Published In
Journal of Chemical Education
Document Type
Pre-Print
Publication Date
11-7-2024
Subjects
Chemistry -- Pedagogy, Chemistry laboratories, Cross-disciplinary concepts, Organic chemistry Students -- Teaching and learning methods
Abstract
As chemistry education researchers and practitioners continue to investigate and improve undergraduate laboratory courses, it is necessary to consider the perspectives held by each of the stakeholders who are directly involved in these courses, including laboratory coordinators, graduate teaching assistants, and students. This study sought to qualitatively investigate the learning goals and expectations held by laboratory coordinators, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), and students for general and organic chemistry laboratory courses at a single institution. This was completed through the collection and analysis of semistructured interview data from laboratory coordinators and GTAs and open-ended written responses from students. Results indicated that while many of the learning goals and expectations were shared among the three groups, there were laboratory coordinator defined learning goals and expectations that were mentioned by very few or no GTAs and students. Additionally, the GTAs and students held expectations that were not described by the laboratory coordinators. The results of this study highlight the importance of explicit communication related to learning goals and expectations among laboratory coordinators, GTAs, and students involved in undergraduate laboratory courses. If the learning goals and expectations established by laboratory coordinators are not properly communicated to GTAs, then it is likely that these goals and expectations are also not being communicated to students, who bring in their own unique laboratory expectations based on their previous experiences and current beliefs.
Rights
© Copyright the author(s) 2025
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DOI
10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00569
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44076
Citation Details
Vaughan, E. B., Montoya-Cowan, A., Kim, C., Stephens, A., Hamilton, O., & Barbera, J. (2024). Published as: Investigating the Learning Goals and Expectations of Laboratory Coordinators, Graduate Teaching Assistants, and Students in General and Organic Chemistry Laboratory Courses. Journal of Chemical Education, 101(12), 5173–5182.
Description
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published as: Investigating the Learning Goals and Expectations of Laboratory Coordinators, Graduate Teaching Assistants, and Students in General and Organic Chemistry Laboratory Courses. Journal of Chemical Education, 101(12), 5173–5182.