Thursday, 12 September 2024 11:00am – 12:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Lecture Theatre 3

Speaker: Sam Pazicni

Host: Dr Stephen George-Williams

Title: Epistemology and Equity: Two things we should consider more in chemistry education

Abstract: Our chemistry education research group has two foci: (1) research on chemistry learning and instructional practices; and (2) equity and inclusiveness in chemistry professional training. In this seminar, I will highlight one narrative from each. First, we leverage a knowledge-in-pieces perspective to investigate student reasoning with a variety of chemistry concepts, including chemical bonding models. Using interview data collected as students explain, predict, and evaluate information pertaining to chemical bonding phenomena, we unpack the cognitive resources commonly activated in models constructed by first-year undergraduate chemistry students. In addition, we explore students’ epistemic resources pertaining to these bonding models, granting us insight into why certain cognitive resources are activated when engaging with chemical bonding phenomena. Second, when developing or adapting assessments, we build validity and reliability arguments using a variety of potential evidence sources, including content, responses processes, internal structure, and internal consistency. However, a crucial (but often overlooked) aspect of validity and reliability concerns whether measurements obtained from subjects from different groups have the same psychometric meaning. In other words, an assessment of bias is critical to include when building validity and reliability arguments. To illustrate analyses of bias, we leveraged measures of spatial ability, the design and administration of which are known to bias measurement in favor of men. We demonstrate that by applying an analysis of bias, measures that provide valid and reliable data regarding the spatial ability of both men and women can be constructed. This work has broad implications for the chemistry education community, given that efforts toward equity and inclusion are often assessed by interpreting intergroup differences on measures that may not be bias-free.

Bio: Sam received BA degrees in Chemistry and Music from Washington and Jefferson College, MS and PhD degrees in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (with Judith Burstyn), and performed post-doctoral research in Biophysics (with Jim Penner-Hahn) and Chemistry Education (with Brian Coppola) at the University of Michigan. In 2009, Sam began his independent career at the University of New Hampshire, receiving tenure in 2015. After ten years at New Hampshire, Sam returned to his alma mater to serve on the faculty of the UW–Madison, where he currently teaches General Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry at the undergraduate level and co-directs the UW Bridge to the Chemistry Doctorate Program. Sam is a member of the American Chemical Society, and serves on the Society’s Committee on Education (currently chair of the Supporting Excellence in Higher Education subgroup and vice-chair of the Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Advisory Board). Sam regularly leads workshops on assessment, course design, equity in teaching, and graduate programs in chemistry in venues associated with the American Chemical Society and the Cottrell Scholars Collaborative. He has been involved with the Advanced Placement Chemistry program as a 2022 AP Chemistry Visiting Fellow and a member of the AP Chemistry Development Committee. Sam also recently served as the lead author for the Center for Curriculum Redesign‘s General Chemistry Learning Outcomes project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Outside of the lab, Sam enjoys music and theatre, cooking extravagant things, and exploring the world.