teaching chemistry, as well as inform the design of new visualization-based science curricula.
