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Article
Building a Database for the Historical Analysis of the General Chemistry Curriculum Using ACS General Chemistry Exams as Artifacts
Journal of Chemical Education
  • Cynthia J. Luxford, Iowa State University
  • Kimberly J. Linenberger, Kennesaw State University
  • Jeffrey R. Raker, University of South Florida
  • John Y. Baluyut, Iowa State University
  • Jessica J. Reed, Iowa State University
  • Chamila De Silva, Iowa State University
  • Thomas Holme, Iowa State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-2015
DOI
10.1021/ed500732q
Abstract

As a discipline, chemistry enjoys a unique position. While many academic areas prepared “cooperative examinations” in the 1930s, only chemistry maintained the activity within what has become the ACS Examinations Institute. As a result, the long-term existence of community-built, norm-referenced, standardized exams provides a historical artifact about the nature of content coverage in courses that stretches over decades. This work reports efforts to capture information and formulate it into a database about general chemistry content coverage over the past 20 years. Roughly 2000 items have been characterized in several ways, including (i) content, using an Anchoring Concepts Content Map; (ii) item construct, such as the presence of symbolic or visual information; and (iii) cognitive processing required, in terms of recall, algorithmic, or conceptual thinking.

Comments

Reprinted (adapted) with permission from J. Chem. Educ., 2015, 92 (2), pp 230–236. Copyright 2015 American Chemical Society.

Copyright Owner
American Chemical Society
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Cynthia J. Luxford, Kimberly J. Linenberger, Jeffrey R. Raker, John Y. Baluyut, et al.. "Building a Database for the Historical Analysis of the General Chemistry Curriculum Using ACS General Chemistry Exams as Artifacts" Journal of Chemical Education Vol. 92 Iss. 2 (2015) p. 230 - 236
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/thomas_holme/10/