Epistemic messages about how and why to learn in organic chemistry lectures

Abstract

Recent reforms in chemistry education aim to shift the goals of learning from knowing chemistry facts toward using chemistry understandings to make sense of natural phenomena (i.e., doing science). Doing so requires that we attend to, and work to shift, how and why students engage in class activities. To accomplish this, we must understand how the structure and enactment of chemistry courses communicate useful ways of knowing and learning – that is, how our courses convey epistemic messages. This study contributes to the larger goal of understanding epistemic messaging in science classes by investigating epistemic messages embedded in introductory organic chemistry lectures on nucleophilic substitution reactions. Specifically, our analysis describes the epistemic operations communicated (i.e., how to engage with knowledge), and the values ascribed to these operations for achieving epistemic aims (i.e., why engage with this knowledge). Analysis of seven lectures revealed that instructors communicated various epistemic operations, with notable variation in types and frequency. Most prominent were operations related to evaluating properties of chemical structures and predicting the pathway or outcome of chemical reactions. In contrast, operations associated with explaining or controlling reactions appeared less often. Some messages also conveyed the value of epistemic operations, either emphasizing their relevance for assessment or for doing science. The findings suggest that epistemic messages in lectures can frame how one should engage with knowledge in organic chemistry and why, although, in many cases, this orientation may not yet be explicit enough to be consequential to students.