Identifying effective methods of assessment and developing robust assessments are key areas of research in chemistry education. This research is needed to evaluate instructional innovations and curricular reform. In this primer, we advocate for the use of a type of assessment, ordered multiple-choice (OMC), across postsecondary chemistry. OMC…

The development of proficiency in the practices used by scientists and engineers is considered an important student outcome of laboratory instruction. We developed tasks to assess students' use and development of selected scientific and engineering practices in the general chemistry laboratory using an adapted evidence-centered design approach. In…

Laboratory education is a defining feature of chemistry degree courses, with one of the fundamental aims being acquiring competency in a range of chemistry-specific practical skills, yet there are still limited reports of direct assessment of these skills. Here, we present the development, implementation, and evaluation of a station-based…

The different ways microscale and green chemistry allow reducing the deleterious impacts of chemistry on human health and the environment are discussed in terms of their different basic paradigms: green chemistry follows the ecologic paradigm and microscale the risk paradigm. A study of the synthesis of 1-bromobutane at macro- ? microscale (109.3…

A 14-item, multiple-choice diagnostic assessment tool, the quantum chemistry concept inventory or QCCI, is presented. Items were developed based on published student misconceptions and content coverage and then piloted and used in advanced physical chemistry undergraduate courses. In addition to the instrument itself, data from both a pretest,…

The multiple-choice question (MCQ) is the foundation of knowledge assessment in K-12, higher education, and standardized entrance exams (including the GRE, MCAT, and DAT). However, standard MCQ exams are limited with respect to the types of questions that can be asked when there are only five choices. MCQs offering additional choices more…

Chemistry faculty members are highly skilled in obtaining, analyzing, and interpreting physical measurements, but often they are less skilled in measuring student learning. This work provides guidance for chemistry faculty from the research literature on multiple-choice item development in chemistry. Areas covered include content, stem, and…

General chemistry tests from the Examinations Institute of the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society have been analyzed to identify factors that may influence how individual test items perform. In this paper, issues of item order (position within a set of items that comprise a test) and answer order (position of correct…

Research suggests that difficulty in making connections among three levels of chemical representations--macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic--is a primary reason for student alternative conceptions of chemistry concepts, and computer modeling is promising to help students make the connections. However, no computer modeling-based assessment…

In 2005, the ACS Examinations Institute released an exam for first-term general chemistry in which items are intentionally paired with one conceptual and one traditional item. A second-term, paired-questions exam was released in 2007. This paper presents an empirical study of student performances on these two exams based on national samples of…

A critical stage in the process of developing a conceptual understanding of organic chemistry is learning to use curved arrow notation. From this stems the ability to predict reaction products and mechanisms beyond the realm of memorization. Since evaluation (i.e., testing) is known to be a key driver of student learning, it follows that a new…

The influence of metacognition on learning and problem solving has been demonstrated, and it is becoming increasingly clear that promoting metacognitive activity can produce substantial improvements in problem solving and learning in chemistry. This article reports the development and validation of an instrument designed to evaluate students'…

The primary goals of this project were to develop a reliable instrument to measure the chemistry course perceptions (CCP) of undergraduate chemistry students and to determine the predictors of CCP of undergraduate students as they enter their first college chemistry class. In a pilot study, 250 undergraduate students were solicited with 57…

In July 2004 the 36th International Chemistry Olympiad was held in Kiel, Germany. Competition for medals included 236 students from 61 countries, accompanied by about 150 teachers and other mentors. During this Olympiad the students performed qualitative and quantitative analyses of a superconductor, based on lanthanum barium cuprate. In the…

The development of a 20-item semantic differential assessment instrument for measuring student attitudes toward the subject of chemistry is described (Attitude toward the Subject of Chemistry Inventory-ASCI). Instrument subscales and survey items pertain to interest and utility, anxiety, intellectual accessibility, emotional satisfaction, and…