Examination of unprompted shared resources and motives by chemistry educators during online discussions in graduate courses

Session: Undergraduate Research Posters: Chemistry Education:  

Everyday chemistry educators use resources relating to their curriculum to help advance student learning in the classroom. These materials can be anything from online sources, videos, lab experiments, and other resources related to professional development. Consequentially, teachers are always looking for resources to help improve their own teaching ability and student understanding. This study looked at shared resources from practicing chemistry teachers who participated in online discussions in different graduate courses. The chemistry teachers were required to answer course discussion posts and had the opportunity, while not required, to share their own resources. The purpose of this study was to examine what was shared between the chemistry teachers and why they valued the resources enough to share. Shared resources were labeled in different categories based on the general purpose or characterization they fell into: demonstrations, online videos, content articles, etc. In addition, characterization of why a chemistry teacher valued and shared a resource was identified. For example, a teacher listing a resource as something they found helped student growth. General analysis found that the teachers largely shared labs and demonstrations, and tips, methods, and aides for teachers. Analysis also identified a strong interest in finding and sharing materials that were readily available online for both students and instructor. This study informs curriculum developers and teacher educators about the resources chemistry teachers look for to implement in their classroom.