Using Communication Tools for Chemistry Learning to Improve Literacy, Writing, and Digital Accessibility

Scientific literacy is an increasingly important skill for today and tomorrow's citizens. Encapsulated in the definition of being scientifically literate, one must be knowledgeable about science and technology in context and be able to interpret and communicate the information well. Introductory science courses, like general chemistry, are key learning environments to promote scientific literacy by engaging students in context-based learning activities as these classrooms are taken by a diverse array of students. Educators must however consider how to integrate such activities with finesse as to not perpetuate misconceptions of science. This dissertation consists of a series of studies examining contextual-based chemistry learning through a communication lens in three ways. The first project compares how chemistry is portrayed in news media and the fundamental concepts are aligned with the introductory college level chemistry curriculum objectives. An assessment of potential contextual connections was made for educators' use. The second project studies how students make connections to and learn about chemistry in context through their writing via soundboards. Through coding the soundboards and finalized student papers, students found the task of communicating chemistry in an essay format proved to be challenging yet engaging. Students who participated in the soundboards were able to meet the multi-pronged goals of the writing prompt. However, scaling the interactive guidance is not feasible in large lecture classrooms. Thus, the third project focuses on the development, implementation, and analysis of a curated chatbot, a communication aid built to provide personalized, instantaneous, instructor-approved information for the writing assignment. The analyses of the log processes showcased the variety of ways students sought help using the tool. The curated chatbot has promise to extend to other classroom use case, such as deconstructing a course syllabus and interactive pre-laboratory preparation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]