Undergraduate Students Teaching Chemistry in Informal Environments: Investigating Chemistry Outreach Practices and Conceptual Understanding

This study was designed to explore the chemistry outreach practices of college students associated with the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Alpha Chi Sigma (ΑΧΣ). Students affiliated with these organizations are heavily involved with the chemistry-specific informal science education practice of chemistry outreach. Despite reporting that they reach almost 1 million people every year through outreach, little is known about their outreach practices. Two investigations were conducted to address the gap in understanding of college students conducting outreach. The first investigation involved an open-ended survey administered nationally to students (N = 206) and their faculty/staff advisors (N = 107) to characterize the outreach practices of these two populations through the lenses of 1) purposes of doing outreach, 2) activities commonly used, and 3) evaluation practices. Results indicated that audience learning is the most frequently discussed purpose of outreach, followed by affective goals (e.g., interest, enjoyment). The most prevalently facilitated activities include the elephant toothpaste reaction and making liquid nitrogen ice cream. Lastly, results showed little evidence to support that students evaluate their outreach practices, and whether or not they are meeting their goals. 

Using these results, the second investigation was an in-depth qualitative study (N = 37 students) conducted remotely using multimedia-based software. The goals were to explore college student understandings of the chemistry content underlying elephant toothpaste and liquid nitrogen ice cream, their teaching and learning beliefs that they bring into outreach, and the training experiences students had prior to facilitating events. Multiple theoretical lenses were used to interpret findings, including Meaningful Learning theory, the role of content knowledge in teacher pedagogical content knowledge, the impacts of teacher beliefs on their practices, and Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory. Findings evidence significant misunderstandings of thermodynamics, kinetics, and catalysis, as well as teaching/learning beliefs that are contrary audience learning. Lastly, descriptions of training experiences revealed little chapter advisor involvement, and students informally using modeling and coaching techniques. These findings suggest that targeted outreach practitioner training is needed that focuses on conceptual chemistry understanding, as well as the mechanisms behind how humans naturally learn. These findings also provide evidence to support ACS and ΑΧΣ in making data-driven decisions to improve outreach practices.

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